More pictures!

Clayton and Holly came by the hospital before we left on Wednesday.


The hospital sent us a birthday cake!
Meeting Sammy for the first time when we got home. He is so great with her - already protective and vigilant. He likes to check on her and give a small lick to the back of her head. She doesn't mind him at all and is not ever phased by his barking.
Our precious Kate holding my dad's thumb
with my parents - They're grandparents! Yay!
with Kate's uncle, my brotherKate is amazing! I can't even start to talk about how incredible she is without choking up. I'm sure it's the hormones. =) Or the fact that our life has changed forever in the most incredible way.

Rejoice

The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing.
Zephaniah 3:17


We are back home and have survived our first two nights of minimal sleep. Sarah's mom, Sheila, is staying with us and taking great care of us. It has been a blessing to have my parents so close by as well.
Thank you to everyone who has written with words of encouragement, celebration, and love!

What an amazing blessing to take such delight in our little daughter, to rejoice over her, and to quiet her with our love. Our understanding and experience of our Father's great love for us continues to grow everyday!
We rejoice in His everlasting love and provision!

She's here!

Our sweet baby girl is here! She came right on her due date. I wonder if that means she's going to be a time-keeping rule-follower. =)
We got here about 4:30am and Kate was born at 1:34pm. She weighed in at 7lbs, 12 ounces and is 21.5 inches long.

Funny story: As we getting her all ready to come out, a few of us made guesses on how big she was going to be. Randomly I guessed 7/12, just to throw something out there. And sure enough!

She is a healthy, wiggly little one. Her face gets really serious when she sleeps and she likes to be swaddled tight. It's amazing that she's ours! In some ways we can't believe it's true, and in other ways it just seems so normal for her to be with us. She's a good eater, but she does not like to be woken up and she will let you know! Kate has a good cry but doesn't voice it too often. She has been very content so far.

I'm feeling pretty good. Really the whole thing seemed a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. I know recovery will take some time, but none of that seems to matter now that she's here. I should be terribly exhausted at this point, but I'm only a little tired. Josh has been wonderful and has stayed here with me the whole time. It is such a blessing to get to do this together. It's so cool to watch him walking around the room with his little girl on his arm. Can't wait for many more such moments.

As you can imagine, many pictures were taken. These are just a few that ended up on our camera. I'll get others from the family and we'll post more later, of course.

Thank you for all your prayers. We are one happy, blessed family.

At the hospital

We came to the hospital about 400 this morning. Kate is on her way and will be here today! Mom and baby are healthy so far and we are waiting.

Value Life

Mark 3:1-5
He (Jesus) entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. They were watching Him to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. He said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and come forward!" And He said to them, "Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?" But they kept silent. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

Seems like such an easy question: Do you save a life or do you kill? My kids in Sunday school would have been jumping to be chosen to answer a question put that simply. Save or kill?

I read this and think "Come on, guys. You sure are hung up on your laws." But what about me?

Are there times that I hold to my so-called principles or traditions at the expense of saving life? Do I miss opportunities to see someone healed because I don't think it should be done in this way or at this time or at this location?

Value life

I need to look for every opportunity to value life over some rule or guideline. I must seek life with reckless abandon, so that I and those I come across can have life to the full.

A little perspective, please

As I'm nearing the end of carrying Kate in my womb, time seems to drag on. So I thought I'd look up the gestation period of animals for a little comparison. (Not to say that a human baby is the same as an animal baby, but just to see what animals go through.)

Here are a few:
elephant - 645 days, (that's almost 2 years!)
beaver - 122 days,
domestic cat -61 days, (2 months!)
domestic dog - 64 days, (again!)
kangaroo - 42 days, (wow! but I guess then they use the pouch)
horse - 336 days,
mouse - 19 days, (we don't even know we're pregnant at that point!)
whale - 490 days,
zebra - 365 days

Whales and elephants take the cake! I guess if you're growing something that big it takes a while. Horses and Zebras aren't far behind...around 100 days longer than humans.

Ah, well, interesting information. Here's a visual of me at 39 weeks.

Kate's getting too big for her home...time to come out!

Still here

There has not been a whole lot to report, which is why I haven't blogged in a while. We are still waiting on little Kate to appear. She is officially due in one week from today. The doctor says everything looks good and we are progressing a little, so that's hopeful. Practice contractions have woken me up at night, so I'm pretty sure my body knows what to do when it's time.

In anticipation of our major life change, Josh and I have been spending time together doing more spontaneous, rather than our usually scheduled, activities. Yesterday evening we decided on a whim to drive to San Antonio to go to Target and eat at Chick-fil-A. May sound normal or boring to you, but when you live in a town without these common establishments, it's kind of fun! We've been eating out more also in anticipation of being more reclusive right after our addition.

It's been funny hearing the "advice" people give you on how to go into labor. Let's see, I've heard: eat Mexican food, eat spicy food, eat Mexican food on a full moon night, have sex, eat chili, walk, jump on a trampoline, and go shopping. Whenever I do go into labor, I'll have to remember whatever it was I did right before and that will be my advice. Maybe it will be "update your blog." Haha.

What I am doing is trying to keep myself busy so I'm not twiddling my thumbs. I have sort of started getting involved with the pregnancy center in Kerrville and I am doing a project for them right now. I don't think I've ever cleaned house as much as I have the past week. I want to make sure things are clean if we have to rush off and someone else has to come over to the house. And I do go walking every day.

I'll try to think of a funny story to post later. Feel free to share your "advice" on labor instigators. =)

Bunny Room

Here are some pictures of Kate's room. I would say it's about 98% finished. There are a few little things I would like to do still. However, due to the lack of shopping venues available here, I am having to be even more creative to accomplish what I want and that takes more time.
My mom painted the closet doors with the adorable bunny scene. Definitely not something I could do!

A bed ready for a baby! Can't wait to check on her sleeping there!

Hanging out in Kerrville

My brother came in town this weekend and went to church with us on Sunday. After lunch with several members from our church and our pastors, we decided to spend some time longboarding. Well, the guys were going to longboard and I was going to walk with Sammy and take pictures. So, we went to a location I will not name and Josh learned how to longboard. Sammy got to pull Matthew around.

Don't they look like kids getting into trouble? heehee!

A great Sunday afternoon was had by all.

Ready, Set, Wait

I haven't been sure what to update about lately. Life is just rolling along here in Kerrville. But the major thing going on with us right now is we are waiting for Kate. We are almost at 38 weeks along and she is in place, set to launch. We finished up the major stuff in the nursery this weekend...though there are a few details I might add this week as I wait for her.

Here is a sneak peak at her crib...if you can see it behind my big Kate belly.
I will take more pictures during the day tomorrow to post. I am so excited about her room!

So now we just go about life as usual and see when this little one decides to make her entrance.

Last Road Trip

Josh and I went to Arlington this past weekend for a wedding, in which Josh was a groomsman. It was so good to be able to see some friends again, though it was a whirlwind of a weekend. (We also took advantage of being in the same town as a Target and Babies-R-Us to finish up our shopping for Kate.) We also got to go to our church again on Sunday morning. What a blessing to worship with that church family again. We had lunch afterwards with couples from our small group and it was so good and so normal to hang out with them again.

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a blast! Josh and I danced the night away, though a few of my moves were a bit modified due to differences in mobility and balance since the last time I dances. In fact, while doing "the Twist," I started doubting I would be able to get myself back up after twisting real low. =) And my heart rate jumps up a lot faster these days, leaving me a bit breathless. It was so fun though! One friend from the reception said it was inspiring to see Josh and me out there dancing at 8 months pregnant. Glad we could make a difference in someone's life.

The lovely Mr. and Mrs. Tucker

Slowing down for a romantic slow dance - looking a bit large in the profile.


Twisting with Jonah - that kid can dance!

So the weekend was great, but the road trip was not so great. I was uncomfortable pretty much the whole time. We had to stop a few times just so I could get out and try to stretch a little. I'm not up for any more road trips before Kate comes into the world. Although it's a lot easier caring for her right now, it's not easy road tripping with her. =)

Prayer request update

I'm sorry I did not update before. I asked for prayers and then did not follow up. So sorry.

Sadly, my friend Shelley had to be induced at 23 weeks and little Ava could not survive. There are no words at a time like this and no answers to offer. Shelley knows God is in control, while struggling of course to understand how that all works together. My heart is heavy, knowing there is nothing I can do for her and hurting too.

Father, your children don't understand. We hurt and we long for you to provide an answer, a reason, a solution. We long to feel you comfort us. Thank you that we don't walk alone.

Please pray for Shelley and Mike as they walk through this journey.