at last, the nursury is complete!

Joy and I finished up the nursury this afternoon by hanging the crate and barrel picture shelves. They were very easy to hang and we recommend them to anyone and everyone! The ONLY thing missing now is little belle. The doc said she's a few weeks ahead of schedule, so she'll be here by September 22 at the latest! YES! Evidently she got her poppa's head (scottish accent), so please pray for an 'easy' delivery for Joy. Her feet and hands are way swollen and she can't wait to sleep on her tummy again.

"step by step"

our mom faber, nonnie to ani, made a wonderful discovery a couple years ago of a company named "uppercase living." they make these great banners that rub-on to any surface. we have our family verse on the wall in our room and now this wonderfully sweet wisdom from dr. seuss in ani's room. the nursery is coming together and we are counting the days 'til her anticipated arrival (28)!!!

ani's crib

our sweet friend, peggy morris, crafted this wonderful bedding for anabelle. putting this on her crib made things even more real... 7 weeks now!

ani and the whos from who-ston

our sweet friends threw a party for ani this past weekend. in attendance were heath+amber haynes, crystal newsom, scher'ry lindley, roy+debbie duke, cody+shana albert, kyle+sam larocque, trent+jen abbott, scott+melissa brignac, and the star of the festivities - baby jenna brignac. we had a great time laughing, eating and praying together. thank You God for friends who we love like family.

incredible decorations - thanks to "roots"

dr. seuss decorations

party scene

oh dear.

veterans. right boys?

surely these will come in handy - for joy

rockin' awesome 'one'sies

anabelle already has her own fashion line

seriously. that's some sharp apparel

baby papasan = nap time (hopefully)

Ani's room...

well, the "nesting" phase has hit our household full force. joy had a doctor's appointment Thursday where he casually announced "15 weeks" until due date. now, we both knew this fact in some subconscious way, but somehow for joy it seemed way too short a time before our daughter's arrival. the result: will made a 3D model of the nursery plan to assure his wife it would be what they envisioned and painted the room this weekend. 3 cheers for will! here is the plan and the painted room...

anabelle

we had our "fancy" sonogram this week to investigate further the spot on Ani's heart. here she is waving at you and saying, "i'm fine! now, let me go back to sleep." when the doc found the spot a couple weeks ago he let us know it could be a marker for several different diseases. in our visit with the specialist we investigated every little part of her: the length of her limbs, the skin at the base of her neck, the size and shape of her head, the insertion point for her umbilical cord, blood/nutrient flow in her body, brain shape... i can say i have seen every inch of her and she IS growing in health and wholeness as we have asked the Lord together. BUT here is the jaw dropping, awesome truth. that doctor and i are not the first to see her with this detail. the Lord God, our Maker, already knows her intimately.

Psalm 139:13-17

You formed my inward parts;

You wove me together in my mother's womb.

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;

And in Your book were written the days that were ordained for me, when yet there was not one of them.

How precious are Your thoughts to me, O God!

How vast the sum of them!

we are praising God for this truth today as it touches our daughter. thank you for praying with us.

IT'S A GIRL!!!

we were totally surprised by this news this morning, and totally grateful! it was amazing to meet our daughter. we saw her yawn as she woke up - the sonogram lady was pressing pretty hard on mommy's belly - i think that might wake anyone! she had her legs crossed - very lady like - so it took a while to determine our girl is a girl. here's her first glamour shot... ps - the doc saw a white spot on her heart and we will be doing some follow-up tests to rule some things out. please pray with us that she will continue to develop in wholeness and health.