We brought Soraya home the other day.  Audra and I (mostly Audra) had a rough night the first night.  Second night not all that much better.  Soraya is growing well and we are all getting used to having another person around.  It’s really cool.  Kia and Aylis’ are always racing to see who can pick up “Charlie” first.  They’re both very good with her.  Todd is keeping his distance.  I don’t know if he really knows what to think yet.   It’s clear that he likes having her around, but still it is something new.  He said he’s okay with having another girl in the house as long as “it’s a little sister!”  These last few pictures are the first time the kids saw and held their new sister.   (The other girl in the pictures is a lifelong friend of the family.)

Todd and Soraya:

 Aylis’ and Soraya:

Kia and Soraya:

She was born yesterday, and today she has a name:  Soraya Charlotte.  Soraya is a name we heard on NPR and thought it was beautiful.  It is a Persian name for the Seven Sisters Constellation.  Charlotte is Ash’s grandmother’s name and the name of one of Audra’s dad’s sisters.  It is French and means “Free.”  The girls have already said they are going to call her sister “Charlie” (from Charlotte).  Audra and I are still planning on calling her Soraya.  We are heading home tonight and so I wanted to post a picture for all of you.  This one was taken just a few minutes after she was born.

On October 19, 2007, we welcomed a new addition to our family:  a baby girl.  I’d tell you her name, but to be honest, we haven’t decided on one yet…though we’ve gotten a lot of suggestions!  We’ll make a decision tomorrow.   She weighed 8 pounds 1.5 ounces and was 21 inches long.  Audra delivered her completely naturally with just one slight pain reliever to take the edge off the back pain.  What was really cool was I got to actually deliver my daughter!  Here is the first family picture. 

We’re back in Ball Ground for a few hours today.  Audra had a presentation last night with a UMW (United Methodist Women’s) group last night in Woodstock (about 20 miles south of Ball Ground), and the kids had a chance to spend with their friends today so we stayed the night. 

Before we moved from Ball Ground a number of people invited us to stay with them for the night if we are in the area, so we’ve been taking them up on it.  These are people we have known for years through church and through the community.  We’ve visited in their homes, but never for the night…until now.  It’s been good.  Things slow down when we visit for the night and the convesation isn’t hardly ever forced.  The natural flow of life in the routines of the evening and the morning, lend themselves to conversations and questions and stories that may never come up in a casual visit.  

There is a fine line between accepting hospitality and mooching.  We try not to mooch.  We accept invitations to stay and talk and visit, but we try hard not to wear out our welcome.  We try our best to be unimposing…to be good guests.   The hospitality extended to us has been more than we deserve.  It has been a humbling pleasure.  The people we stay with ask us how our partnership raising is going, and quite often say they wish they could do more to help us out.  I’m not sure what they mean…a place to rest our heads at night when we are in town is a tremendous help!  Their love and encouragement means so much more than I we can put in words.  Thank you.

Wow, time moves quickly!  I’m not going to be able to write much right now because we are in between presentations.  I just wanted to let you know we are still here.  A quick update on our lives:

The Pregnancy:  The baby is still due on October 31st.  My mom’s pushing for the 28th because that is her dad’s birthday.  Audra is pushing for earlier than that.  We had an ultrasound the other day and the baby was 6.5 pounds already.  A few more weeks he/she should be a good size.  By the way, we still aren’t finding out if he/she is a boy or a girl.  We like the surprise and the wait…

The Presentations:  We are tired of driving, but we love talking to different churches every Sunday.  It has been a blessing every time.  This morning we were at Tunnel Hill UMC.  Tonight we go back to the same area to Smith’s Chapel UMC.  We have some evenings still to schedule.  Anyone want us to come and speak…?

Other stuff:  I’ve started substitute teaching in the county I used to teach in.  So far it has only been in the middle school.  I’m enjoy it tremendously, but I got to say, sixth, seventh, and eighth graders are a different breed.  Great kids, but a different breed. 

We are still around, and we plan on writing more often.  Thanks for your love, support, and encouragement.  God bless every one of you.