Ethan's Birth Story Part 1

I have been wanting to write about Ethan's birth story for a while now, I just kept putting

it off because it may be a little long! But I am taking the advice of a friend and breaking it 

into several parts! I hope you will come back to read the whole story, it is a true story of 

God's hand being right in the middle of it all! :)

I want to start with how we got to the decision to adopt, I will try and keep it short! Kyle

and I got married in 2002 (I will tell our story in another blog!) and knew immediately 

we wanted children. We were not getting any younger and decided to start trying quickly! 

We were both 28, settled in our careers, had bought a new home and were ready for babies! 

I have had several problems growing up with having endometriosis and complications that 

come with it.We knew it wasn't going to be an easy road but were ready for the challenge! And 

challenge it was! I went through several surgeries and as a result of having endo, I had both 

fallopian tubes removed.  IVF would be our only option. We jumped right in and did 

our first In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) cycle and I got pregnant!!!!!!!! We were so very 

excited but God had other plans. I miscarried at 7 weeks and we were devastated of course. 

Thankfully we had several embryos that were able to freeze so we decided to not wait too

long and do it again, and again with no success. I was done. My body could not take it 

anymore having to give my self shots daily, Kyle giving me shots and having to be stuck 

every time I went to the doctor and gaining a TON of weight! It wasn't fun 

anymore and my heart just wasn't in it. I knew deep down this was not God's plan for us, me

getting pregnant. Although at the time I was not OK with that and just kept asking why! Why 

do all of my friends and family have babies, why is God giving people babies that can't take 

care of them, why, why, why. I am not proud to say that I questioned God but it was where I 

was at that time. I avoided baby showers, birthday parties, Mother's Day at church. It was 

just too painful. I was so bitter that I almost couldn't function. I pulled away from everyone 

except my husband, I just didn't think anyone had any idea of what I was going through inside 

(although they did!). I was just in a very dark place! 

But I still knew that God would not put the desires in my heart for the heck of it!! 

Psalm 37:4. I knew I had to get through it and trust Him. We did our last IVF cycle in 

August of 2004 when I told Kyle I couldn't do it again. We  still had 2 embryos frozen but 

decided we would take a break and do another cycle later. People had asked if we would 

consider adopting and really we didn't think it was an option for us, looking back now it is 

because we were not educated on the subject. I started doing some research and we decided to 

look into it. By this time we had depleted all of our funds and were doing what we could to 

pull money from different places, we were that determined to have a baby! In October of 

2004 we contacted an agency and started the process of adoption. We had been told it

would take 6 months to a year but we were willing to wait. God again had another idea 

and the following February we were blessed with our sweet angel Ethan Samuel Gibbs! 

 Because of God and this lady, we were finally blessed with the baby that we had
longed for, prayed for and waited so many years for! 

Stay tuned for part 2, it is so much sweeter! :)

Be Blessed!

Kim

Ethan's Birthday!

My sweet boy turned 6 last week! I am in awe of the happenings of the last 6 

years and the blessings from God! We had Ethan's birthday party at Bowl A Rama, it was 

quite an adventure!

We had a great group of kids there, it was a lot of fun!

 These are just a few of the great memories that were made!

Be Blessed!

Kim

Organizing Utility Tote

I wanted to "showcase" my all time favorite bag! I absolutely love this bag, there are so many 

uses for this bag. 

 This versitile, spacious tote keeps your clutter organized! It is great for cleaning supplies or 

sporting gear. Use as an everyday tote or gym bag. This bag has seven side pockets and is

made from extra tough nylon with stain and water resistant lining! AND it is so stinking cute!! I

have 3 of these bags and use them all for different things. I have one to carry all of my business 

files in to my parties, it fits a small plastic hanging file perfectly! I have one that I carry to work 

every day with my bible, journal, books, lunch, junk or whatever else I need to throw in there. 

AndI have one that I take to my son's soccer games, it holds water bottles, camera, asthma 

medicine, towel, blanket, snacks, and so much more! Why do I have 3 you ask?? Because I 

can't pick just one print, I want them all!

It comes in 9 different patterns, something for everyone! Click here to see all of the choices.

I would love to hear what you would use this bag for!

Kim Gibbs
  Thirty-One Gifts

972-743-0880

kgibbs219@gmail.com

Website: www.MyThirtyOne.com/KGibbs

Blog: www.mygirlyoutlet.blogspot.com

Facebook: www.Facebook.com/kgibbs31gifts

 **Stay tuned to Facebook for the latest updates**

My New Camera Strap Cover!

I have seen these a lot in blog land and I just had to have one so I bought THE cutest 

camera strap ever!!! Not sure if I have mentioned it but pink is my favorite color and I am 

on a major damask kick, so this was perfect for me! :)

 You too can have the cutest camera strap ever by going here! 

My husband swears I bought this so he would never use my 

camera, I completely disagree! ;)

Happy Friday! 

Kim

Valentine's Day and Truffles!

We had our Valentine's Day banquet at church last week and it was so much fun! I had 

the honor of helping with the planning of the event and got to do the decorating with the

help of my sweet friend Mindy. I also had lots of input from my friend Kim, she always 

knows that added touch that is needed! We had a yummy dinner and then had a ballroom 

dance instructor come teach everyone ballroom dancing. Let me tell you, that was the 

entertainment of the night! Kyle and I didn't participate, we helped with serving and cleanup 

(and I snapped lots of pics) but we were so entertained by watching!!! Everyone had so

much fun!

Unfortunately the pictures did not come out that well, the lighting was really low and I 

haven't figure out my new lens! :( The walls are also green in the auditorium of our church

which also doesn't help with lighting! The table runners are supposed to be red burlap, not 

orange.

Mindy and I got busy shopping at all of the thrift stores in town looking for glass jars and 

vases. I am pretty sure I found a new hobby, thrift shopping! :) It was so fun! I had to find 40 

jars and we did it! Then we filled the jars with lots and lots of candy!! I made a few trips back to 

the store for more candy, these jars are bigger than they look. I added ribbon and some cute 

labels that I downloaded from here.  Overall it was a great success and I enjoyed the 

challenge of working within a small budget and being creative! I don't always succeed 

at being creative, but I sure love to try!

At home we had fun making some oreo truffles for Ethan to take to his party at school.
These little things are de-lish!!! Oh my gosh!  I am definitely starting a diet this week! ;)

Hope you had a fabulous Valentine's Day!

Kim

100th Day of School Project

Apparently this is something every school participates in! Since my little guy is just in 

Kindergarten, this was new to me! Who knew they made such a big deal out of the 100th 

day of school?? Well they do! So the letter that came home said we could send 100 of 

"something" or do a project with our child. Well I sure wasn't going to be that parent that 

didn't participate (for this project anyways!) ;) I am not very creative, if you read my last 

post you know that I copy everything!! I did "google" some ideas but actually came up with 

this on my own! :) I am sure I saw it somewhere in the past but my brain doesn't remember 

that so I am going to give myself credit this time. We decided to make a snowman out of 

marshmallows! Ethan loved the idea so we went with it. Since we were "snowed" in from 

school when working on it, I thought it was perfect.We went to town putting LOTS of glue 

(marshmallows don't do great with glue!) but we didn't really have another choice. We poured 

it on and left it over night to dry before "accessorizing" frosty! Well....we got up the next 

morning and this is what we found....dun dun dun...

Yup, you got it the marshmallows are GONE!!!!!!!! Praise the Lord Ethan didn't have a 

meltdown, I was sure one was coming! After the shock wore off I soon realized who the culprit 

was....yup, this little guy!!!

Look at that sweet face... yeah right! HE is lucky he is still alive!! I am kidding, I would never

harm our Bentley but I was NOT happy with him! He had a belly full of marshmallows AND 

glue!!! And never got sick! Crazy! So Ethan got to use the excuse that the dog ate his

homework, hee hee! :) So back to the drawing board we went and ended up with this...which

turned out cuter I think (but Bentley is not off the hook!)

So that was our first 100th day of school project!

OH! And check out my sweet friend Kim's blog at Simply Domestic, she is doing a giveaway for

me for a Thirty One gift certificate! Thank you friend! :)

Kim