Christmas Time is Here but where is the snow?!

Ok all you snow haters! quit praying for no snow! or this is what might happen to you!

 you might all get turned into a snowman or snow-woman!


I would like some snow and for it to stay for awhile it is December you know! and really what is Christmas without the cold and snow and getting all bundled up to go to your grandparents houses and to be with family! So excited for Christmas I hope everyone has been good! and I hope everyone like what i have gotten them, some people are just really hard to buy for or they don't give you any ideas!

Remembrance for our 3 little miracles in heaven

November we had to make up our minds on trying the IVF procedure right away or taking some time, we chose to take some time to heal, I did have to go and meet our new doctor, she is amazing I love her! she also had to do ivf to have her child, wow to have a doctor know what you are going through is amazing, anyways after that appointment i just was really sad it had been a few weeks of not having to talk about having to go through all that again and i think it stirred up emotions that i had tucked away trying to be strong. so i went to one of my favorite stores Hobby Lobby, they had all their Christmas decorations out and Christmas is our favorite holiday, i was walking the isles and  and was looking at the Christmas ornaments and found a beautiful 3 star ornament and just knew that i had to get that and that each star was one of our lil miracles in heaven.

A sad Day :( september 30, 2011

Our First attempt for IVF was a very up and down, scary and exciting time, we are sad to say that all three of our lil embryo babies have went to be with the Lord today our procedure failed.
Our hearts are broken and we are asking why?
Also now we had to tell everyone who was hoping for the best, who were waiting and did not even know that we knew yet! my grams was in the hospital with her copd and fighting for her breath, wow Lord now i have to go break my grams heart! so my aunts helped me to decide to wait and tell them when she got a little better, oh how that was weighing on my shoulders and breaking my heart into what seemed like even smaller pieces than before, finally I told the Lord I will be ok with this news of our IVF not working as long as my grams got better and came out of the hospital! and sure enough she is now home and doing very well, we finally told her our bad news and my grams and gramps hearts hurt for us, but wow what a weight off of our shoulders that was!

Our first IVF Attempt - cont.

September 14, 2011
Subject: It’s Egg Time!
Hello, Everyone, the first procedure is finally here, Egg retrieval is going to be on Friday at River North in Chicago, we have to be there at 8:45 to check in then the retrieval will be at 9:45. Tonight is the last night of shots 3 at 8:00 and now I have to add a pill in for eight days, pills I can handle! and then I have to take my final shot of ovridel tonight at 10:45, I wanted to tell the lady "hey that is a bit past my bed time!" lol, well that shot is going to trigger me to I guess ovulate or something but all the nurses kept saying "they will probably trigger you tonight" so yeah I have to stay up later than normal, but we are very excited and nervous, so I will update you all on Friday sometime or maybe Saturday? depending on how I am feeling, they have to put me in twilight to get the eggs out, then I will be getting a call from the embryologist Saturday to let us know how many eggs they retrieved and that they picked the best three eggs to fertilize. Also the embryologist will be letting us know how the fertilization is going, then a nurse will also call me on Saturday and I think she will be letting us know the date of when we have to come back to get them put back in, that can be anywhere from 3 to 5 days from the day of egg retrieval, so with the egg retrieval being on Friday if the eggs only need three days to fertilize and are grown to what they need to be, to be put back in then we will be going back on Monday, but if they need more days then it could be Tuesday or Wednesday? so I will let you all know what day! and then I will let you all know what two days I will be on bed rest so you can all visit me! love you all so much, thanks again for the prayers for our little miracle! we love you love Justin and Staci! xxoo

I am so impressed with you Staci on what a great job you are doing of keeping everything straight with SO much to remember!! This is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO exciting!!
I love you very much!! Love aunt Tammy
Yay!!! I'm praying! Love you Staci so much
Love Jillian

Wow! I simply can't believe this is moving so fast. How exciting, and, yes
nerve racking. You guys hang in there! Love you bunches. Love Aunt Terri

That is so exciting! I'll text ya tonight!
Love aunt Kelly

Well as Gramma you know I am praying for that or those precious future little ones even before they are conceived. I am praying for you and Justin. I can't imagine the emotion involved with this. You have been waiting for so long and have gone through so much to get to this time. We are all praising God for the blessings to come. You will be wonderful, loving, Christian parents and God knows that. Just rest in His peace as you wait to see what happens. As YOUR mommy, and mother in law, I love you so much. No matter what happens I know you will continue to walk and trust God with your future. Well I am going to stop for now so I don't get to involved with my thoughts, trying to hold them down. Continuing to pray for you both and your future family.
I love you, M0M

Saturday 9-17-2011
Subject: Embryo transfer

Hey everyone,
so egg retrieval went well, woke up sore and am still a little sore today, they retrieved 12 eggs, picked the 3 best out of the 12 and fertilized them, we don't know how far along they are, they are in a incubator and if they keep opening that it will make it long for transfer, so we will find out how much the cells have divided once we go on Monday!! for the Embryo transfer, we have to be there at 11:30 at the river north place in Chicago again, they will transfer them then I have to go home and be on bed rest for two days, so that is when you can all come visit me so Monday= embryo transfer, Tuesday= bed rest and wed= bed rest, cant wait for my visitors!!! :) and their goodies!! some healthy goodies would be nice! he he ha ha! just kidding, So we just need to be praying that all the three lil fertilized eggs grow and can all 3 be transferred! I can't believe we are close to the end of all this, Wow has time flown by, it has had its ups and downs for it is going to be worth those lil miracles! I will have a doctors app on Friday the 23rd to check my progesterone level and i am praying it is where they want it to be or I will have to start progesterone shots! not really wanting to do that?!
well i will talk to you all later, if you have questions you can call me or email me! love you all so much and thanks for ALL the PRAYERS!
Love Justin and Staci!!! xxoo
But Jesus looked at them and said, With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.   Matthew 19:26

W0W It is hard that you are at this point, the day is coming. Not sure what to say because I am trying not to go to far over the edge with excitement. It is in there and building realllllly strong. Of course you know my prayers are with you and the little ones, healthy little ones!!!!! I love you guys so much. I will be there to do whatever I can for you. What do you want to eat? Hungry for anything special. I know Justin mentioned soup, anything else? Well I will be continuing to pray!!!
Love MOM

I am so happy that you are SO close now!! Now things are happening
fast! I can't wait to visit you with some hugs and goodies next week!
Any requests?
Love you sweetie! Aunt Tammy

September 18, 2011
Subject : Tomorrow is the big day!
For some reason i was not nervous for the egg retrieval and I am really not to nervous for tomorrow, hopefully that is because God is carrying me through all of this and his comfort is wrapping me in a blanket, so just praying that our embryo transfer goes well tomorrow and that God blesses us with however lil miracles he has planned for us in his journey called Life, This whole process is very hard every time we get to a new step there is still another step to get through, tomorrow and then we have to pray that they attach, and then we have to pray the pregnancy holds, and on and on, so I guess in a way trying to get pregnant really teaches you for what is to come with your children and the never-ending steps to get through with them, wow just how amazing is life and our own lives, God really has planned everything out, we just have to hang on and ride the roller coasters ups and downs, and I am really praying our roller coaster is headed for an up! Love you all so much, can't wait to tell you what goes on tomorrow and how the fertilized eggs are doing!
talk to you all later Love Justin and Staci
God is my Strength!

Staci - you continue to amaze me with your strength and wisdom. It’s BABY DAY today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love you so much!
Love aunt Tammy

September 22, 2011
Subject : A Big thanks to Everyone!
I just want to thank everyone for the visits, the goodies and the texts and calls, WOW! what a great bunch of Family and friends I have, could not ask for anything better. Was so overwhelming!!! What a Great God to give me such a support system! Now is the waiting game! Tomorrow I have to go get my progesterone levels checked, and then I will have to go back either Tuesday the 4th or Thursday the 6th for the pregnancy test, oh man deep breathe in and out, that is a little bit away, but I am sure it will go by fast and will be here before we know it, just praying so hard it worked, lil nervous but trusting in the Lord, for such a miracle! Next week will go by pretty fast I am going to be back in business with the babysitting and I will have all my kids to keep me busy! and I miss those lil faces, and I know Kam misses me she told her mom "I want to go to Staci’s" poor thing does not understand why I am not watching her :( So again THANKS from the bottom of our hearts for EVERYTHING! we love you so much!
Love Justin and Staci

we love you and will continue praying, let me know if your progesterone levels went up ok. love aunt jo

Stay strong in your faith when times are tough.
You are those who have stood by me in my trials. Luke 22:28
I love you all! Love MOM

Sending you my love just because I love you so much, love aunt kelly

A chart showing what is going on once you have your embryos transfered
3-Day Transfer
Days Past
Transfer (DPT)    Embryo Development
One    The embryo continues to grow and develop, turning from a 6-8 cell embryo into a morula
Two    The cells of the morula continue to divide, developing into a blastocyst
Three    The blastocyst begins to hatch out of its shell
Four    The blastocyst continues to hatch out of its shell and begins to attach itself to the uterus
Five    The blastocyst attaches deeper into the uterine lining, beginning implantation
Six    Implantation continues
Seven    Implantation is complete, cells that will eventually become the placenta and fetus have begun to develop
Eight    Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) starts to enter the blood stream
Nine    Fetal development continues and hCG continues to be secreted
Ten    Fetal development continues and hCG continues to be secreted
Eleven    Levels of hCG are now high enough to detect a pregnancy

September 23, 2011
Subject: Progesterone Level
well just wanted to let you all know my progesterone level was great, I just have to keep taking that medicine 3 times a day, no shots! thank you Lord! well hope you all have a great weekend! love you all!

That is SO awesome honey!! This is getting so darn exciting!!!!!!!! I love you!
Love aunt Tammy

Yeah!!! No shots!!!! I'm so glad that everything is going great!!

* Wendy Day*

YEAH !!!!!!!! NO SHOTS !!!!!!! LOVE YA !!!!!!
Love aunt jo

Our first IVF Attempt - cont.

September 6, 2011
Subject: I did it and didn’t pass out
So I had to take my first shot Monday, and it really was not to bad, I was very proud of myself for giving to myself!
so now I have to give myself this shot every night, so tonight and then tomorrow and then Thursday is my doc app to test my blood and look at
my ovaries to see how my ovaries are changing from the medicine then they will call me Thursday night to let me know if I need to up my medicine or lower it, so I will let all you guys know what they say on Thursday! it is getting so close to all the big procedures, i can't believe it!
love you all so much have a fabulous day!
love Justin and Staci!

Boy, you bet it's getting close. This place doesn't mess around and I am
glad about that. You have both been through enough. Looking forward to
the next update . . .love you both.
Love Aunt Terri

yay!!! This is very exciting, and I am praying!! Have an awesome day, and keep your head high Staci because God has great plans for you and Justin :)
Love Jillian

I am so proud of you. I know I couldn't do it. Can; wait to hear what the Dr. says Thursday. Love you guys. Praying!!!!!
Love Grams and Gramps

Good job, I knew you could do it, thanks for the updates love em, and love you too !!!!! A - jo
September 8, 2011
Subject: hello my girls
well today’s app went well just blood drawn and ultrasound, and my lil follicles are already starting to grow! yay, so i have another app this Saturday I have to go to Orland park, ill, grams and maybe my mom are going to help me get there! so at this app they are still just monitoring my follicles to see them grow once they get to a certain size it will be time to do the egg retrieval! and with the medicine they grow faster then they would without so that is why my appointments are getting closer, so I am waiting for the nurse to call me to tell me if I need to up my meds this evening or lower them or keep it the same! it is just getting closer and closer, well thanks so much for listening and praying we greatly appreciate them a whole bunch! love you all and I will let you know what happens on Saturday! love you all love just and Staci xoxo


This must be such an exciting and nervous time for you and Justin! I know how excited I am about everything – so you must be going crazy!! Good luck on Saturday sweetie!!
I love you!!!
Love Aunt Tammy

This is all getting very exciting!! Definitely will continue to pray, pray, pray!!!!! Can’t wait to hear how it goes Saturday. If you ever need someone to go with you please give me a call. You know I would do anything for you!!
Love you so much,
Anne

September 9, 2011
Subject: a little more update from yesterday!
So the nurse finally called me back last night about 5:00 and she told me to keep the first shot at the same level and we had to add another shot on as well, so now I have to take two shots every night, I take them at 8:00 every night if you all would like to also pray for that, so much prayers needed for this, my hormone levels are rising and I am getting brain loss, emotions out of nowhere, hot and cold what else?! oh I can't even remember because of brain loss he he he he ha ha, so I have to be at Orland park tomorrow at 8:45 it is going to be an early morning for me and grams, just for monitoring, so more blood work and ultrasound and I will let you all know what they say is next when I get home from the app. love you all so much!

I'll be praying for you. Love you both so much! If you need to call me and get your mind off of all this we can figure something out :)

* Wendy Day*

Thanks for the update honey! You are always in my prayers!! I love you!
Love Aunt Tammy

September 12, 2011
Subject : Hello Girls
Good morning, I have a doc app today, for more monitoring blood and ultrasound, and then they will call me this evening and let me know the next step, so I am now up to 3 shots a night, it is not easy, I broke down last night, was scared that it is not going to work and the hormones are just building up more and more each shot, well have a great day and I will let you all know what they tell me this evening! love yall! Justin and Staci

Hang in there sweetie! I can’t imagine how hard all of this is on you! The prayers are flowing like water!
Love Aunt Tammy

So is it the shots and medicines that are causing your hormones to go
crazy? Just keep in mind this is temporary and when you need to cry let it
out baby. Hormones can just simply cause us women to be out of control.
We all love you and don't mind your hormone ordeal. We are here to deal
with whatever we need to during this time for you and Justine. Oh, I love
you so much.....I just think about you all the time. Love, Aunt Terri

Awww. My sweet girl. Don’t give in to fear or hormones! When you feel overwhelmed close your eyes and picture yourself crawling up into Gods out stretched arms & just let Him hold you for a while. He is the Light that shines on all the fears that Satan sends. And I will pray that Satan sees your faith and trembles at the sight of The God of the Universe backing you up! You are so brave! I can’t imagine not getting a little emotional when I’m sitting here with tears in my eyes! And my job is just to be the encourager and friend!!!! Take a deep breath and know that you are loved beyond measure and not just by all of us but by the One who is holding you close!
Love you sweetheart!
Anne

September 12, 2011
Subject: HI!
Well still three more shots tonight and tomorrow, then another doc app on Wednesday, things are getting pushed backed a little to give my follicles time to grow we have one at 15 and a few at 12 and more at 11, they all need to get to 15, they can go beyond that but have to at least reach 15, so a few more days will give the 11's and 12's time to get to 15, so more shots and yes the shots are making my hormones be at a 1,000 lol! doctors app went well today one of my veins blew out so they had to stick me again to get blood, I am so bruised up that they can barely find a vein! almost started crying when the vein blow out happened! was not fun hurt really bad! but I hung in there and knew God was by my side and am really trying to remember why I am going through all of this, for some little miracles! Hormones are getting really crazy, like just think of your worst period and times that by 2 that is me, crazy all over the place can't remember emotional mess!! Gotta love it! Well this too shall pass! and I really am so thankful for a caring husband, loving and prayerful family and friends, and my babysitting kids parents are just making this pretty easy, totally understanding through all of this, I am so grateful and thankful could not have been blessed more with hubs, family and friends! love you all and will update you more on Wednesday evening!
love you all and have a great night !
love Justin and Staci

September 13, 2011
Subject: Little bit of Normalcy!
So I have a little bit of normalcy today, babysitting two of my kids today, wow does it feel nice! Ran out of one of my medicines and thought I was going to have to take a drive with one of the babysitting kids to Merrillville this morning, so I called the nurse and asked her what to do, I luckily had a refill on this medicine and called and they weren't going to be able to get it to me today, but Praise the Lord, he put me on hold and said he has good news that they were going to be able to get it to me! WOW was i shocked and so glad that i would be able to take the correct dose tonight, I really did not want to only take half the dose, i just don't want any of this to get messed up ya know!?! So just praising the Lord today that it all worked out and i am just doing a normal day! Feeling so relaxed doing my day to day things, Thanks to all my girls and their encouraging words! Love ya have a Beautiful day!
*God makes all things Beautiful in his time*

Yea!! Normal has to feel pretty good! We are fairly normal here today too. Claire’s at school, Terry’s at work and I’m about to make peach crisp. And its about time to make applesauce! I love fall. and not just because my birthday and anniversary are next month!! tee hee....... Our front yard looks like we have a beaver problem. Had most of our pine trees die from bug infestation so Terry and the neighbor cut them all down! It looks soooooo bare. Now I can spy on the neighbor! The back yard looks like we are getting ready for a massive bon-fire! Might have to do that later to celebrate something!!!!!!!
Well I need to get at those peaches! You continue on with your normal day and may it continue to be blessed by God!
Love you sweetie,
Anne

The many trials for a baby!

We finally found a fertility clinic in Merrillville called Chicago IVF, we made an appointment! How exciting to get all this going and to finally hopefully get pregnant! we met the doctor and he thought we were great candidates for a procedure called AI artificial insemination, we went through that twice with no success, so we had to meet with the doctors again and go over finances and insurance coverage and all to see what procedures we could do! In the mean time Justin got a new job at Comcast, The doctors said they think with my husband having testicular cancer and one testicle removed that we should now move onto a bigger procedure call IVF, man were we scared and had so many questions! So we prayed and decided to go for it, our insurance covered 90% so we were blessed and thankful for the new job and new insurance that covered that procedure!


So starting August 22, 2011 Begins our Journey to our lil miracles
These are emails from me to my family and friends through our process to our procedure.

Sent: Monday, August 22, 2011 8:13:44 AM
Subject : Hello Everyone
I have a test that is going to be done on august 30th just to check my uterus and make sure there is nothing in there to hinder the embryos to attaching! I am sure this is not going to be pleasant but I will make it through it! still not on any shots yet anticipating that next step I attached a photo of all the meds, needles, syringes, sharps box, also there is four more meds that should have went in the picture but they have to stay refrigerated those are the vials ahhhh..... little scary but also exciting and the many doctor trips to keep checking on me and how my body is accepting the shots will be starting very soon, love you all and just wanted to update you!!! oh yeah and at our last doctor visit we decided to only fertilize three eggs and are praying they all three turn into healthy embryos to be implanted and take, that will all be happening sometime during the week of September 12th through the 21st! I think I told most of you this but some of you don't know that part either well I will try to keep you all posted through email as much as I can handle it and don't get stressed out! Love you all so much and thanks for the Prayers God is in control and will make this happen!

Subject: hello family!
So today was my doctors app to check the uterus out to make sure nothing was in there that would hinder the embryos to attach! it was a lil painful and i am still a little crampy from it, but everything came out clear, nothing in there. the doctor said it looks amazing and showed me a picture of my uterus which me and my mom got to see it all going down because it was on the TV screen it was cool! well my next app will be on Thursday the 1st! yep in a day crazy huh?! and that is how life is going to be for awhile,
September 1st - doctors app to get ultrasound done and blood work
September 5th - first day of my shots lil scared but i am going to be brave!
September 8th - doctors app to check how my body is reacting to all the shots since the 5th! blood work and ultrasound.
then from there it is all going to depend on my body! and I will have more appointments and ultrasounds and blood work done, then soon they will be telling me to add in other shots and medicines to prepare my body for the egg retrieval!
so i am going to just leave you with that for now and when things get updated or i know when something is going to be done other than what is stated here I will let you all know!
Please pray for me and Justin, we are getting nervous and excited, hoping this is the time God has planned for us for this to work! thank you all for all the support and love and prayers, we could not do it without all of you being here for us whether it works or we have to try again! love you all so so so much!
Love Justin and Staci! xoxoxo

Thank you so much for letting us know what’s going on honey. I’ll keep praying for this to be “the time” for you and Justin. I love you so much and you are always in my thoughts and prayers.    Love Aunt Tammy

Yes, I will be praying. I can't imagine all the anxiety you both are
feeling. This is big stuff. I love you so much and feel bad that you and
Justin have to go through all this, but then God chose you both to have to
go through this for some reason we don't even know. I guess this is where
true faith comes in. You two are awesome people!
_____Love Aunt Terri_________________________

Where our journey started : July 24, 2004

July 24, 2004 Justin Saltarski married Staci Wood we became our own little family just the two of us, working at our jobs, living in our tiny little one bedroom apartment, life was wonderful!  5 months later we decided to buy our own Home, how exciting it was to have a place of our own to decorate the way we want to and build memories and dreams inside those walls. 

we also have two pets one that came with us from the apartment a cute little kitty named PJ

 and then we got ourselves a puppy and named him Benny

and now to catch you all up we have been married for 7 years and we still have our precious pets and each other. Now our focus in life turned to making a family, oh boy were we not ready for what God had planned for us. We just thought it would just happen and then we had many events happen but not us getting pregnant, my husband got diagnosed with testicular cancer! Praise the Lord it was contained in the testicle and was caught early enough that all they had to do was remove it, yes it was rough and very scary, but our love for each other and for God grew that day! Our family and Church family was always there for us know matter what happened!  Then our journey took another turn for the worse my Father - in -law was diagnosed with lymphoma stage 4 he fought the battle and went to be in Heaven with the Lord , we love and miss him dearly not a day goes by that we don't think about him! and at the same time all that was going on my dad fell out of his tree stand and crushed both of his ankles and Praise the Lord he had surgery and can walk and works and is a very strong man! not a day goes by that through all the ups and downs of life that were thrown at us our love for each other has grown so much. Oh yes happy things have also happened through the seven years: my brother got married and bought a house of their own in the same subdivision that we live in, how cool to be able to ride a bike or walk to their house! also Justin's sister got married in bloomington what a fun weekend that was!