Great news... and we need your help!

The first thing I remember Daniel saying when we found out Friday that we are having a baby GIRL was, "Oh crap, I don't know how to wipe a girl... there are so many folds!"  Well, if that's our greatest concern, I think we'll be ok.  Friday we took Caleb down to get an echo and while we were down there, we spontaneously decided to go ahead and have the baby's heart checked.  And her little heart is perfectly healthy.  No missing valves, no defects, no problems.  It was yet another of those moments in my life where I was crying and laughing at the same time and I surely looked like some kind of crazy person.  A healthy baby.  And it's a GIRL.  I am still in shock.  

When we went to get a routine ultrasound at 20 weeks, when I was pregnant with Caleb, we received some of the worst news expecting parents can receive.  And from that day on, my pregnancy was a fearful time.  My due date was no longer a day we anticipated with excitement, it was a day we dreaded.  We spent the next few months trying to cope with the news that our child would have half a functioning heart.  Then when Caleb was born, he endured two open heart surgeries within the first year of his life, spent weeks in the hospital, and required a lot of medical attention.  Needless to say, his babyhood was nothing like we had expected and more challenging than we even could have guessed.  I spent a lot of that first year of Caleb's life depressed and lonely.  When we look back on that time, it's actually hard to remember normal baby stuff.  Most of our memories involve wires and meds and crying together on the couch after our kids went to sleep.

A big reason we wanted to have another child was because we knew that another baby would bring so much joy to all of us.  And she already has.  More than I would have guessed!  When we found out this baby has a healthy heart and that it is a girl, I don't know if I have ever been more happy in my whole life.  And to think of having a normal birth experience, and to come home to a normal life... to think of my baby sitting up, and crawling, and walking, and being able to run when she's supposed to... it makes me so happy I cry just thinking about it.  This baby is already a bright light in our life, to all four of us, and I know we're going to enjoy every minute of her.  Of course we enjoyed Caleb as a baby, and Jonah too, but there's something so special about the timing of this new addition to our family that makes me so excited and thankful.  And hopeful.  I got this wonderful birthday present this weekend... maybe Daniel can get a wonderful Father's Day present next weekend... I can't imagine my joy when Caleb gets his new heart and we are on the road home.

Speaking of home, I actually need your help.  I'm hoping that all of you who read my blog will be able to help us get our old house sold.  Our friends, the Espinozas, have been living in our old house and they are now getting ready to go back to Costa Rica.  They bought tickets to go home on June 19.  That means we're getting ready to have two mortgages and we certainly don't need that!  We KNOW God wanted us to put off selling it and allow them to live there, and we KNOW He will keep providing for us.  Now it's finally time to sell.  Will you help us get the word out?  I am going to post some pictures on facebook with some info this week, and I ask that you SHARE this information and think of anyone you know who is interested in buying.  If you are able to post a flyer at your workplace, please let me know and I'll email you one.  If you know anyone looking to buy a perfect little starter home, please send them our way.  Keep your eyes peeled for info!