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The New Mom Podcast is a Christian motherhood podcast for women navigating pregnancy, postpartum, and early motherhood.
Whether you're a first-time mom, expecting, or in the middle of sleepless nights, this show offers real, honest conversations about motherhood, marriage, identity, and faith. We talk about birth stories, postpartum recovery, relationships, mental health, and trusting God through every stage of motherhood. If you're looking for encouragement, practical advice, and a reminder that you're not alone—this podcast is for you.
Our prayer is that New Mom leaves you feeling seen, strengthened, and a little more equipped for the beautiful calling of motherhood!
New episodes weekly.
Hello, and welcome back to New Mom. I'm your host, Carrie Alexander, and I am so excited to be with you here today. Today's episode is a long time coming. To be honest, Lacey Jones, who is my guest, we first recorded this conversation back in June. Well, a conversation, and it was over Zoom.
Carrie:And for the first time on the show, honestly, we had this just major glitch on my end and the conversation didn't save. And so she was gracious enough to come back a few months later and bless us with this conversation. I felt like her testimony on her two Miracle Children was such a special story that I had to bring her back. We had to make it happen. And we did.
Carrie:And you guys, the craziest thing is somehow the video didn't say it this time. So if you're a video watcher and you're someone who loves to watch podcasts to watch and listen, I just want to apologize because you can't do that this week. However, I will tag Lacey social so you can see her beautiful face and find her on Instagram and all the good things like that. But I wanted to release it anyway because she's a powerhouse and her testimony with her children, her infertility journey turned to two Miracle Babies, as well as just her wisdom and her view on the legacy that we get to leave our kids with as followers of Christ. She just spews so much.
Carrie:So I, gosh, I just hope that you enjoyed this conversation as much as I do. And I again apologize for the no video this week, but we'll be back next week with video. And I'm hoping that one day I'll get Lacey to come from Florida up to Nashville to be in person in the studio so we can finally see her beautiful face. Anyway, without further ado, here is my conversation with Lacey Jones. Hey, well, Lacey, welcome to New Mom.
Carrie:Thank you for being on the podcast.
Lacey:I'm so excited to be here.
Carrie:I have to give our audience the behind the scenes and tell them that we honestly have had a conversation before because you were so gracious to come back on. We recorded, what, like a few months ago now. It wasn't super recent and it did not save. And I was so upset. My computer just completely crashed out, completely went full in the middle of our conversation.
Carrie:It's like, sorry, you can't have one more second of this And you were just so gracious to say, that's okay. Like the Lord's will be done. Let's talk again. And we made it happen. And so I just wanna say like genuinely thank you so much for making the time to come back and do this again.
Carrie:And I totally trust that the Lord had something that he wanted us to say today that it just wasn't meant that day. So, anyway, thanks for being back, Lacey.
Lacey:I am excited and agree with you. There was something that God, I think, orchestrated through all of the technology glitches that means today is gonna be even more fruitful.
Carrie:Absolutely. And your earrings are very fruitful. I am loving those things. Those are beautiful.
Lacey:I love
Carrie:a statement earring. You can't get especially when you don't have a necklace on, I feel like it's just like it's such a power move. I love it. So before we dive too far in, tell us a little bit about, who you are, about your family, about your faith maybe, just a little bio on yourself.
Lacey:Yeah, so my name is Lacey Jones. I live in Alachua, Florida, which is a small rural town just north of Gainesville. My husband and I met when we were undergrads at the University of Florida and we are both born and raised in Florida not in Gainesville but we really wanted to build our life and our family here so we have been here for quite some time and we have two beautiful children, that we definitely call our miracle kids. I'm almost nine year old little boy and then, oh my goodness, an almost five year old little girl and I just can't believe that. But during my days, I work in corporate America.
Lacey:I've worked in corporate communications for almost fifteen years and on the side, I am really passionate about ministry and it's definitely what God has called me to, especially mom and women's ministry. So I do a lot of speaking at churches for different events and can you find me on Instagram where I am hoping to encourage as many women who find my page.
Carrie:Gosh, well your page really is an encouragement. You posted something today or it popped up about that something you're praying for moms that were going through a certain struggle and your heart is just always there. I'll tag you at the end of this conversation so moms can follow, but you just post really beautiful and intentional. You can tell prayerful things. You put a lot of thought into that and you're definitely anointed in that area.
Carrie:So, I'm excited for you. Gosh well the first question I want to always ask is what is the Lord teaching you in this season of motherhood?
Lacey:Right now God is teaching me that I have to be so protective of my time and I feel like that's a lesson that I learned over and over again, which probably is should be signaling to me that maybe I'm not learning it well enough.
Speaker 3:Repeated names. Exactly like the same
Lacey:thing Lacey oh my goodness but I started a new job about four months ago, and my youngest started kindergarten, and, you know, summer is just, a really busy time in general with kids not in their traditional, like, routines, and sports usually aren't going in all of those things. And so there's just been a lot of life change for my family. And with that, I feel like I put a lot of pressure on myself that I have to give a 100% to every single area of my life. And when we only have a 100% to give, I can't give 100% to kids and a 100% to my husband and a 100% to my job and like all the other categories in my life like there has to be some weeks where my kids get the majority of me and then other weeks like there it looks a little bit different and I think the balance is something moms especially working moms struggle with a lot and right now I'm trying to find contentment this is the season I'm in so how do I make it look and feel good for me right now?
Carrie:Oh that's so good Lacey I relate to that so much. A word that has been coming to mind when I've been talking to the Lord lately has been abide. And I feel like He keeps reminding me because I get really overwhelmed by nature and I want to give 100% to everything. But for everything there is a season, you know. And I feel like he's making me realize that it's not about balance for me because I'm so that's the way my brain works, right?
Carrie:I'll give this amount to this. But it's very much about abiding. Like you just said, there's going to be days where he's like, hey, today you are mom all the way. That's what I want you to do. Go be a servant.
Carrie:And there's days where it's like, hey, today it's ministry mode or today it's work mode. Hone in on that and release, you know, and let someone else love your kids. Let your parents, let your spouse, whatever. And so anyway, I have been learning that and I have felt the last month I've done a big shift in that area where all of a sudden, like, I just really felt him asking me to release some of my time that I was putting toward certain work that I actually realized was costing me a lot of time. You kind have to do reassessments as a mom where you're like, How much time is going into this that isn't actually that beneficial?
Carrie:And I felt like he was like would you trust me and just spend less time? So I've been doing I do all the socials for this the show and I was doing like six to seven days on socials and I felt like he was like would you do three to four? Would you just delete it off your phone and just not worry about promoting anything? And trust me, I've been doing that. And it has been my most joyful month as a mom to date.
Carrie:I can tell you that. And I love this ministry. Like, I could just I love it so much. But I feel like now when I'm having these conversations, my joy is through the roof because it's not something I'm pouring you know what I mean? Like, it's just the time is better.
Lacey:An empty cup.
Carrie:It's been so good. And then my time with my son has felt better. Anyway, I just say that to say that is so good. I hope everybody receives what you just said, because that's something that God's been teaching me too. As moms, I think you're right.
Carrie:Like it's not about, Okay, you know, it's going to always look like this each day the way it's spread, but it's more about just being in constant prayer with the Lord. I mean, like, today, I feel like my kids need more of me or today I feel like this other thing is is where God wants my attention to go. So that's so beautiful. Let's keep abiding.
Lacey:And I really have such conviction over and over that where the enemy wants moms to be is a place of busyness. And sometimes we allow the busyness of really good things. Like, it's not like, you know, we're putting so many things on our calendars that we dread and hate. I mean, yes, there's a couple of those things on there, but we, I think, have a tendency. I definitely have a tendency to fill the calendar with so many things that are good, and that's exactly the place of panic and overwhelm, like you said, that the enemy wants me to be in.
Lacey:Because when I start to get this, like, heightened stress and I'm overwhelmed because there's no margin in the calendar, that's when the things that are the best for me have to start going. Like, I don't know about you, but when I am exhausted, like, I'm burning the candle at both ends, there's way too much in our family calendar, that's when I sleep in a little bit more. So my quiet time gets shorter. My workout is the first thing to not happen. There might be a little less, like family dinner might still exist, but it's like a bunch of takeout and, like or peeing
Speaker 3:out the fridge and, like not not that takeout's bad at
Lacey:all is what I'm trying to say. But it's just that when we allow busyness to distract us, the enemy, I feel like, is just like sitting back with, like, popcorn. Yes. I'm so glad. Like, keep keep going, Lacey.
Lacey:Yeah. When was it can work counter.
Carrie:Yes. It can add a spirit of chaos even in the beauty. And then all of a sudden you're running at this chaotic pace. It's so true. Okay, so I love so many elements of your story.
Carrie:And again, we've talked, so
Lacey:I know some of this, but
Carrie:I also know other things are going to come up because that just inevitably happens when you have two coffees with someone. But I really want you to take the time to tell about your story before you had your son, when you were dealing with that time of what seemed like infertility. Would you just kind of share a little bit about that part of your story and maybe how you prayed through that and just encourage the moms out there that maybe are well, first of all, maybe there are women listening who are just praying for their first baby right now, or maybe there are moms listening who are having secondary infertility or feeling like the second one's taking longer and they're anxious, like pour into those moms right now with your story because I think it's so beautiful what God did.
Lacey:Well, the first thing I'll say is if you're listening and you're struggling with infertility, you are not alone. And that's always so, so important for me to say because when we were trying to get pregnant the first time, I felt very alone. I felt like no one around me was struggling with what I was struggling with. And because of that, I I carried it around as if it were something to be ashamed of, and my husband and I kept our story just between us. It took a very long time for me to even open up to my mom and my sister and and my closest friends about what we were struggling with because I just felt that my body was so broken and I didn't understand and I blamed God.
Lacey:I was like God you designed my body and my body is not doing something that it's supposed to do so like why did you make my body broken? Like I want to be a mom. Like I I just like yearn for that and our story you know and like many people who are trying to get pregnant and realize that it's taking longer or it's much harder than they expected you don't really know if things are going to work out the way you want them to until you start trying and that was my husband and I story. So we you know, got married, we wanted to just wait two years of enjoying like newlywed life and then hey all of a sudden like after two years we should be parents and that was not our story and when we started trying things were not working, and ultimately, I ended up having to meet with an Infertility team. And I know I shared you shared this story with you before, but it's where my mind just went now.
Lacey:The story of getting pregnant with our oldest is honestly something that anytime I think about, I'm like, this
Speaker 3:is not real life. Like, this is so crazy because
Carrie:Tell it again. Tell it again.
Speaker 3:We were, you know, going through
Lacey:this season, and I will say praying bold, honest prayers is one of the most beautiful ways to triumph. And the triumph might not look like the end result that you are hoping for. So I don't wanna mask that as any sort of inclination that just because you're praying really bold prayers, you're gonna get what you're looking for. You're gonna get the ultimate thing that's the best for you because God has good plans for you, and his plans are good. But during that season of wanting so desperately to be a mom and nothing was working out for us and going through the infertility plan and, you know, these plans are a stepping stone.
Lacey:You have to do one thing before you do another, and it gets exhausting and just so emotionally overwhelming. But my husband and I just prayed together because we believed that God was either gonna have to change our desire to be parents or he was gonna have to work things out for us to become parents. And I'm so grateful for both of our Miracle children, but particularly with Easton, our son, we were, you know, a week away from having to go to the next step of our infertility treatment, and for anyone who's gone through this, you know that before you kind of can go to a more aggressive medicine or a more aggressive treatment, you have to take a pregnancy test because they want to, of course, confirm that you're not pregnant before you go to this next round. And I just remember this particular week, I was so exhausted, like coming home from work, 05:00 every evening, and I was needing to take a nap, which at the time, like, I can look back now and realize, oh my are you crazy? Like, a grown woman should not have to take a nap every day.
Lacey:That's what was happening, and after several days of this, one particular day I told my husband I need to take a nap and we can cook dinner afterwards but like I just need like twenty minutes to like bounce back because I'm exhausted and it was a really exhausting work season so it was easy for me to blame my job for it.
Carrie:Yeah write it
Speaker 3:But I took this
Lacey:nap and I kid you not, Jesus came to me in a dream and told me to take a pregnancy test and I remember, I mean this is almost ten years ago at this point, I remember waking up thinking you are really losing your mind. Like, you like, literally, Jesus came to you, and he told you to take a pregnancy test. And I was I hope you have, this, like,
Speaker 3:late afternoon nap. You're a little bit disoriented. Yes. Could only imagine how crazy I looked if someone had seen me. Like, I'm like, okay.
Lacey:Well, I've taken what feels like a 100 tests at this point. Like, what's one more? So I took a test, and then I went out into the kitchen. We made dinner, and then I remembered, like, oh, my goodness. Like, there's this test.
Lacey:Like, honestly, the thought was I need to get it and throw it away. I didn't want it to turn into, like, a whole thing, and my husband found it, and it's, like, another really depressing night. But when I looked at the test, it was positive. And I just remember my husband is watching some kind of sports in the living room. I walked out.
Lacey:I have this, like, test in my hand, and I'm talking a
Speaker 3:100 miles an hour in this
Lacey:crazy Southern accent of, like, I don't know what to tell you, but I was taking a nap, and Jesus came to me, and he told me to take a pregnancy test. And so I did, and now it's positive and, like,
Speaker 3:what's happening? And then, like, his jaw just, like, hit the
Lacey:floor. I'm pretty sure I had to, like, repeat it
Carrie:properly. This is what I said.
Speaker 3:Let me try to slow it down for you. Then I took, I don't
Lacey:even know, probably 10 more tests just to confirm. I called my Infertility team first thing the next morning, and they're like, That's not possible. All of our tests, they're What? Come in, we're going to do blood work to confirm it. And they did the blood work and right then and there we're like Lacey oh my goodness like not only are you pregnant but your HCG levels are so high like you might have twins and so we're gonna have to wait to do an ultrasound.
Lacey:Like, that was how crazy it was, and we
Speaker 3:did not have we did not have twins.
Lacey:That was a big week. It was a week, I think, from
Speaker 3:that little fun fact to finding out, like, are there is there one miracle?
Carrie:Is there one or two?
Lacey:Oh my goodness. Anyway, like, the sun whirlwind. Feels such a crazy thing. But, like, how like, god. Thank you.
Lacey:Like, how good was god that we had gone through this, like, really heartbreaking season. We refused to give up. We're like, we're not giving up. Like, this is this is gonna work out. I don't know how, but, like, it's gonna work out.
Lacey:And then for, like, such a crazy thing of, like, literally having Jesus say, like, you should take a test and waking up being like, I'm losing my mind and having to literally just the luxury of skipping like all of those future steps in our treatment plan because God gave us our miracle in the midst of that. And I'm so grateful for it.
Carrie:It's amazing. It's an amazing story and it's encouragement. What did the time before you were pregnant look like for you guys in your prayer life? Like was that a journey? Because I know I have dear friends that are walking through this right now just that our family and it's I've seen the journey a little bit and I know that it just that there's an ebb and flow of hope.
Carrie:It's hard to hold on to. Like, what did that look like for you guys? And I also know at a certain time you let people in. So like, what was all of that like?
Lacey:Yeah. So a journey is really a great description for it because there were, you know, nights we would sit on the couch together. It would be right before bed. Like, we had just really created this habit of praying together every single day. And sometimes that might have looked like a thirty, forty five minute cry session together, you know, like just two hearts really uniting around one thing that we so desperately wanted.
Lacey:And other nights, you know, they were very short, like, maybe only my husband prayed or maybe only I prayed, and it was like, god, like, you know what we want. Like, can you just make it happen? Like, we're going right now. Like, you know, and it sounds harsh, but it's real. And when you're walking through something, and it might not be infertility, it might be some other huge dream or expectation or desire that you have on your heart.
Lacey:And when you're praying through seasons where you're asking the lord for the same thing over and over and over again, it can really wear you down. And there are seasons where all I want is clarity, and this is one of those things. Like, I want, you know, to walk to the mailbox and to have this letter from the lord where he's given me, like, 10 steps. Like, do these things, Lacey, and everything will work out, and god doesn't always work that way. And I'm learning that we can't always have clarity, but we can always have trust, and that's exactly what we had to do in this season.
Lacey:It's like we had to wake up and choose to trust the lord even when we didn't want to. And as far as bringing other people into the conversation, there was one particular medicine that I was going to need to start taking and you know I'm a person who always looks at side effects and you know you go to the pharmacist and you get like that paper and it's like 12 pages long and most people probably toss it like I'm the one that reads into things and I was just terrified like this medicine had a lot of side effects and there were certainly a lot of risks and I from a family where my mom has worked in the medical field for a really long time and all I could think about was I just need to talk to my mom about it like we can't keep this burden like and also it's not really biblical for us to continue to try to carry this burden alone. Like the Lord wants our family and our friends who love us so deeply to carry this with us and so took a day off work. I drove to my hometown about an hour and a half away and I ended up talking to my mom about everything and of course she was heartbroken to not have been aware of all the struggles that we had but I was so grateful that some of the procedures and things that I had done were after I told my mom so that my mom could be praying so intentionally and my dad and my sister and again like this close knit community of people that we trusted with things could walk through it with us and I know I said before but it's worth repeating if you are walking through a season of infertility, whether it's secondary infertility or you've been, you know, navigating this for a really long time, find your people.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Lacey:Make sure that you are really connecting with someone who can love on you, who can pray with you, who can just come sit with you on your couch and literally not say a thing, but just cry with you if that's what you need because that's what I need some days too.
Carrie:Well, I was gonna ask that. So, obviously there might be women listening who are walking through this, and I pray this is encouraging to them or they send it to a friend that they know is walking through this. But also as moms, many of us have been blessed with babies that are listeners. What would you say? Like, again, I've had people, I've had friends that are close to me walk through this.
Carrie:And when you are a mom who has been blessed with a baby, there can be a level of like, I want to love them because I know this information and I'm not sure what they they need. Like, how did you feel loved? I know everybody might be different, but what did your close people that maybe they were pregnant when you were walking through Or, you know, I know that's so sensitive and so hard to watch other people have your miracle go on in front of you. But also we're still moms that want to love our friends that aren't there yet, And believe for them. So what helped you in that time?
Carrie:Like, you want space?
Lacey:Did you
Carrie:want the words?
Lacey:Once we finally brought our people into what we were facing, we really just needed reminders that were loved. And for me specifically, because I was really honest about I feel like this is my fault. It's my body. It's some things that it was basically because my body does not work the way that it's supposed to. It was the reason that we weren't getting pregnant.
Lacey:And I just needed constant reinforcement from Cody, that's my husband, and from people around me that I was loved and that we were loved and it didn't matter what the future held that, like, we we were still a family. Cody and I family when we got married. And sometimes that was, hey, I heard this song on the radio and it reminded me reminded me of you or it was scripture that people would send to me. I love audio prayers. So, you know, texting someone a prayer is one thing, and that's a beautiful thing.
Lacey:Don't get me wrong. But when you can send someone an audio message where they can actually just hear your voice, like, was just so encouraging to know that people were praying for us, and they were wanting to carry the burden with us. And I think that that's honestly just something that you might feel uncomfortable doing because you might think, oh, I'm overstepping or maybe they want space or all of these things. But if you're close enough with a mom, just trust that if she really just wants her space, she'll say, hey. I love you.
Lacey:Thank you for loving on me right now, but I don't wanna talk about it today. And then Yeah.
Carrie:Totally. That
Lacey:that is still probably the best thing that you could do is just ask her, what can I do for you today?
Carrie:That's beautiful. Thanks, Lacey. That's honestly really helpful. Okay. So you have just all the God stories in your motherhood journey, which I love.
Carrie:But why don't you tell us a little bit about your pregnancy and your experience with your second?
Lacey:Oh, my goodness. This is Little Blakely Joe. She is so full of life and full of sass and all of the things. And my favorite thing that I tell people about our daughter is that I prayed for her for two years by name before I ever got pregnant with her. And it she's gonna turn five in a few weeks, and it still makes me emotional thinking about it because I had no choice but to say, god, I want another baby.
Lacey:We want another baby. The goal is never just to have one miracle. It's but we want two. But just because god gives you one miracle doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get, you know, endless supply here. Yes.
Lacey:He is able, but it doesn't mean that that's gonna be our story. So I actually, a few weeks ago, was looking back in some of my own journals, and I wish I remember the date at the top of the page, but I can't right now. But I literally was writing in the journal my prayer, and there was, like, this part that I remember that I wrote, and it said, god, we're we're praying for a miracle, and I commit this baby to you. I commit Blakely Joe to you. And I wasn't even pregnant with her, but I just loved looking back in my journal and, like, seeing these just moments of such strong faith when my heart was broken.
Lacey:And now looking back, I'm like, god. Like, thank you for showing off. Like, I believe that you could, but it didn't mean that you had to. Like, you could have wrote the story a 100 different ways, and you chose to give me her. But one of the things that I am so deeply convinced of is that the reason god didn't let me shape the desire to be a girl mom and the reason that he helped me grow this strong prayer life of really learning to pray for her before she ever existed is because we were going to walk through deep, deep darkness through my pregnancy, through her delivery, and the three years that would follow.
Lacey:And I needed to know how to be a mom who could get on my knees and completely cry out to the Lord for my daughter because we were gonna go through the thick of it. But it's it's a long story. There's many parts to it, but I had a super complicated, higher risk pregnancy with her. And towards the end of the pregnancy, it was just hard. Like, honestly, like, getting up and moving was just so difficult.
Lacey:And I remember going to my thirty seven week checkup, and, you know, I meant a a chief communications officer role. I have a huge team, like, lots of work to do, like, trying to crush mom life and working life and, like, boss life, all of the things, wife life, and it was just like this pregnancy is killing me. I really feel that way. And I remember going to this appointment, and my OB was like, Lacey, like, I'm just really worried about you. I think you might need to go to labor and delivery and have some more evaluations.
Lacey:And I'm like, okay. I don't have time for this. Like, literally, this is today is not the day, but I'm like, whatever. So I I go to the I go to labor and delivery at the hospital, which was really How
Carrie:many weeks were you?
Lacey:Thirty seven. Okay. So I go into labor and delivery. Like, I have monitoring. Keep in mind.
Lacey:I'm, like, answering emails, like, texting. I don't know. Probably my mom, my husband, all of these things. You know, my son's in school, eighth and preschool, and I just remembered, like, the scene got a little different in, the triage area, and I didn't I didn't quite process at the time, like, how serious things were getting. But long story short, the doctor came in and was basically like, hey.
Lacey:There there's just enough complications that you're having. I had developed preeclampsia. I had atypical preeclampsia, so there's usually like a lot of swelling and just like extra liquid and or extra fluids in your body and I didn't have that. Instead it was drastic issues with heart rate for both me and for Blakely. They were like, we're gonna need to induce you, and, you know, you're gonna have a baby.
Lacey:Your body's not ready for this, so it could take several, several days for this to work, but you're we're gonna move you to a room. And I was like, I'm sorry. What? I'm pretty sure I said, I have a work meeting this afternoon.
Speaker 3:Was just waiting to attend,
Lacey:and my husband's not here. So no. Very
Speaker 3:honest.
Lacey:That's not
Carrie:gonna work for me.
Speaker 3:What is happening? And then I think they had
Lacey:to repeat it a couple of times for me to just wake up to reality of, oh my gosh, there's something wrong. Okay, yes, this actually is the most important thing right now. Yeah, yeah. I you know, called my husband, had to call my mom so she could drive into town to pick up my son from school. It's like all of these things.
Lacey:Like, you have a vision, like, oh, I can't wait to, you know, make sure that we get, like, a tuck him in, give him maybe read an extra book, like, these things because maybe tomorrow we're going to the hospital. Like, none of that happened. It was like, hey. Nana's picking you up. I hope everything's gonna be fine.
Lacey:But I ended up going, you know, into delivery, and what was supposed to be, like, several days ended up being several hours. My husband jokes all of the time about how they're like, you're not gonna have like a good meal for quite a few days once we start inducing you, so you might want to go get her something good. I wanted a steak and a baked potato. Don't ask me why.
Carrie:Love it. Love it.
Lacey:So my husband leaves to go get takeout so we can have, like, unexpected date night in the hospital.
Carrie:Steak night. Yeah. Hospital steak. Nothing like it. Go get that fancy stuff.
Speaker 3:I don't I think you went to, like, Longhorns. I don't even remember. But
Lacey:I just it was not I kid you not, Carrie. I think it was an hour at most after they had started medication, and things were like, something's happening. Moving. Called the nurse and I was like, I know y'all said nothing's gonna happen, but like maybe if you could just confirm that. And literally she confirms, It looks you know, does her job and was like, yeah.
Lacey:You're gonna have a baby really soon. And I was like, what? Like, you literally just said it's gonna take multiple days. You sent my husband to give me a steak. He's here.
Lacey:Like, what's happening?
Speaker 3:So then I'm like, give me my phone. So I'm calling my husband.
Carrie:Like a long horn.
Speaker 3:He's like, I don't even have the food. What do I do? And I'm like, you've come to
Carrie:the hospital.
Speaker 3:I just these, like, little moments. And I'm sure every mom has these stories of, like, delivery. Like, when you start to think about it, it's, like, such a crazy time in your, like is. Life, and then you have all of these, like, little stories. It's one
Carrie:of the craziest days in your life, and there's always, like I think no matter what the story is, like, the common thread is there's always like these little bits of humor even in very intense stories like that was just something we'll never forget especially the husband and wife dynamic it's always just something.
Lacey:Something but in all seriousness thankfully he was able to get back to the hospital But when Blakely was born, when she was born, there was there was no sound. Her color was completely gray, and it was the worst ten minutes of our life. And I just remember them saying NICU respiratory stat. NICU respiratory stat. And I think in a matter of a few seconds there were so many nurses in our room and it was horrible.
Lacey:And I wasn't prepared for it. No mom would be prepared for that, but I definitely wasn't prepared for God, I prayed for her for two years by name, And not only did you give me a girl I'm sorry. Not only did you give me a second baby, but you gave me a girl, which was the deepest desire of my heart. And now I don't know if she's gonna make it. And my husband and I never actually spoke to each other during these ten minutes.
Lacey:It was just like this look that we each gave each other, and we didn't need to say words to know what was going through each of our minds. But thank you, Jesus, that they were able to resuscitate our daughter, and we left the hospital after several things happening where we thought everything is gonna be okay. Like, that was a horrific delivery story, but everything's gonna be okay. And, unfortunately, we learned that because of some of the complications at birth that we experienced, there were some medical challenges that our daughter was gonna have to overcome, and that season of our life was torturous because we just did not know how we were gonna make it through. And if it were not for our faith in Jesus, I truly don't think that we would have because there were seasons where there were three, four, sometimes five specialist doctor's appointments a week that we were navigating to get answers.
Lacey:It just felt like once you went to one doctor's appointment, like, the door would open, and now all of a sudden you would discover through testing or different things that there's actually five other challenges that we're gonna have to navigate, which lead to what felt like 10 more doctor's appointments, and everything just kept compounding. And it's so easy in those seasons to say, why? Like, my god, why? Like, it was so hard to get to this point to become a mom, and now we have to face all of these things. And it was oh my goodness.
Lacey:It was so hard, especially navigating it, wanting to make sure that we were still giving attention to our oldest and
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Lacey:You know, our I I we still worked as two full time working parents in this season and wanting to make sure we still had time for each other as, like, husband and wife and investing in our marriage. And we just had to keep coming back to this truth that our circumstances don't define who god is. And our circumstances, oh my gosh, they sucked. And I would I would say that over and over again. They were horrible.
Lacey:But when I can look back now knowing that my daughter is almost turning five, and I can think about her birth story knowing where we were and where we are today. Like, the evidence of god's goodness is woven all throughout her story. And one of my favorite things right now is she loves the song goodness of god. And when she sings that song, all of my life, you have been faithful. All of my life, you have been so, so good.
Lacey:And as an adult, you can sing that, and you have, you know, decades of a testimony. Yeah. To sing that. But when you can look at a four year old, almost five year old, and she has her eyes closed and she's singing that, she doesn't fully grasp because she's so young everything that God carried her through. I mean, she was literally without breath in her lungs, and he filled her lungs with breath.
Lacey:And when she sings all of my life, you've been faithful. All of my life, you've been so, so good, and I know her story. Oh my goodness. It just, like, fills me with such emotion to know that we went through that, but god is still good. And that season taught me to have the strongest prayer life that I've ever had, and it also taught me to worship with such a different intention so that my life literally was a never ending conversation with God.
Lacey:Like, learning what it truly means to pray without ceasing.
Carrie:Such a powerful story, and I know so many parents walk through medical things with their kids. And I would love to know, like, when you guys were going through that, and you kinda touched on it with your son, but, like, maybe give us some practical things that you think like if you knew there was a mom who said, okay, that's exactly where we're at. Like, we're going there five days a week and we're figuring this out. We have an older kid like, and we want to prioritize our marriage. What are some things that you can remember?
Carrie:Of course, like you just said, prayer is the anchor. Right? Jesus is our anchor. But when you are in the trenches of that and it feels like there's no end in sight, how what what were some survival mode things that you would encourage another parent to try?
Lacey:So two things came to my mind really quickly. The first is absolutely ask for help. So do you have a neighbor? Do have someone in your small group? Is your best friend ten minutes down the road who can put a couple meals in your freezer for those days that you're gonna be at the hospital really late and you're gonna come home or just have the warm meal completely out on your stove ready to go.
Lacey:Those were things that were so helpful to us is that we had people on the days where our appointments were absolutely out of control. They made sure that nourishment, which we all need, were there, And it was one huge burden that we didn't have to really focus on on many, many weeks. And the second thing, and it really is just kind of like that holistic, like, take a step back kind of encouragement and advice is make decisions really understanding how they're gonna impact everyone in your family, not just for the child that you have going through a really bad medical complication or a season of medical complications. And when what I mean by that, a very tangible example, there was a season where Blakely had to have treatment in Jacksonville, Florida, which is a two hour, one way drive from where our home is. And this treatment actually was every ten days for almost four months, and it was hard, especially as two working parents.
Lacey:And I would have much rather done that travel four hours in the car with an infant with my husband or always having someone with me, but we had to look at how is this gonna impact our son, how is this gonna impact my husband and me, like, mentally if every ten days, like, this is gonna happen. And so what we decided is that it would be much, much better because we don't have any family that lives in this new town that we live in for the for us to switch off. I would take our daughter for her treatment, and then the next ten days, my husband would take because that allowed us to keep the routine of the morning routine, getting to school, same time getting picked up from preschool for our son, like that evening routine. We wanted that consistency for our son, and by taking turns doing treatment with our daughter and traveling so far for it allowed us to create that structure the same way for him, and he needed that just as much as we needed that. And we're also super blessed.
Lacey:I was just reflecting on this with my mom a few weeks ago, but, because I'm from the Jacksonville area and her treatment is there, my sister works downtown Jacksonville and so the trips that I would take by myself she would always meet me for lunch or a really good friend in Jacksonville who's a nurse at a major hospital there and she would come and visit me sometimes before treatments and I didn't know it then but I had some memories pop up on Facebook and that's what really helped me reflect on it now again just a few weeks ago of that's like the hand of God I'm convinced of in that season that out of all the places she needed to be that was the town where her treatment was and so even when I had to make that drive along one with a baby that I'm nursing you know like having to stop it's like there was a lot of logistical challenges with it It wasn't fun.
Carrie:Yeah. Can imagine.
Lacey:Had someone there to love me when I got there, and sometimes just sit and let me cry, or sometimes they were happy with just too. You know? And I just I'm so grateful that even when things are hard and they don't make sense and sometimes we're bitter that we're walking through things that we're walking through, god is just like, hey. Can you take a deep breath? Can you step back?
Lacey:Because I'm actually providing these small little blessings to help you along the way so I can get you to the place that I'm carrying you to. And I wish that I had recognized more of that in this season, but I'm grateful I at least recognize it now.
Carrie:You have that hindsight perspective. Yeah. Maybe you already kind of answered it with that gratitude thing, but I do just wanna touch on similar to when people are walking through infertility, there's just constant and really this is true in life. This is motherhood. This is everything.
Carrie:There's always someone that has a better situation. There's always someone that has a better version of your story that isn't having to go through that. How did you handle and maybe through honest prayers, I'm just curious, like being the mom that was going through that when many other people didn't have to walk through that, many other friends, and maybe they also got pregnant easily. It's like, okay, you just popped out a bunch of kids and no complications. But I see your heart and I see that clearly you know the Lord well and you love Him and you trust, you know, Him.
Carrie:And I see that with you. But was there a wrestle to that or humans? And how did you kinda navigate that feeling like, those feelings?
Lacey:Oh my goodness. Yes. There were days where I needed to borrow someone else's faith because mine was the tank was low. And that's why community is so important. Like, who who you allow to be in your inner circle and feed life and advice and love over you matters, whether you're going through a really hard season like I'm talking about or not.
Lacey:And I I had to get to this place where I really believed that just because God was doing something good in someone else's life didn't mean that he had an expiration date or a max capacity on doing something good in mine.
Carrie:Say that. From the rooftops. We to hear all that.
Lacey:It's so hard. Just because God's blessing her doesn't mean He's like, oh, okay.
Carrie:There's the blessing. Yeah. There's a limit.
Lacey:That's not how He works, but that's how we're human. That's how we feel some days, and that's why I just keep coming back to prayer. Like, I'm I'm known in my circle of friends as the prayer warrior, and I used to be like, not that I didn't like the title, but I don't know. It just almost made me feel uncomfortable and not able to embrace it because I
Speaker 3:I've earned that through walking through this. You yes you should.
Lacey:Oh my goodness like I had no choice and when you're going through some of the things that we went through especially as a as a mom and I know you'll get this when your kid is suffering, like, you want nothing more than to be like, let me take your place. Like, let me have this procedure. Let me have this poked and prodding everywhere. Let me go through this treatment for you. Like, I wanted to take all of this, and I just got to this place where I would pray over and over again, and I would keep saying why.
Lacey:Like, I just wanted to know why. Like, god, why are you allowing this to happen? Because you actually are sovereign over all things. So, like, in the blink of an eye, you can make all of this go away, or better yet, you could have never let it happen in the first place.
Speaker 3:Mhmm.
Lacey:And I know that might be like, dang. I can't believe she said that, but that was just like this place of honesty that I had to get to myself, and that's where, like, oh, somebody read my prayer journal. They might question if I love Jesus on some days because it got real rough.
Carrie:At some point He needs our honesty. Right? He can take it.
Lacey:But I I would just say these things over and over, and I had to get to this place where I'm like, okay. You know what, Lacey? I'm not going to know why. Like, on this side of heaven, I might not ever understand, but here's one thing I'm convinced of. The Lord has made it so abundantly clear that my motherhood story is gonna make a difference in the lives of other women.
Lacey:And then I had to accept that if I had to walk through if my family had to walk through the things that we had to walk through so other people could come to know Jesus, then I have to be okay with that because making heaven bigger is the ultimate goal as a believer. I want people to know the same Jesus that I know, and I want people to fall in love with my savior because he is good, and he's worthy to be trusted even on the days we wake up and things don't make sense, and we don't wanna trust him. But when you look back over his track record, it really gives you confidence to step forward in the future in faith knowing I don't have all of the answers, and I don't have the clarity I'm looking for. Mhmm. But I do have trust because that's a choice, and so I'm going to choose to trust him.
Carrie:So I just heard this in a sermon the other day, and maybe this is what you're quoting from when Mother Teresa have you heard this story that I I can't remember exactly who was. My pastor just told this brief story that, someone who's famous, I don't know his name, asked Mother Teresa for prayer because she said, How can I pray for you? And he told her what was going on whenever this was. I don't even know when she was around, to be honest, but she's obviously incredible. And he said, I just really need clarity.
Carrie:And she said, I won't pray for clarity. I'll pray for trust. And so when you just said that
Speaker 3:So good.
Carrie:I was like, Lacey's floating Mother Teresa. Just went, no.
Lacey:You're so wise. But it's it's true.
Carrie:And he said that, I was like, wow, dang. And the cool thing is ever since my pastor said that maybe two weeks ago, shout out to Stanley actually, I'm just gonna shout him out. But he was saying that and ever since then, when Connor and I've been praying the last two weeks, we are convicted by how often I'm like, Could you just give us clarity? Just hit us with some clarity. Oh Lord, I just really seek this clarity.
Carrie:And so we just keep saying, No Lord, further trust, further surrender, further trust. And so anyway, that is just that is so good. Okay, so you are now, praise God, you are in this peaceful chapter of your life. I know you guys still have all the sweet, you know, busyness going on in a sense and he's teaching you things in that. But you are on the other side of this mountain and we just praise God for that.
Carrie:What does life look like now with your kids that are they're a little bit older, they're healthy, they're in school. You you guys also work, like even for working moms that are listening to this, like what does your life look like now?
Speaker 3:It is just nonstop. Wait. I I mean, I I don't know how to describe it besides that.
Lacey:Nonstop. Yes. You know, definitely on the other side of it with likely it's dancing. I love that because I danced my whole life. And so part of my dream to have a little girl was I wanted to share my love for ballet, and, our son, you know, does baseball.
Lacey:So we have sports. We have school. We So fun. Kids to Disney because we're two hours from Disney, and they love it. And some people are like, why do you spend so much money taking your kids to Disney?
Lacey:I'm like, listen. As long as they believe in the magic, they're gonna take my money because
Carrie:There's there's few things that we look forward to more than letting Archie see. Like, when he's old enough to take in all that Disney is. It is magical. It really is.
Lacey:It really I mean, it sounds so absolutely cliche and stupid, but it is It is. Magical. But our life is our life is full, but I am trying as hard as I can to protect that time so that we have a good bit of family time, good bit of time just my husband and I, good bit of time, like, with friends. I lead a mom's small group at church, and we are, yeah, just really trying, I feel like, to enjoy this season of life while our kids are still in that sweet little stage, but yet
Carrie:they can
Lacey:independent in a little bit of areas, a little bit of areas. And I feel like it teaches you more and more, like, what it's like to be a mom as your kids continue to age. It really is the easiest thing and I think it's such a huge challenge, but it's also incredibly rewarding to figure out if I am tasked with raising these children and raising them as little disciples, what does that look like in my day to day? And that I I like I mentioned, it's it's hard, but I think it's probably one of the most rewarding experiences.
Carrie:That's so good. Okay. So last question. What is your advice for new moms?
Lacey:I'm gonna give you advice for any mom. How about that?
Carrie:Please do it.
Lacey:So I have been thinking a lot lately about what legacy means and whether you're walking through having a newborn or toddlers or maybe you're listening and you're an empty nester and your kids are, you know long been out of the house but one day our kids are going to be in a different season where they're going to talk about what it was like to have us as moms and so I try to think actively now what do I want my children to say when someone says hey Easton, what was it like growing up with your mom or hey Blakely, what was your mom like when you were a kid? I yes want them to say she, you know, cooked good meals and she always loved being in the pool with us like, some of these things that are just not, like, super core memories, but they're the everyday exciting things that happen in their life. But I want them to be able to say, I always saw my mom praying. My mom can't sing, but she loved to worship. And she always trusted God even when it was really hard.
Lacey:Like, there's so many things about my character as a mom who loves Jesus that I hope they are seeing, and that's the goal. And I have to remember that they're not gonna say those things if I don't actually live it out now, and that's, like, a really big conviction and challenge that I've had for myself lately, especially as my kids are getting older that I want them to see me live out my faith. And so that means I actually have to have a strong faith and model it for them to see. And not only is that good for them one day to tell someone else what it was like to have me as their mom, but it helps them see, I want that too. I want the same Jesus that she has in her heart and that I have no greater prayer in all of my life than for my kids to know Jesus the way that I know Jesus.
Carrie:That is so beautiful, and I hope that every mom that's listening takes some time today to seriously sit with that and think and think of that. And like you said, it's not the prideful stuff, right? It's not, I hope they think that the house was always beautiful or that the meals were always great. Those are sweet things. Sure.
Carrie:Yeah. You know, we all have our different priorities, but the importance of they see our faith and they they see the way that we walk with the Lord. And it's not always pretty and it's not always perfect, but they see our dependence. And I was just thinking about Blakely when you were talking earlier about the prayer journals. And that really speaks to me because I'm a journaler.
Carrie:Like, I journal everything. And when you were saying, like, you can go back, right, and look at, like, I'm praying for Blakely Joe right now, blah blah blah, before she was conceived. Right? And it just was making me think while you were talking, okay, this little girl, when she's like a woman of God and she's an adult, she will not be able to deny. Like in her roughest teenage years and those times when she's like having a little deconstruction time, we pray she doesn't, but in Jesus' name.
Carrie:But you know, when she's like, I don't know, it would be very hard for her not to see the tangible evidence of the Lord in her story. And I mean, same for your son, right? Like it's, I just think that is so beautiful that you are a praying mother in that way. I just want to like affirm you with that because I want to be more of that. Like sometimes I can feel like my prayer journals, I'm like, I need to be spending a bigger chunk of this for my boy, you know, and for my future kids because it's praying for our children is so important and it is our it is just our calling to do that in their lives.
Carrie:Anyway, your daughter, I just know, is going to like see the goodness of God because of your faithfulness to write things down and to say, God, I'm trusting this beforehand. So she's always gonna say, Look at my mom's face. She had my name written down, you know, before I existed. Like, we can't deny that. Like, okay, Lord, you surely have been faithful to her.
Carrie:But anyway, gosh, you're just you're so filled with wisdom. Would you actually just maybe pray for all of my listeners? Like, let's just maybe pray it out. Go.
Lacey:Go. Yeah. I love it.
Carrie:Okay. Please.
Lacey:Thank you so much for Carrie for this platform that she has created to create space for honest, real conversations for moms from all different backgrounds. Thank you for the chance to to brag on everything that you have done in my life. Two Miracle children. And, God, thank you that we can wake up every single day and choose to trust you because your track record is good. I pray for any mom listening right now who's struggling to have a family of her own, God.
Lacey:I just ask right now that you would just touch her, that you would give her such strength and to hope in a season of heartbreak. God, I know what that ache feels like. I pray that you would provide miracles, God, for every wound that is seeking a miracle. And God, I pray that you continue to bless Carrie as she has these conversations that other people would come to know you and your grace and your love because they find our podcast. Thank you for how much you love us, God.
Lacey:I pray that we would continue to go forth and we would be great examples of you.
Carrie:Amen. Amen. Thank you, Lacey. This was so wonderful. Thanks for doing that.
Carrie:The two point o interview. It was such
Lacey:a blast. Thank you. It was
Carrie:it was anointed.