Beyond Measure

The fog has finally cleared to see,

The beautiful life you've given me

To feel the breeze of my newborn's gentle breath

With one to walk hand in hand,

To share this life that you have planned

It's like a storybook with dreams

That are meant to see every next step is an extraordinary scene

I know that I've been,

Given more than beyond measure,

I come alive when,

I see beyond my fears

I know that I've been given more than earthly treasure,

I come alive when I've broken down and given you control

I've faced a great tragedy,

But have seen the works of what you bring

A display of faith that you give,

I don't know if I will ever understand

The depth of what it is you've done inside,

But I know that I will won't find any worth apart from you

Everything that I have

Has been given so unselfishly

And shown that even when I don't deserve

You always show the fullness of your love

These are the lyrics of one of Jeremy Camp's new songs, and they say exactly how I feel this Christmas season. I am just so in awe of God's faithfulness and the blessings that he has poured down upon our family. We truly have been given the best Christmas present ever this year!

Motherhood

Mommy - the title that has eluded me for so long. I can't even begin to describe how it feels to finally be a mommy! So far it has been everything I dreamed of and so much more. God is so faithful and has truly blessed us more that we could ever imagine. The past week has been full of all kinds of emotions. I experienced the happiest day of my life as Emma Kate entered the world on Tuesday, and then Wednesday my grandmother, Gan Gan, went to meet her Savior. It's kind of funny how God works, it was like life coming full circle. My grandmother taught me so much about being a wife and a mother, but more importantly she taught me what it meant to love the Lord with all my heart. I will forever be grateful for her!

Onto my sweet baby Emma Kate...her delivery was pretty uneventful and so much easier than I was anticipating. We went to the hospital at about 5:30 Tuesday morning and they started me on pitocin around 7:30. Dr. Burkholder came in around 8:30 and broke my water. After this I started feeling a few contractions and decided to go ahead and get my epidural before they got worse, and it's a good thing I did! I got an epidural around 9:00 and within about 20 minutes I had gone from a 5 to a 9!! We couldn't believe everything was happening so fast, but because I was progressing so quickly my epidural wasn't keeping up and I was feeling a lot of pressure. So the anesthesiologist came back in and gave me a shot of the medication to help with the pain. This worked right away, but it caused my blood pressure to drop so they gave me more medication to help with this and around 10:30 I was ready to push! After a few pushes the nurse said that all we were waiting on was Dr. Burkholder to get there. We waited for about 20 minutes and after Dr. Burkholder got there she was here in only a few more pushes at 11:08 am! She weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 inches long.

So far she has been the best baby!! She latched on immediately and has eaten like a champ from day one. We were a little worried because she had a crying spell the first night in the hospital for about 2 hours, but she really hasn't cried like that since. And she's such a trooper. We came home from the hospital Thursday around noon and then had to wake up at 5 o'clock Friday morning to drive to Amarillo for my grandmother's funeral. She did great in the car all the way there and back, in fact she didn't even make a peep. :) Saturday morning we had to take her in for a weight and color check. The dr. that we saw was concerned that she might have jaundice because she looked a little yellow. Unfortunately they called us yesterday afternoon and said her levels were high and that we needed to come back in Sunday morning to have them checked again. They never called us today with the results, but hopefully we will know something first thing tomorrow morning. At first I was really upset and worried about it, but from what I have read it is really common and I know that things could be a lot worse. I just hope we don't have to use the mini "tanning bed"! Speaking of beds, Emma Kate slept in her own bed for the first time last night! We had been putting her in there for naps and she did really well, so we just decided that we might as well put her in there at night too, and she did great! I guess I will quit bragging about my sweet baby girl and share a few pictures with everyone, I know pictures are more fun anyway! :)