Hi, I'm Jenna. This is my husband Ben. Pleased to meet you :-)
We live in the Baltimore area, and we are die-hard, purple-blooded Ravens fans!
Ben and I began dating when we were 15 and 13 years old, respectively. When I was 17, I went away to Gettysburg College, made lots of fabulous friends, and earned a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Ben visited me every weekend (except for the ones when I visited him). After college, I took a year off to do biomedical research at the National Human Genome Research Institute.
While I was out of school briefly, my dearest love of 8 years, my high school sweetheart, proposed :-)
...still not sure how he got away with that beard for our engagement photos.
On May 29th, 2009, just two weeks from our 9-year anniversary, we were married. Finally :-)
We recently celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Ben works as a defense contractor, diligently providing, getting up early and working hard every day. I am in my final year of study at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, in pursuit of my M.D. I plan to specialize in emergency medicine.
This handsome man is our 2 1/2 year old son, Eli. He is the light of our lives, and all we had hoped for when we embarked upon this journey toward building a family together! He's as ornery as the next 2 1/2 year old, but he's also such a loving and sensitive kid, and so stinkin' cute that the shenanigans are more than worth it :-)
In February 2014, we learned that we're expecting our second child! We were elated, and so excited to give our sweet little boy a sibling. Unfortunately our mid-point anatomy sonogram bore news that no parent should ever have to hear... that our baby, a little girl, had several serious birth defects. An amniocentesis confirmed a devastating diagnosis - Triploidy. You can read more here about her condition and how we came to understand that our little girl was unlikely to survive the pregnancy, and could not survive beyond the womb. Gracie was born into heaven on June 18th, 2014.
This wasn't the story that we were planning on writing for our family, but we are learning daily that God has a different and beautiful story to write for us, through which we are receiving countless blessings. By Grace we are learning, growing, connecting. Through faith, we are able to receive these blessings with an open heart and a steadfast belief in God's promises. Though she was our flesh and blood, a product of our love, she was not the child that we had intended - she was the life that God intended, for the purpose that He intended... truly a gift from God.
"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." -Ephesians 8:2
