Caroline Grace

Our baby came today!!!!!!!

She was born at 8:14, weighed 7 lbs 7 ozs, and was 19 1/2 inches long

 

The proud parents and sweet Caroline. Graham's birth story was  somewhat difficult and my kids had at first been told having another baby would not be advised with Laura's health situation. Lots of prayers later and the Lord had another plan. That Grace came today.  And was an answered prayer in so many ways.

 Isn't she beautiful? We are beside ourselves.

 Aunt Savannah and GiGi think she is the stuff!

 

 

Baby Girl is smitten with her new niece.

 

 I love this sweet girl so very much. She is so much more to me than just a daughter-in-love. She is a wonderful wife to our son, mother to our precious babies, friend, and prayer partner. Today she was our heroine.

 I can hardly stand the sweetness of this bowhead!

 

 Then PawPaw brought Big Brother in to see his baby sister!

 

 He was so excited about Baby Caroline, but he loves his mommy!

 

 Our boy and his precious family. How thankful and grateful to our God I am for them.

 

 I love this picture so much! He was so excited and kept yelling. "I have a baby sister!! Right now!" It was darling.

 PawPaw, GiGi and the baby. The brainwashing has already started!

 

 He didn't want to be far away from PawPaw when PawPaw had baby sister.

 

 It is hard to imagine that God gave us one precious daughter-in-love. But He gave us TWO!!! Christine is so sweet and helpful. I love her so much.

 Just seems like yesterday he was being born. Now he wears us all out just watching him.

 MawMaw loves her great grand-babies.

 

 Couldn't you just bite those cheeks!! She is beyond sweet.

 Uncle Josh has to share his September birthday with one more person now! I don't think he minds much.

 We couldn't believe how much dark hair she had. She is beautiful.

By the way, this is Big Brother Graham when he was born!!  Days like today remind me how thankful I am for my precious family. They are my heartbeat. Next to my Savior they are everything to me. The Lord answered prayer today in some mighty big ways. We are thankful for the blessing, but we worship the Blessor!

 



That time again!

Well, it is the time of year that I just love. Right before fall, when every weekend I am praying the weather will also act like its fall and I can wear my boots! Around here I judge fall by when Starbucks begins to serve my favorite drink ever- pumpkin spice latte. If I waited on the weather to determine that it would be November before it was fall. Ah, the joys of living in the humid South. Fall is probably my favorite time of year, the smells, the colors, the clothes, the food, and racing season!!!! Yes it is Cross country time!



I love watching these girls get all pumped up at the starting line. Our girls are super fast this year. We won first at this meet which is a great way to start our season. Baby girl had a pretty good time, but came in behind some runners she normally finishes ahead of. Apparently I was so intent on getting her picture I didn't notice what slowed her down:

 

 

She lost her shoe in the mud about half a lap back! But she just kept on going! So proud of her.

 

Our team is very large this year and they are all so much fun. We are headed down south to LSU (Geaux Tigers!!) to run next weekend. Looking forward to seeing some good friends while we are down there.

 

But first we have some other important business going on. Look who is at GiGi and PawPaw's house for a few days:

 

He is here while his sweet momma gets some rest because she is having our Sweet Baby Caroline tomorrow!!!! We are so beside ourselves for Graham's baby sister to arrive. We have been ready for some pink around here for a long time. Big Brother will stay with us until the whole new family of four goes home from the hospital. Please pray for my precious daughter-in-love as she had several serious health issues when she had Graham. We feel confident this will be much easier as her health is so much better this time. Our baby's name will be Caroline Grace. Grace is a name on both  Jeremy and Laura's side but more importantly they were told after Graham they would not be able to have any more children. Once again we were reminded that the Great Physician is in charge of all things and by His glorious Grace we will have a precious blessing added to our family. I can't wait to share more pictures of the days ahead.

 

Have a blessed weekend!

Michelle







Yes, it is that time of year again! Back to School. In 110 degree weather. Yesterday was the first day back with the students and my kids are all great. Who's not on the first day right? I'm sure they think the same about me - they'll get over it. :)

I know I lament this every year, but it is coming down to it! My baby girl and I have our first day back to school pic made every year. We only have one more year to go! Sniff Sniff. She didn't even ride to school with me - she rode with her friends. I mean really, what 16 year old, junior in high school wouldn't want to roll up with their mom every day? I told her if my mother had been a teacher at my school I would have been delighted to ride with her every day. She wasn't buying it. And really, neither was I.

Times are a-changing. And too fast for this momma. So here is our next to last first day pic - She is so cute in her Red Jacket (she is a school ambassador). My other three were all red jackets too. I feel weepy.

I hope she isn't embarrassed when she leaves her dorm room in a couple of years for her first day of class and I jump out of the bushes with my camera. :)

Happy back to school everybody!

Beach!!!

I just got back from spending a couple of days at the beach with my sweet Mama and my sisters. My nieces and nephews went but my baby girl couldn't so I got to take my sweet Grand-peep Graham with me. That baby LOVES the beach! We had a great time and can't wait till we get to go again.

Graham likes to wade in the ocean but swim in the pool! It was a continuous hike back and forth- but worth it.

He is so darling and he is most entertaining. He kept us all in stitches the whole trip.

 I didn't get a lot of pics on the beach as I got tired of worrying about it! Here is my baby sister and her babies!

Other baby sister and her kiddos. They had never been to the beach before so it was fun to see them enjoy it as much as they did.

 All the babies with Mimi. She lasts about two hours on the beach and she is done for the day! Mama is so sweet to all of us and she loves her family. We love her too - I love you the most Mama!!!! haha :)

 We snatched a passer-by and had a pic of all of us taken. The wind was so wild I look like the white version of Chaka Khan in most of the pics! HaHa!!

 My mama and her girls. I am the sweet one. And the obnoxious one!

 WE  LOVE THE BEACH!!!!

Only two weeks until school starts again. The lamenting begins. Hope everyone is having a great summer.

Blessings,
Michelle

Rewards in God's Economy

I have been somewhat in a fog since returning from Nicaragua. I feel an odd mixture of comfort in being back at home but a longing for where I left. Baby girl feels it too. She keeps saying,"If they called me back to go tomorrow I would be packed and ready to go." Me too.
There are so many things that I want to share and I don't know where to begin. Beware, there will be many blog posts forthcoming! I guess the best place to start is the beginning.
There is a family in Diriamba who have been ministering to the people there for many many years. They are the Baltodano family. The parents are Papa Arturo (who went to be with the Lord three years ago), Mama Newbia and their eleven children, and countless grandchildren. Papa Arturo was a pastor and helped start over 50 churches during his tenure here on earth. Mama Newbia always dreamed of starting a Christian school where the children could get an education and learn God's word all at the same time. Students from the poorest villages in Diriamba are able to go to school there because of sponsorships given by others. I got to visit the school and it blessed me so. More on that later.
The Nicaraguan Christian Outreach mission is where we stayed for the week. It is a two acre compound inside a guarded gated wall. Daniela Baltodano lives in the compound in a house with her husband and three children and her sister Claudia stays with her while Claudia's house is being built. These two are the backbone of NCO. They set up all our work to do while we are there and they minister to the families in these villages with such love and care I was moved every day. And did I mention how fun they are? Kept us in stitches the whole time. This is Daniela and Claudia and Daniela's three children, Stephen, Cloudita, and Kevin.

They served as our translators for the week also. There are two very poor villages that we worked in- La Palmera and Kilombo. When the lunch is prepared at Mama Newbia's school for the students, they prepare enough to go and feed the smaller children in these two villages for 5 days out of the week. When the bus pulls up at those villages all these little kids come running out with their bowls to line up and get a scoop.

Over and over God commands us through His word to help the needy and the poor. I just finished a bible study on James and am now in Nehemiah and helping the poor was a major theme we focused on in each. Not an accident or coincidence as God was preparing me for what He was going to show me.



James 2:5
Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Has not God chosen those who are poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised those who love him?

On the first day we were there I watched as others fed the children. It broke my heart but warmed it all at the same time. Then, the next day it was my turn. I almost had to throw the ladle down and run off but I kept remembering my sweet man telling me " don't  lose it over there! Remember your purpose and keep yourself composed." He knows me too well. And himself too well. If he had gone with us there would have been a bunch of Nicaraguan children smuggled back to the States! :)
As I looked up each time to give them their bowl, the most precious and beautiful faces would look back at me with enormous smiles and say,"Gracias!" It was more than I could bear. And only a few of them had very sad eyes and didn't look like they had ever smiled. They are the ones I wanted to bring home. Such a simple thing yet such gratitude. These people, these children are some of the most loving and thankful people I have met in my life.


Proverbs 19:17
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.
I thought about the scripture above over and over when I got home. Before my trip I probably would have thought that my reward was something different. I know now my reward was seeing the love of God in those darling faces that looked at me and said, "Gracias!" My reward was in the millions of hugs I received every day. My reward was being shown more love and receiving thanks from people who have nothing. At least by the world's standards they have nothing. In my eyes and forever in my heart I will remember what they had - a lesson to teach me on the beauty of God's blessings. Those children did much more for me than I ever did for them.

How great is our God!!!

Blessings,
Michelle

The Faces of Nicaragua

Well, I made it home. My prayer was that by the Power and Presence of the Holy Spirit I would finish different from when I started. And I did. It is going to take me a few days to process all that God allowed me to see this past week. But do know this - God showed up, showed out and all Glory was His. I will share more later. But for now as I sit in my living room trying to figure out how to reconcile my surroundings with the surroundings I just left, these are the images I miss. Enjoy. They are beautiful - inside and out.

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful two Daddy's that the Lord gave me, to my precious father-in-love, to my son, and to the sweetest, most generous man I know - my husband. I love each of you very much.
Blessings,
Michelle or as I am now known - Me-chell! :)