Dad is safely home, and Lily and I are both thrilled (All the single moms out there should be given a medal and have various stars named after them...I don't know how you do it!)

Lily had her one month doctor's appointment today, and the doctor was thrilled with our chubby little bird! She is TEN pounds and 23 inches long, explaining why none of her little pants cover her ankles anymore! She was also able to get one immunization, but the rest have to wait until she is 6 weeks old. Her hearing test that she didn't pass at 3 days old she passed no problem...so the whole visit was just a blessing!

The doctor also gave us her blessing for Lily to leave for Haiti, and had "no concerns! See you this summer!"

SO, we're just waiting for her passport to come today or tomorrow, Lord willing, and we're off Saturday morning for Georgia!

for a dear friend

Bex, my room-mate and best friend from college, is halfway across the world, serving the Lord whole-heartedly on a very difficult mission field, and sent Lily this lovely camel before she was born!

Now, Bex and I are missing each other, and struggling with the reality we faced from our freshman year in college: God had clearly given us each other, but because of our similar callings, we would not be able to be a very present part of each other's lives...

I know you're struggling missing out on this Lily part of our lives...but she loves her camel, loves her Aunt Bex, and as always, you're always close-by my thoughts and prayers...
We love you!




Lily was very tired after playing with her new toy!

reading with Aunt Lisa

Aunt Lisa came all the way from Chicago this weekend to spend some quality time with her little niece before we leave for Haiti. Lily enjoyed the afternoon as much as Lisa did :)

WE MISS DADDY!
Lily is loving her new bouncy chair that her great Aunt Patty got her! She gets quite aggressive (well, baby aggressive) with the dangle toys!

getting ready...

Lily's first big party is today, her Delaware "Baby Shower"! Unfortunately, she missed her Haiti baby shower and her Ohio baby shower, so we're excited she gets to be a part of this one :) To prepare, she had her first bath, which we thought she would hate but actually seemed to be quite happy with!

We'll have pictures from the shower after today!

growing up before our eyes...

Already! Can't believe how much she's changed in just 10 days...While we thoroughly expected our schedules, motivations and priorities to change with Lily, we never realized how much she would change how we think, our relationship with each other and the Lord and who we are...

What a gift she is...

family

Praise the Lord...we have arrived safely in Delaware! Lily was amazing in the car and with all of the traveling, and we got into the Ayars house around 6 Saturday night! We had family Christmas together almost immediately, which was wonderful, but our best gift BY FAR was learning that Casey and Laura, Matt's brother and our sister-in-law, are PREGNANT! We are SO excited, and our new niece or nephew will be born sometime in August! Please be praying for them as Laura will be going on bedrest in a few weeks for the rest of the pregnancy... WE ARE SO EXCITED!!!

Pictured here is Lily in her new Eagles gear, "watching" the big game today...pictures of her with her Great Aunt Patty and Great Grandpa, checking things out with her Uncle Casey, opening Christmas presents, Uncle Casey and Aunt Laura, Lily's new dress before her first trip to church...

This morning we were able to worship at Cornerstone Church, one of our "home churches." It was wonderful to be there, and such a blessing to worship with these brothers and sisters. After countless numbers of phone calls and conversations, we are close (we think!) to having her birth certificate, a necessary paper in order to apply for her social security card, a necessary document in order to apply for her passport. Thanks for all of your continued prayers and encouragement...

We've received some awesome phone calls and emails from Haitian friends who are very excited to meet Lily :) That will be a fun homecoming. For now, it is nice to be in the same place for 2 weeks and to have some great time with Matt's family...

the Lily Tour

Our "Lily Tour" has begun! We started off Friday morning, blown away that our first week has already flown by. I already feel that panic that she is growing up...already she is looking so differently than she did a week ago! Our first stop was to see some dear friends in New Bedford, Pennsylvania. Lori, June, Judy and Debi showered her with love, presents and attention...we are SO blessed to have these women in our lives. Before my mom passed away, she spent hours in prayer that the Lord would bring people into our lives to be there for us where and when she couldn't be, and I know these women are a direct answer to these prayers. We love you!

After a short visit with them, we hit the road again and braved the snowy trip to Somerset, PA. Lily's has now gotten to meet her great-grandparents, her great-aunts and her great uncle...they are all loving spending some time together! We'll have pictures up of this soon...

We're all having a big lunch together, and then Lily's back in the carseat for the last leg of our trip...for a while, anyway! On to Delaware to meet grandpa, Uncle Casey and Aunt Laura, as well as great-grandparents, great-aunts and uncles...all the Ayars!

precious!

Uncle Scott, a friend who has been like a brother to both Matt and I, came to see Lily on Monday!

day four with lily

Today was Lily's first doctor's appointment! Everything is looking good, and she's actually gained 3 ounces since her birth weight....the doctor was pleased. Lily was great until the blood tests :) Most of her immunizations will be able to wait until her 6 month appointment this summer, and the rest we'll try to make happen in Haiti.

baby!

Unbelievable. As most of you know, Stacey was scheduled to be induced this morning at 8AM. At 2:00AM this morning, Stacey went into labor; no induction needed. We arrived at the Ohio State University Hospital around 5:00AM and are patiently awaiting Lily's delivery. The Doctors say that everything looks great. We'll be sure to keep you all updated on the latest news.

We're deeply grateful for all of your prayers. Thank you.