Finding out we were having quadruplets was not only the biggest blessing (besides meeting Carl), but also the biggest surprise of my life. So when asked if we were going to find out the sexes of the babies, I had told our friends and family that I have had enough surprises for my lifetime and we were absolutely going to find out what we were having! The news arrived in a sealed envelope at my 16-week ultrasound. Due to ongoing Covid restrictions, Texas (as with most states), would not allow anyone to join me for any appointments, including Carl. I did not want to receive this exciting news alone, so the perinatal team kindly wrote down the sexes of A, B, C, and D and sealed up the answers until I could share with Carl.
I had gone back and forth on whether we should do a reveal at all or just keep it simple and to ourselves. For those of you that have been following our journey, you know all about the ongoing fear and anxiety I had been experiencing since I heard the news. Well, it decided to creep up again, making me nervous to celebrate the big and little moments along the way because of fear that all of this could be taken away. Thankfully, about a week or 2 before we found out, I heard a sermon from Pastor Steven Furtick entitled “Favor over Fear.” In this message he speaks about moving forward in the face of extreme uncertainty and being confident of God’s favor. He describes that in reality favor actually feels like insecurity, inconvenience, and even interruption in your life. In order to step out of what is familiar and step into God’s favor, you have to look around and see if fear is there too. Because until you feel fear you really haven’t found favor (mind-blowing, right?). That word was a turning point for me, and I decided then and there to choose Favor over Fear. To celebrate every moment we get with these precious babies, acknowledging my fear but choosing to believe in God’s grace, love, and favor.
Switching into full baby party mode, I got busy planning. I was going to need help pulling all of this off if this was going to be a true surprise for Carl and I. So, I recruited our dear friends Jordan, Susan, and Pieter to make this happen. Pieter and Susan were in charge of getting the info in the envelope up to Jordan, where she would coordinate the buying of all the reveal goodies. We also got to have all the Sypesteyn's incredible kiddos help us out on reveal day! I cannot thank each of these wonderful people enough for being such a massive part of one of the best days of our lives.
Carl and I decided to do a different reveal for each baby since they are already their own little individuals. The reveals happened as follows:
Baby A was announced by our beautiful Tana Bean. Pieter and Susan’s fabulous kiddos would put either a blue or pink bandana on her before having her run out and show us.
Baby B was announced by popping a giant gold balloon (thank you for blowing up Mom and Dad!) with either blue or pink confetti inside.
Baby C was announced by gold-wrapped confetti poppers with either blue or pink confetti inside. We again had help from Pieter and Susan’s kids to pull this off!
Baby D was announced by cutting a cake made by our wonderful baker Melissa.
We invited some of our San Antonio family over for the socially distanced gathering in our backyard. I’m a sucker for cute party details so we made sure to have a card-writing station where our guests could share their advice and well wishes along with little party favors for all who attended.
I was extra excited because my parents were able to be there with us and wanted to make sure we could include Carl’s parents back home in Montana as well. We made sure to have them on Facetime throughout the whole party (isn’t technology amazing?!).
Our friend and photographer Chris Perez was there to capture and record every moment. Check out the video on our YouTube channel + read Carl’s post to see how the reveal went! Hint: You can take a peek below for a major hint:)
