Lost Post

Sorry for the delay in posting. Katie had a funny, whimsical, entertaining post all composed and as we went to publish it, the computer froze! So needless to say she didn't feel like rewriting it, so here is a recap:

Katie is feeling great and feels like eating anything now! For a while some food didn't sound good to her, but now it is on like Donkey Kong! Saturday morning she woke up craving poridge from Gourmet Market and so off she went.

But all is good!

Heartbeat!

Today we had another doctors appointment and everything is going well. The craziest thing for me was that Katie LOST a pound?!?!? We think it was all the walking I made her do on the frisbee golf course at Windy Gap.
But the nurse said everything looked good and SOUNDED good! We are able to hear the heartbeat for the first time today and it was truly amazing. The little heart was beating 3x as fast as Katie's. At first the nurse couldn't find the heartbeat because the little one was moving around so much. She said it was hard to find something that moves so much that is the size of a big peanut!
So all seems well- moving around and a good heartbeat! Please pray for the continued healthy development of the vital organs. Hearing that heart today amazed me that something so small, yet so miraculous, was developing within Katie. Surely we can't take this for granted!

pick your nose!

Well, it's a big week. The 12th week. The end of the first trimester!!! They say that can be the most difficult trimester and once your through that the baby is much "safer".
This week the baby's face becomes more defined as the chin and nose become more refined. (Just a side note Katie is hoping the child get's my nose- a weird thing to hope for, but there you go!) This week also marks the arrival of fingernails and toenails- pick away little one! This week the baby will also be at around 3 inches long and the heartbeat could increase a couple of beats a minute!

We are at the end of Katie's assignment at Windy Gap and it was an incredible month. It's hard to believe it could go so quickly. We both head home tomorrow and I am sure that much of her life will consist of sleeping, resting, napping, and going to bed. Katie deserves it, she's worked hard this month and created a child all at the same time.

We go to the doctor on Tuesday for the first ultrasound. We should be able to hear a heartbeat, definitley have updates on how that goes.

Pray that all goes well at the doctor and that development looks normal and healthy.

Down w/ Baseball!

Don't worry- I am not trying to take down America's past time, just taking down some Awesome border!!! As you can see, when we moved into our house we had an extra bedroom which we had left empty. We hoped one day it would be for a child so we did nothing to it. Well now we know a child will soon be in it, so Down the the fabulous baseball border!! I must admit I had nothing to do with this- this was all the doing of Ed and Paulette, and of course Allie.

Thanks to an amazing tool that scores the wallpaper, some hot water,mom and dad's fingers, and downy fabric softner- we now have a clean slate to work with. All the frogs, princesses, clouds, racecars our hearts can dream of!!

I personally hope that we/Katie decides that a fun baseball border would go great in the room! That's funny! I hear baseball borders are the rage in Pottery Barn Kids. As the paper was coming down and Allie was walking around confused like,"What's happening?" I said, "Allie, you have no idea how your world is about to change!"
I guess none of us do- but what a treat. Even as we were in the room yesterday I found myself shooting up little prayers. Pray that the room would be a place where the child feels comfortable, that we can create a place that is more than a place to live-but a place they feel at home, a room that is prayed over for safety, a healthy place, etc... So the first change has taken place- wonder how many more are to come?!

Profile Pic

Excuse this post. This is the onlly way to get a profile picture up! I didn't want to just put a random picture of Katie and me on the blog!

11 weeks

So here we sit at 11 weeks. We now officially have a "fetus". Congratulations little one. This week your ears will continue to develop and move up the side of your head and your sexual organs will develop more fully- what an important week!

Katie has one more week at Windy Gap and is still going strong. She has had an amazing month and been amazingly healthy and energetic.

As you think of something to pray for look at the list to the side and pick one- or feel free to pray as you feel today.

thanks for praying.

The name game is still a staff favorite at Windy Gap. David likes the name Daivd, ray likes the name Ray, and the list goes on, funny how it works that way. We like some of then we change our minds, we meet someone with a "cool" name and then decide it's too cool and will be ridiculous in a couple of years. Some names sound like verbs and other names simply don't flow with Neely. But we'll keep playing the game until we land somewhere. I personally am fond of Wesley Calvin Luther Neely- talk about a theologian- and it's family!

"Baby" bible

Surprisingly the word "baby" is not mentioned in the book of Genesis. The first time the word is used in the bible is in Exodus in reference to Moses.
I doubt that we will name our child Moses, but I do pray that our child's life would be much like Moses'. Adopted (by God) into a family which they don't belong, life filled with God sized stories, meeting with God, adventure, being able to hear the still small voice, and lots of Grace.
I guess we could all wish the same! Please pray today for our child's attitude. May it have a sweet spirit, be easy to handle, a good sleeper, etc... As the child grows may Katie and I know how to care and nurture for the child in a way that brings it up rightly.

Double Digits

Well we've reached double digits- 10 weeks. The doctors told us no one really uses the whole "9 month" thing anymore, it's all about the weeks. 40 weeks is what they say is the average pregnancy, so we are 25% there, a quarter of the way, just 3x more, getting closer every day!

At 10 weeks the beginning of all the vital organs have begun and fully seperated fingers and toes have formed- WOW. Are you ready for this-- this week almost 250,000 new neurons are being produced in his or her brain every minute, that my friends is a miracle. Please continue to pray for healthy development of all the vital organs.

I have had the priviledge of being at Windy Gap for the last 10 days with Katie and "baby" is on the brain. There are two other ladies who are pregnant and 3 babies under the age of 2. It is exciting to hold the babies and know shortly we will have one of our own.

Katie finds herself very tired at times because of her job and because of the pregnancy so please continue to pray that her next two weeks would be as easy on her as they can be. Fortunately she is surrounded by an amazing team who are very supportive of her. Her team is doing an fantastic job of showing and telling high school students the unbelievable story of Jesus, I am so thankful to be a part of something like this! So there you go! A little update-