We are all home

Yesterday we brought the littlest girl home from the hospital. She weighs (as of Saturday night) 4 pounds 8.7 ounces. As most of you who have had first newborn children can imagine, last night was a virtually sleepless night. I am hopeful that it will get better. It doesn't help that I have had a sinusitis and need my sleep to get better. I guess God will have to protect us from each other and from other illnesses. It amazed me how much noise that little girl can make. I think tonight she will be at the far end of our room so that we can all sleep a bit better. The 14 month old is very curious about the new girl. She had such a happy look on her face when she first saw her. She continues to have a smile when she sees the baby. I hope that continues as she learns that it means she has to share...everything. Having a preemie is different than having a newborn, at least that is what I have been told each step of the way. We are going to have to be a bit protective of her since she is especially vulnerable due to her size and her gestational age. That means that I might not be able to take her to the store with me or to church or anywhere where there is a large crowd until April...when flu and RSV season is finished. Life is going to be very different for me for awhile. Anyway, here are some pictures from the hospital and finally our leaving for home.

I thought this bow was sooooo sweet!!!!

Her going home outfit.
Proud Papa holding a wireless baby girl.

Here she is all ready to go.

A picture of us with the newest addition to our family. I hope to have a picture of our whole family soon. Stay tuned. :o)

Time for an update

Okay, so 2 months is a long time to not update things, so, here is an update. Last Tuesday we got a phone call regarding a preemie baby girl and whether or not we were interested in adopting her. We then started praying and elliciting lots of others to pray with us as we made a decision. Wednesday we decided to go for it. So, for a week now, we have been the proud parents of (at most recent knowledge) a 3 lb 2 oz baby girl. She is still nameless, but we have been working on that of late. It is amazing. We got to meet her Thursday and everything looks really positive. We don't know when we will get to bring her home, but we trust that God's timing is good. In regard to our other little one, things are still up in the air in regard to her permanency plan, but we are trusting God. If we do get to raise them both as our daughters, they will be 13 months and 15 days apart in age. We will certainly be busy, but God knew all that as well. It has been amazing to see how God has gone ahead of us on so much. He has provided a place to stay when we are at the hospital, He has provided women to take over for me for the ladies retreat I was working on. He has a place for the college gal that lives with us to be when I'm not here. He has even brought together people to help with Bible study. He is a great and mighty God and is worthy of praise and adoration. I feel very blessed by Him! And, now for a few pictures! Here I am with my tiny daughter.
Our hands by her to show her size.
Celebrating at Red Robin...our favorite chain restaurant!
Our other little one playing the piano!

First Birthday gift of the baby girl's 1st birthday

A friend of mine came over last night and brought the baby girl her first birthday present.

She enjoyed the package and had fun shaking the gift...perhaps she was trying to figure out what it was.

The bow was easy for her to take off the gift as well as lots of fun to play with once it was off.

This is what was in the package. A very sweet dress that my friend had made.

We had to get a picture of the girl with the dress maker. I can't believe that the baby girl is going to be a year in such a short time. She is growing by leaps and bounds. What a delight she is to us!

some of my favorites

I just wanted to add a few of my favorite pictures of the baby girl for friends and family to see.

This was from Easter Sunday...the first weekend after we started caring for her.This was from one morning when I had to get her up so I could go to work. I love her hands behind her head and her feet crossed.

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She loves eating and does a great job of feeding herself bite sized foods.

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My mom and dad's beagle also loves eating and is paying close attention in case there is anything left over.

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She just looks so happy and content!

This picture was taken at camp, within minutes after she took her first full step.

She thought the slide was really fun. She actually even climbed up the whole thing backwards. (I, of course, had my hands right behind her in case she needed help, but she didn't.)

She looks so studious in this picture. Just studying the book.

And this is her first experience with sand. She even tried tasting it and didn't find it to her liking.

Adoption Update

My husband and I have been pursuing adoption fairly actively since for almost a year. Along the way we have seen God answer some prayers in neat ways. (like making room for us on a plane and providing money for us). But we are still waiting. We did, however, find out that right now we are the only family in the adoption agency we are working with that can adopt. We know it won't be that way for long, but for right now we are the only option. The state we are going through just made an adoption law that all adoptive parent need to have FBI clearance. The state we reside in already had us do this, so we are all clear in that regard. We got an email today from the agency saying that they received the info and that they currently have one family (us) that can adopt. Now, since we are out of state, we may not be as desirable with some birth moms, but if we are the only option, we just might be more so than before. Ahh...we will have to wait on God and see if He pulls a power play. :o)

Ponderings on a can of worms

Well, I think I will open up a can of worms here. Lately I have been thinking about politics. For one thing, it seems there is so much to know that one can spend all of their time with it and I know that isn't something that I want to do. So, I probably err on the side of somewhat ignoring it. But what I have been pondering lately is whether or not it is good to be involved. There is part of me that doesn't want to have to answer to God for putting someone in office who didn't kill babies but who did ignore the poor and the widowed/orphaned as well as God's creation or the flip side, who tended to God's creation and the poor as well as widowed/orphaned but continued to kill His children. Both of them are wrong. Neither party seems to have a complete Biblical view. (I do realize that these are secular parties, but I still want to make decisions in a Godly manner based on His word.) So then, it leads me to consider not voting for either and instead asking God to put who He wants in leadership. But then, perhaps I will have to answer for sitting by and not making a difference through the opportunities given me. All that leaves me going in circles. Do I vote, do I not? If I do vote, who do I vote for? What grid do I run the candidate through to decide? Sometimes I feel like a handsoff approach is much easier, but I am not sure that is right either. hmmm....what do you think?

Boy, that girl likes to swim!

Thought I would post a few pictures of the baby girl enjoying swimming. She thinks it is fun whether a pool, a lake, or a river!
This was her first swimming experience. The pool was a nice 86º and she thought that was just right!
But then we tried a cool lake and she didn't mind that either. This picture is taken in a river. She loves to splash the water.
She didn't mind the cool of the river. She just likes the fun of kicking her legs in the water and splashing her hands. She almost seems like she could take off swimming.