Praise to Our Creator!

Thank you so much for your prayers. Anneka is doing so well! She needed to gain weight between Tuesday's discharge from the hospital and Wednesday's office visit (which I was a little nervous about) and she gained what is normal to gain in a week!! It is neat how Anneka's little life is already bringing praise to God as we see how He cares for her and answers our prayers. He wants us to trust Him with her. Holding Anneka and looking at all her perfect features and feeling her little movements is truly a miracle! It is so amazing that God created her and knew her before the beginning of time. Seeing her has caused us to be filled with praise to God in our hearts and is such a reminder of how amazing He is: creative, loving, powerful, intricate. We feel so blessed! It is also amazing to think that God gave up His only son for His love of us. And we are sinners! The thought of giving up Anneka for anyone, much less someone ungrateful and self-centered is more than I can imagine. I love how God teaches us about Himself through His marvelous creation.



Although it was sad to see Anneka get an IV in her little hand, we have to admit she was pretty cute with her eye patch under the billi lights. She's such a good baby! She was so good natured about all the poking and prodding. She's so snuggly-cuddly and rarely cries.



I love this picture of Anneka snuggled up on her Daddy. He's such a wonderful husband and father- constantly loving us and serving us with kindness and affection. I couldn't be married to a more wonderful person!



We took some family pictures in the yard yesterday while the weather is still so nice. It's such a beautiful time of the year!



Anneka looks so cute bundled up. At night between feedings, she sleeps so contendedly bundled just like this.

Please be praying

The last few days have been pretty crazy, as Anneka had to go to the hospital. I called our pediatrician's office Saturday night to ask the nurse on call a few questions and she said to go to the emergency room immediately! From there, they admitted us to the hospital for a couple of days. Anneka has jaundice (not a big deal), but it could have been a big deal if it wasn't caught it time. Basically, the jaundice makes her more lethargic which makes her not want to eat, which makes her not pass any food, which keeps the billirubin in her body longer.... a big cycle. So now we're home and haven't had any time to call anyone. But we appreciate your prayers that she'll eat and get rid of this billirubin in her body. And THANK YOU for all who have heard via the grapevine and are praying. We KNOW God is answering your prayers. We'll update in a few days after we get some rest. A newborn causes little sleep for the parents anyways, and with the stress of the added hospital trip and doctor's appointments, we're living on basically no sleep for the last week!

Anneka is here!!!

Wow! What an amazing thing to have a little child born! We loved her before that, but there is something so wonderful and special about being able to hold her and look at her. We have been loving all the time we have with her. We'll give more stories later, but right now we just wanted to give you some early pictures. By the way doesn't Jami look amazing for being only a few minutes after the birth! Also, for those who are interested she was born at 11:21 pm on the 17th, weighing 8 pounds 3 ounces and measuring 21 inches(Jami is very happy we induced and didn't let her put on another pound or so before her due date of the 30th). Also, there are a couple of pictures at the hospital website deaconess-spokane.org, look at baby faces from October 17th, and it should be there by later today (19th).

Anneka is coming this week!

Yes, it's true, Anneka is coming! For those of you who are wondering who Anneka is, it is our beautiful baby girl! She is going to be born this week. Now, for those of you who are saying, "come on now, no one can predict a baby's birth accurately," we agree. But, we are going into the hospital on Tuesday night to start the induction porcess, so unless for some reason Anneka and Jami are major exceptions and don't take to the induction, we should be holding our little baby girl in our hands this week! It is so exciting, and we will be posting pictures as soon as we can. I love the picture above. Our friend Rachel came over and helped Jami make the letters for Anneka's room, and as Jami was taking a picture of them she noticed that her belly got in the way. The brown arch in the picture is Jami's beautiful belly sticking out a bit further than she realized. This has been common for her in pregnancy as she unexpectedly will bump into things or not fit through spaces that were no problem for her before. We'll write again soon with a baby Anneka update!

Greenbluff and God's Blessings

The leaves are turning beautiful colors and there is a definite crispness to the air. Autumn has come! I thought I would be sad when the reality sunk in that summer was over, but fall is a lovely time of year, I think. It seems too cold to be outside for long in the fall in Siberia, but here I'm fine in a jacket and jeans. So nice.

This past weekend we went to Greenbluff, the harvest area around here, with some friends. We walked through the corn maze (which really was quite impressive), drank apple cider, and saw "punkin' chuckin" where a farmer shoots a pumpkin 1500 feet through the air at a target in a field. Very impressive. We keep thinking that our baby is so manageable right now. She doesn't cry. She doesn't need to be changed. We want to take advantage of these moments!

Speaking of our baby, we received an incredible blessing from my parents' neighbors. They brought over a crib set (bedding, valance, diaper stacker, etc.) from their grandson to see if we would like to have it. The amazing thing is that it's EXACTLY the same set we registered for and picked out of all the other crib sets!! What a blessing. God loves to show how He is a part of even minute details like decorating a baby's room. It is so neat to see how he lavishly provides.