It's a . . . .

"Hi Aunt Shanda"

Kevin's voice greeted me at 1:30 this morning. I heard the phone and had raced from bed to get it, all the while chanting Kevin's name. Sure enough, this was the call we had been waiting for, hoping for, and praying for. All is well. All is better than well.

My mom, who had babysat last night for our date out (I'll post about that later today) had stayed overnight. We knew that Kevin and Gretchen had been admitted to the hospital. Now, mom eagerly came upstairs. Gary and I decided that this trip to Grand Rapids needed to be shared by all. I had a hoot waking up every child, each one so very tired. Noel got out of bed and crumpled on the floor. "I just can't do that" she exclaimed several times. With kids pajamas still on, we all piled into the van and talked the whole way. We didn't talk about the new baby, no we talked about cars in the ditch, the lyrics of the songs, and why a skunk might get hit by a car. Very important conversations.

We made it to Spectrum. We entered the room and beheld our new niece. Oh, is she beautiful! She has tons of dark hair and is dark complected. She is precious precious precious. They are all well. Tessa Marie is 8 lbs. 10 oz. What a chunker! My other siblings arrived shortly after we did and we laughed and talked together. Then, we joined hands and thanked God for bringing this amazing gift to us. Wow! What a night!

I'm paying this morning for getting so little sleep last night. It was worth it though. I got to be close to a miracle. Thank you Lord!