Proudly Announcing....

                       ~Daxton Judah~
     (don't you just love the little handprints at the top?!)


Who will hopefully be safely arriving sometime near the end of August! We are beyond thrilled to be having another baby boy. And very thankful that everything looked good with him so far. Now for the interesting details leading up to finding out what he was......

So in the last couple of posts I mentioned that we did a practice ultrasound last week while I was volunteering. Partly for training purposes (of the lady doing it), partly for fun, and partly out of curiosity to find out the gender a few days early. The kids wanted to do a party or something to reveal the surprise and it worked out better to have it this past weekend. Anyway, long story short we were able to see the baby and when trying to figure out what it was got what we thought was a pretty clear picture. My first impression was boy just for a second but after looking more closely it really seemed more like a girl. It was so hard not to be dissapointed since we were really hoping for a boy this time! (and Dathan seriously wanted a baby brother!) Still, we weren't entirely convinced and decided to wait until yesterday to confirm since there's always a chance of being wrong.

But after getting home I looked at lots of pics online, read about how to tell the difference on u/s, and showed it to a couple other people. By the next day we were almost 99% sure it was probably a girl. We still decided to just wait on the party though and maybe just ease the idea by the kids so maybe they wouldn't be totally shocked with the news when they went with us to the doctor. But Dathan accidently saw a message I sent to someone about it and asked what it meant, which of course led to Delancey wanting to know too....altho she wanted us to "surprise" her by telling it in a fun way. So we talked to Dathan and told him we were pretty sure what it was and even let Delancey find out by opening a box of pink balloons. Yes, people, the picture was that convincing!! :-)

Okay, I know ya'll are probably laughing right now but for real we were like grieving over the whole thing at first. I mean, we just so had been thinking it was a boy and already had the name and everything! (that reason being because it was picked out before Delancey was even born) It was a weird feeling knowing that we would love it to death and be thankful for the baby either way, but realizing that our hopes had really been totally up for a boy. Guess we hadn't done the best at being neutral on the whole thing after all....you know, since there is always that 50/50 chance there. So anyway lots of talking, praying, and focusing on that if it was a girl then that was God's will for whatever reason but that it was okay to feel dissapointed went on for the next couple days. As well as scrambling to start coming up with girl names beginning with a "D"! (which unfortunately wasn't going so good, so we're thankful that isn't necassary now! lol) The whole weekend just felt weird since I still had a hard time thinking of it being a girl but telling myself I better hurry up and get used to the idea!

Blake was able to be at the u/s last week so decided not to take off work to come to this one so I asked mom to go with me and the kids. We were all in pretty good spirits and excited to see the baby again. Everyone was accepting of the girl idea by now, except for the whole "no name" thing for me, of course. (I was obsessing over that part just a bit I think. haha) She asked if we wanted to know the gender and we said yes, but that we actually already felt we had a pretty good idea and mostly wanted confirmation. Then lo and behold the very first look was so obviously a boy! It took just a second for it to register with all of us and then we were ecstatic! She got so many good shots of it that there was no doubt what it was this time. ( I promise! lol) 

Who knows why all that other crazy stuff happened the way it did?! Maybe the Lord just wanted to help us learn (and show the kids) how to let go of what we wanted or thought was best and trust Him, even if we didn't understand. Whatever the reason, I think He definitely brought us to a place where we were just thankful and accepting of the outcome....and I have to admit that it felt good having that kind of peace. And especially seeing Dathan have it as well. I do think it made the news yesterday just that much more special for all of us! :-)

So there's the long version of the big news! We are so thankful for the good report on the baby and of course that God did grant the desires of our heart in giving us Daxton. Even though the alternative would have definitely been more than okay too! Please keep him in your prayers as he continues to grow and get ready to be born. I will update more later about my own news and health since this has already turned into a short book. haha Until then I will just finish up with these verses that came to mind while looking at the u/s pictures this morning....

"For Thou has possessed my reins; Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are Thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well......How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them." Psalm 139:13,14,17