How Adorable!

Isn't this precious? Daddy and Baby sleeping together. Today is my first day alone with Baby Elisa. Grandmas have gone home and Brandon is at work. I have high hopes of getting a few things done and, to facilitate that, I got a baby sling which we are using right now. That's right, Elisa and I are blogging together! (Actually, I am typing, she is snoring but we can't expect too much from her right now.)

My sister, Christina; her daughter, Kaitlin; and husband, Doug flew into town on Tuesday. This is the first time the whole family (including Doug) has been here to visit since Christina moved to Florida. What miracles the Lord has worked in her life since then. Doug is a great guy and Christina is patiently working on being the wife of I Peter 3. Doug has a profession from his youth, but shows little spiritual interest. Nevertheless, he is supportive of Christina and surprised her last week by showing up at the family bible hour at the chapel she attends! This is a real answer to prayer and we are excited to see the Lord continue to work in thier lives. Pray with us while they are here that we would all be a good testimony of the christian life to him and that his heart would be softened toward the assembly here in Tulsa.

Happy Holidays to all, I hope your Christmas is as blessed as mine!

The Big Day!

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006 I was scheduled to be induced at 6:00 a.m. The doctor put me on bedrest the week before so I had plenty of time to anxiously ponder and pray about the experience. Monday night I was pretty nervous and, like every other night for the past months very uncomfortable. I just prayed a lot and finally got up at about 3:30 and played on the computer for a while before waking Brandon at 4:30 so we could get ready to go.

I was having some gas pains and thinking about my horrible luck to have any additional discomfort on the dreaded day. We showered, got dressed, and finished packing. I made the bed, unloaded the dishwasher and fed the cats. Brandon was saying - "it's time to go" - and I was feeling more and more pressure.

We got to the hospital at 6:00. As I was getting on the elevator, my sister called - which was great. She asked how I was feeling and I told her about the gas. She said - "you are in labor!" I said "no, it's not really painful, just a lot of pressure."

I got to the admitting room and was admitted fairly quickly. They asked me all kinds of questions, including how much I had been dialated at my last appointment - 2cm. I asked for the epidural right away because I was afraid 1. that it would take a long time to get and 2. that it would be like when I had my wisdom teeth out and it took forever to kick in. I was pretty nervous about facing the pain because I am a big wimp!

By about 6:30 the nurse checked my cervix and said "oh, my! you're at 9 plus!" From then on, things kicked in high gear. It was a little overwhelming since I had myself all psyched up for a long day of labor. Isn't the Lord wonderful though? Elisa was born with relative ease (not that I didn't have that "Get this thing out of me!" moment!) at 10:20 a.m. She would have been born sooner if we hadn't had to wait an hour for the doctor to come break my water - which was the apparent cause of all the pressure I had been feeling, not gas.

Now we are home and she is perfect. My mom is helping which is great. I was getting up every 45 minutes when I was pregnant. I am actually getting more rest now! If you want to see pictures of my beautiful baby, check out the gallery on Brandon's blog www.lifeofthepowells.com.

Once again, the Lord has blessed me in every way and answered every prayer above and beyond what I ever imagined. He is so good! Praise Him with me!