Saved at an early age, Heather heard God tell her in her late 20s that she was going to have several children. This seemed laughable to her at the time as she was single with no boyfriend. If she was to have a big family, she thought it would have already started.
In 2013 at 32 years old, she married Casey, who was then 34. Wanting a family and being in their 30s, they tried to start having children right away. After what they believed to be two miscarriages, they sought help from a doctor who told them to keep trying and come back in six months. Around their one year anniversary, they returned to the doctor, but, shortly after their appointment, Heather fell down the stairs and suffered a back injury that required months of physical therapy, medication, and cortisone shots. The medication affected her hormones, and their doctor couldn’t make sense of it. They decided to change to another doctor, but, after more than a year of challenging fertility pursuits, they were informed that Heather’s ovaries were failing and she’d likely never have kids. This prognosis was repeated at appointments over the next several months, which left Heather feeling like a failure and also put pressure on her marriage.
In 2015, Heather and Casey began attending Lifesong, and, late that year, Casey accepted Jesus at a Sunday service. In 2016, they went forward to receive prayer after service one weekend. They also switched to a third doctor, but, by mid-2016, they had two more failed treatments and a hefty medical bill. At the 2016 Captivate women’s event, Heather heard Elaine Fisher share about her and her husband’s challenges to conceive, and Elaine explained that it wasn’t until she realized she was withholding forgiveness from some people and started praying for them that she became pregnant. At that same event, Ginelle Payne spoke about bitterness.
On May 8, 2016, Heather went for a run and started to pray and release forgiveness for a few particular people in her life who had done some terrible things. Later that month, Heather and Casey attended an adoption fair and applied to become foster parents. Additionally, after church one day, Heather was introduced by a co-worker to Jake Bowman, Lifesong’s South Campus Family Life Director, who prayed for her to conceive soon. In late August, Heather and Casey received the incredible news that they were finally pregnant! Furthermore, in January 2017, they were notified that their foster parent application had been approved, and they would be able to take classes to get registered for the program after their baby was born. On April 23, 2017, Heather gave birth to their beautiful daughter, Vera (meaning “faith”).