Babies... and a sister for me

We have lots of friends having babies, but this is an especially wonderfully packed season of little ones. In December, three friends had babies, starting with the long-awaited baby girl, Faith. This first week of January our dear friends the Phillips and the Pays have met their 4th child and their firstborn, and my niece gave birth to twins. Later in January comes #3 for Tony and Allison. Welcome little ones. What a joy you all are!

At Christmas we also got to celebrate with Greg and Heather, the little one that God is knitting in her and we are so excited for her birthday coming this April.

In November, baby Emily Grace was born to very dear friends of ours. Her birthday should have been next spring and she has been a fighter since her first breath- day one when she weighed in just over 1 pound I think. What an inspiration she is.... what a compelling, precious, beautiful life to move us to prayer, to demand our hearts and eyes be lifted up to the Lord and be surrendered. M and B, we love you and love praying with you for your girl, and we are praying for you. Thank you for sharing your journey of faith so vulnerably as you have. You can see their blog here.

And a bit more about “my niece”... This summer I met with my dad (who I met for the first time when I was 22) and we did a DNA test to be sure he is my biological father. Turns out just as we suspected- it’s true. I’m glad to have that squared away and I hope it will mean for a deeper relationship with my dad. He really is an interesting guy, and for as strange as our story is, I am really glad he's my dad. So, when our connection was confirmed, my dad put me in touch with another daughter of his... a (half) sister for me.

We have tried everything we can think of to be able to meet each other around Christmas this year. But the last day we could meet, she was needed in Salt Lake City, to be with her daughter, my niece, who was giving birth to these sweet baby twins.

To my dear sister and your whole beautiful family, Congratulations for these little sweethearts! I hope that our next time in the states we’ll be able to visit and I look forward to being in touch with you till then to see these babies and your whole family grow.