He is Faithful.

He is Faithful.

Back in February, I shared my miscarriage story with hundreds of you and also how I felt like God had promised me my babyless season wouldn’t be forever. If you haven’t had a chance to read them or need a quick refresher you can read them here–> It would have been your 1st Snow Day   + Confirmed Again and Again (important details for this story)!!  He is faithful. God is so so faithful. 

On January 1st I felt like the Lord had promised me something- specifically that my babyless season would end. But I didn’t know the timeframe of this promise. I felt the Lord telling me not to expect more than what He had promised, but to seek out and acknowledge the fulfillment of what God has promised me.  

Okay… don’t expect more than He promised, but SEEK OUT and ACKNOWLEDGE the FULFILLMENT of what God has promised me. I’m writing today to boast in Christ, acknowledge and proclaim the He fulfills His Promises. 

 

BABY TOMPKINS COMING DECEMBER 2020!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Before Drew and I were married (so at least 4-5 years ago) Drew and I were driving to Knoxville. On our drive, we started to dream up and toss around baby names like young and in love couples dreaming about the future to come do. After lots of names, we both were drawn to the name RIVER. So many of our favorite memories have been sitting, swimming, overlooking rivers. Rivers in nature carry a lot of significance to the ecosystem. They bring an abundance of LIFE and gather life. We both agreed that River was our top name choice- boy or girl. And for years we’ve been waiting on River. 

 

If you reread my blog posts you will probably notice lots of river-related words.  God is good.

It would have been your 1st Snow Day 

Confirmed Again and Again

 

On January 1st, 2020 like so many other times we sat along a river’s edge. Drew and I talked about how I felt like He was promising me a baby. The most beautiful rainbow appeared. (If you haven’t read this blog post, please stop now and go read it for all the details and the picture of the rainbow)! This rainbow was different. It carried great significance and I’ve been waiting for the day to share about it with you. 

He is faithful.

Rainbows are a symbol of God’s promises and are gifts that remind us that He is faithful. Like when God flooded the world and then sent a rainbow to Noah and his people promising to never destroy the earth with a flood again… 

 

Rainbows are also significant because a baby born after a miscarriage is called a “rainbow baby”…

 

Yall, I’m not gonna try and hide my emotions. Bring on the waterworks.

 

A baby born after a miscarriage is called a rainbow baby because rainbows typically follow a storm and the rainbow gives hope of all that’s to come. And losing a child is 100% a storm.  Rainbow pregnancies can be FILLED with fear, guilt, and relief. Rainbows follow storms. 

That day on the dock as Drew and I talked about how I felt like God promised us a baby He used a rainbow pointing straight up and down and reflecting in a RIVER  pointing to us. 

H O L Y M O L Y. 

A vertical rainbow. A rainbow reflection. IN A RIVER. Pointing directly to us. God promised us River in 2020. He is faithful. 

I didn’t share these details specifically out of fear. What if I was wrong about my interpretations of the rainbow…What if my desire of a baby was somehow playing tricks on me and I was making up this rainbow in a river narrative… What if this wasn’t from God and was just coincidence… LIES. Satan was keeping me quiet. Not anymore. I’m boldly proclaiming His promises and faithfulness to us. 

To be honest, I didn’t put all these details together right away. I didn’t think about how the rainbow was reflecting in a river and pointing directly to us.  It wasn’t until a friend from high school and sister in Christ texted me the evening of Sunday,  February 23, 2020 that I felt the weight and significance of it all. 

 WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

 

 

Then…… We got pregnant in March. The next possible time after I got that text from Lauren. I’m currently 16 weeks and 5 days pregnant with our rainbow baby. 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️

 

Originally Drew and I wanted to wait until birth to find out the gender. It sounded fun and adventurous- different than the majority of our friends and like my parents did with me and my 3 siblings. BUT. COVID. If there is any chance Drew won’t be able to be there for River’s arrival in early December then we don’t want to wait. Also, deep down we really felt like it was a boy. I mean how could we not after that text message- I mean we got pregnant as she said. I really felt like it would be a boy like she said too. Drew and I agreed that we couldn’t wait any longer. So we threw together a last-minute gender reveal celebration. 

Surrounded by our closest family and friends we gathered along the river’s edge. Drew and I stood on the very dock where God revealed His promise to us… And Drew reeled in a lure. (Shoutout to Drew for his original gender “reelveal” idea. You won’t find this on Pinterest… yet! Hahahahah. Couldn’t have been more perfect for us!) 

 

IT’S A BOY. Confirmed again and again! God is good and He is in the details! 

River Kenneth Tompkins, our prayer for you is that you would have “RIVERS of living water flowing from your innermost being”. That you would live life abundantly, love and serve people well, and that you would be a fisher of men and not just fish. 

“HE WHO BELIEVES IN ME, AS THE SCRIPTURE SAID, ‘FROM HIS INNERMOST BEING WILL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER.’” JOHN 7:38

Daddy and I can’t wait to teach you all about fishing. 

God is good. He is faithful.

 

xoxox,

 

Ryn + Drew + Baby  River Tompkins ❤️

 

 

 

Huge shoutout to Brittany with Life with a View Studio for capturing all our announcement photos (Yellow dress photos) ☺️ and Sarah Larae for capturing our gender reveal photos (white dress photos)! Love you both! We will treasure these forever! ❤️