Not Ready for Bye-Bye

We will soon be leaving North Carolina to head back to Texas for awhile. We have obligations that must be met that require us to leave Abigail and Amy and Josh for a little while. They will do great without us, but we hate to leave.

Sarah has been here this week and has taken the wonderful pictures you have been seeing. It has been a special blessing to be with her. Check out Amy and Josh's blog for more pics.

One thing we are looking forward to is seeing our friends and family in Lubbock and showing off our new little home. Especially pulling our heartstrings are some little girls who we have missed almost to the point of unbearable. As much as we hate to say goodbye to Abigail, we look forward just as much to getting our arms around Rebecca and Izzy again. We also have Sophia, Sierra, and Sydni not too far away in Whiteface. This grandparent thing is just the greatest joy. Wish we could get the Smithermans a little further west though.

We plan to leave the first part of next week, hoping to thread our way across the South and avoid tropical storm "Fay" as much as possible.

We thank everyone for their continued prayers.

See you soon,

Mel and Karen

These Pictures Say It All

Bath Time

Memomma had the wonderful privilege of giving Abigail her first bath at home this morning. She got all dressed up to go on her first little outing to the pediatrician's office for a bilirubin check. She is a little jaundiced, no one is worried, but they are checking it daily until it starts going down. Her bilirubin was the same today as yesterday, so we think it has peaked and will start going down in a day or two. This is common as most of you know, and especially in our family. Amy had to stay under the bili-light for several days after she was born. Abigail's weight is good and she is wetting plenty of diapers. She is a delight to us all.

Karen is staying over at Josh & Amy's house this week. Mel comes over for awhile during the day and enjoys the fun, but otherwise he is home alone with the puppies, getting some reading done and listing some things on ebay. This is our world for now.

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This

Here She Is!

Abigail Joy, born 1258 am, 8/9/08, wt. 7#11oz., 20 1/2 in. long, blonde hair, blue eyes. She is great. Mom and all okay.

Today is the day!

We are all at the hospital awaiting the arrival of our little Abigail Joy. She is expected to make her entrance some time this evening. She already has our hearts wrapped around her little finger and we can't wait to see her and hold her. I will make another entry tonight or tomorrow and try to post a picture.

Excited and Praising His Name

Karen

Just Waiting

Never thought we would be soooo busy after retiring, but our life is anything but boring. Most or our usual household chores are a breeze in our RV, however, we have a few occasional routine plumbing chores unique to RV's that are somewhat shall we say "interesting". For the nurse in me, it reminds me of giving a giant enema. Afterwards our holding tank and sewer pipes are clean as a whistle. Mel is appalled that I share this, but hey, some of you are considering this lifestyle and there is really nothing to it. Ha-ha

We took a day trip further east in North Carolina this week. We got an early start and headed for the coast at Morehead City. We stopped along the way at the places where I (Karen) lived and went to college and got my nurses training. It was a walk down memory lane and my mind and heart were flooded with the past, I focused on the good experiences and it was good to see how some places had changed and how others had not changed at all. We ate the best seafood on the waterfront, just as yummy as I remember it.

We eventually made it to the beach and enjoyed the ocean breeze for awhile before heading back to Raleigh. Mel collected some pretty sea shells for Rebecca and Izzy and Karen bought them something from a gift shop.

Wednesday, Karen attended a Bible Study at First Baptist in Garner near where we are staying. Then we picked up Amy and she spent the afternoon with us. Karen cooked supper and Josh joined us when he got off work. We enjoyed time together with both of them in anticipation of our BIG DAY on Thursday. That was the day of Amy's cerclage removal. We were half expecting Abigail to come that day, but she has a mind of her own.

You can click on the link to Josh and Amy's blog for more details about Thursday, but to make a long story short, after the cerclage was snipped, Amy immediately dilated to 4 cm. Optimistically, we walked her around the mall until we were all exhausted and other than a few random contractions nothing happened. It was predicted that labor would begin withing 24 hours, but like all other predictions for Abigail this pregnancy, she did not cooperate. She tried to come a few times when it was not time, and now that we are ready, she is happy where she is. hmmmmm, get used to it? yeah, I think so.

So we are "just waiting" now with happy expectations for her arrival soon.

God Bless you all! Though we miss Texas, we are making the most of our time here in beautiful North Carolina!