We love you so much, Mary! We delight to see your love for the Lord and cheerful spirit. May you continue to grow to be a woman of God!

Mary

Happy 14th Birthday!

P.S. We would be grateful for your prayers for the conference today!

“Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart” (Psalms 32:11).

The girls had a ride on the donkey cart yesterday.

The guys worked in the table grapes vineyard.

The girls and moms.

Jesse enjoyed mowing our friend's lawn with their riding lawn mower.

Close up view.

Trying to corral one of the cows--an exciting adventure.

The girls.

Picture time!

An unsuccessfull attempt to catch the calf.

Tonight at dinner.

Our time the last two days has been delightful: doing projects, helping around the farm, talking, working on sessions, and Dad and Mom did the radio interview this afternoon. The interview went extremely well!

We are anxiously anticipating the conference this weekend and what the Lord will do through it. We would appreciate prayer as we prepare.

Sarah for the rest

“O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens” (Psalms 8:1).

We love you!

We’re celebrating Mom’s birthday a second time in Idaho today.

We love you very much, and we are so grateful for you being our mom and the most wonderful wife to Daddy! Not to mention a  special Grandma . You have also blessed countless ladies across the world.

Happy Birthday!

“A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband” (Proverbs 12:4).

–Another shorter update…. Bethany is now home and doing great. Our original goal had been to be at the hospital a minimal amount of time after delivery. Long enough to ensure mom and baby were stable, and then home.

Ironically, that’s exactly how it worked out. There were a number of changes/adaptions in how this baby was born (I’ll write more about that later… short story is no c-section!). And yet, by the time Bethany was 24 hours old, she was resting comfortably in her bassinet in our room.

Thank you for your prayers. I don’t know that I can communicate the challenges of the delivery in a blog post, but I will try at a later date. We were so in need of prayer support. My sister Sarah told me she was heavily impressed to pray at 11:06 pm (cst) last night. I can’t say exactly to the second, but I know confidently that was within minutes of when we were coming up against a wall and needing God’s direction. He proved faithful to carry all of us through.

There was a NICU crash cart (supplies for trauma) sitting in the hallway. We passed it doznes of times as we walked laps. I remember often praying as we passed it, “God, can we please not need anything in that cart for this baby.” It never entered our room (or least I didn’t see it), and I don’t think it ever even left it’s parking spot. Praise the Lord!

He was gracious to us these past few days. All challenges aside, we have a Bethany Faith to hold and to love and are rejoicing in God’s goodness.

Gratefully,

Nathan

Bethany Faith

A head full of dark hair!

Precious Gift

“He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler” (Psalms 91:4).

Bethany Faith, our newest granddaughter, arrived around 11:20 pm at 8 pounds 13 ounces after a very long and rough delivery. Melanie and baby are doing well.

We are all rejoicing!

Steve

“Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.” (1 Chronicles 29:13)

Quick update on Melanie. Dr. did induce this morning. Took awhile for things to kick in, but she is now in tangible labor. We are both very happy, well, at this point I’m the happy one; Melanie is a bit distracted.

It was amazing; we gave our approval to the Dr. yesterday morning for induction. Before he had a chance to, he got called to another hospital and didn’t return till this morning. While Melanie’s body didn’t kick in on its own during that time, God must have had a special reason to delay by 24 hours. Only He could have orchestrated that. It served as a reminder that we are passengers observing and experiencing His plan. Paraphrasing, man plans his course but the Lord determines his steps.

It’s exciting to be at this point, waiting to meet a little one….

Nathan

“I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly” (Psalms 22:10).

Wow, alot has happened in the last 24 hours. Let’s start with earlier this week….celebration….38 weeks. There was a significant lessening of pressure regarding this child/pregnancy. I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders when the concern over baby coming early was no longer an issue.

Wednesday was a standard OB appointment. Sadly, that appointment found dilation. A few more checks throughout the remainder of the day found continued progress. Oddity was that it was not accompanied by active labor. We’ve been there, done that… but never at this late of a stage gestationally.

Fast forward to today…. due to a number of circumstances, we are faced with the option of “helping” labor start or it kicking in on it’s own. Obviously, our goal is to let baby (ultimately, the Lord) direct Melanie’s body on when to start. If that doesn’t happen within the next number of hours, it will get some help.

Our prayer request would be that things would start on their own, and if not God would guide and bless during the “help.”

I know the details are scarce here and that for those who are intervention averse (that would include us ), second guessing is easy. Please know that we have exhausted all other reasonable options.

We are simply seeking God’s will and His direction and asking for prayer.

Nathan

“For thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me and guide me” (Psalms 31:3).