Dear Baby Girl

My dear sweet Ellie,
I cannot even write in words how exciting I am that you are my little girl! I've been feeling you move around more inside this week and it's finally feeling more real that you will be in my arms in just 19ish weeks. The time is just flying. This weekend at church, you were already blessed with these adorable things from mommy's friends.  You're going to be one styling little girl!

I'm excited for you to have dates with your daddy just like I did when I was little.  Maybe he'll even take you to the ballet and then Steak N Shake like your Grandpa did with me. I look forward to all the girl drama you'll bring to our lives and I hope your awesome big brother Owen will do a great job watching out for you while you're at school and with the boys.  Someday I can picture us going to mommy daughter teas, shopping for prom dresses, and maybe even someday helping plan your wedding.  Ok, ok I'm getting ahead of myself.

One thing I have treasured this past week is calling you by name.  I love knowing who's in there and being able to pray for you by your name.  Ellison Jakeh.  It's a pretty speical name to us.  Your daddy's middle name is Ellis and my middle name is Jakeh.  So you have a little of both of us in your name.  Your first name means My God is the Lord.  This is something we pray everyday that you will come to know.  Your middle name is unique and I've been so excited to be able to pass it on.  It's pronounced jay-kuh and I've never met anyone else who has it.  It is found one time in the Bible in Proverbs 30:1.  Jakeh means pious, or in other terms 'devoutly religious'.  And while I don't love the word religious, my prayer is again that someday, you will come to love Jesus just as much as your mommy and daddy and other family members do.  This also means we'll have the same initials, that is unless you get married someday.

So my dear Ellie, we are just giddy with excitement and anticipation at meeting you.  It will be a whirlwind few months getting your room ready, buying cute little pink clothes, and cherishing the last few months we have with Owen as an only child. Know that you are so loved already by so many people.  I cannot wait to see what you look like and meet the little girl God planned for us to have.

I love you so much,
your momma

Dear Baby

Dear Baby 2,
First, my apologies for not writing you a letter sooner. But I talk to you and pray for you everday, so hopefully you're not too offended. :)  Tomorrow we get to hear those 3 little words that I've been waiting for, "It's a boy" or "It's a girl."  I am terrible with surprises and I cannot wait another day, let along another 5 months to find out who you are!  I cannot even express to you how excited I am to find out.  Even more so than I was with Owen, if that's possible.  I think it's because I know how awesome you are going to be.  I mean, when I was pregnant with your brother, I thought I knew how much I was going to love being a mom.  But now I KNOW how much this job means to me.  I love every second of being a mom to your big brother.  Even the sleepless seconds.  He is such an amazing little person and it has been such a joy watching him grow and learn new things everyday.  Watching your dad is pretty cool too.  You're really going to like him as he's a pretty great daddy.

And now we get the privilege of getting to know you too!  How blessed are we?!  I cannot wait to start calling and praying for you by name. I can't wait to start telling Owen more about you so he can hopefully get your name mastered by the time you arrive.  I love that God already knows who you are and knows that you are the perfect little person for our family.  Boy or girl, we love you so much already and cannot wait to share a few more details about you with the rest of our friends and family who love you already too!

Love,
Your Momma

Dear Baby

Dear sweet baby girl,

I cannot even express all the things I'm feeling right now. I think I have cried more today than I did when I gave birth to your soon to be friend, Owen. I can't give the world any updates because your momma hasn't posted them. And well, that is a really fun thing for a new momma to get to do. But I just wanted you to know a few things.

We have prayed and prayed for you. For years. Really, years. And when I saw that picture of you wrapped snuggly in your momma's arms. . .I knew that you were the EXACT baby that we had been praying for. You are perfect. Absolutely perfect. And you have been worth every minute of the wait.  You have such an amazing mom and dad.  They are some of the world's greatest people.  They have hearts so big they can't be contained.  They're going to teach you so many things, like how to be an amazing gardening goddess and cook, and how to read great books, and how to survive without a TV.  And you'll grow up not only know about their love for you. . .but about how much Jesus loves you.

I'm giving you a book when I get to meet you this week (oh how I wish I could come this minute). And in it, there's a line that sums everything up perfectly:

Heaven blew every trumpet and played every horn on the wonderful, marvelous night you were born.

This is true. Jesus was throwing quite the party tonight because you arrived (in quite the fashion too). You are the one and only ever you.  I love you so much already sweet girl.  

Love,

Emily

Eviction Notice

Dear Baby,

I am hereby issuing a 20 day notice for eviction. Tenant will have 20 days in which he can either gather his belongings and promptly vacate the premises, or wait until the final day. After which, he will be physically removed from the property.

He's being evicted due to breech of contract and destruction of property. Expansions only to the FRONT of the house, within reasonable limits, were discussed. Not only have these limits been exceeded, but additions to the back of the house were also made!

Remodeling and gutting of the home was never approved, nor was changing the initial layout and base structure. And due to property damage, there are now leaks in both the upper AND lower levels of the home. On top of which, the landlord has received numerous complaints about nightly disturbances.

After 20 days from this day that he doesn’t comply with the notice will result in immediate and forceful removal at my discretion.

Love,
Your Momma

Dear Baby

My Dear Baby Boy,

I cannot believe that I will be meeting you in about, umm, 6 weeks!!! Of course, you could always come a week or so early and I would not complain for a minute! :) I just hadn't written you in a while, even though I think about you every single second of everyday. You're really stretching my tummy these days and practicing your (soccer?) kicking skills on my right rib cage. But I know it just means you're growing just like you should be. So kick away!

I just had to write you to tell you about a really neat moment I had a church 2 weeks ago. I know, I know a little late in the blogging. Last Sunday was baptism weekend at church. These are seriously the best services ever and I always bring Kleenex for the flood of tears that happens. There is something so powerful about seeing people publicly announce that they love Jesus. Here's a little peak (for those of you who didn't get to be there!)



There were about 20 people just in our service alone who got baptized. One of them was a mom and 2 small kiddos. When I saw the little girl get dunked, I lost it. Because I was thinking about you. I laid my hands on my tummy and just prayed (as I do everyday for you). I prayed that we will be able to teach about the awesomeness of having a real relationship with Jesus. The "I wanna partner with WHATEVER God is doing" kinda relationship. The life-changing, pack up your stuff and move for him kinda relationship (not that you ever have to church plant dude). And I look forward in great anticipation to the day where we get to see you be dunked as you tell the world you love Jesus.

Even though it's quoted a lot - I pray this for you often: "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

I cannot wait to see what your future holds. I love you baby boy.
Love,
Your Momma

Dear Baby

Dear Little Man,
I'm starting to feel you a lot these days. Not all the time, but after I eat or drink or when I'm being still I can feel you wiggling around in there. It's been so wonderful actually realizing that you're really a little person in there. The personality you'll have when you arrive in the outside world is the same one I'm getting to know right now in my belly.

Yesterday afternoon at the church planting boot camp, your daddy and I got some awesome prayer from Rand T. and Jenny F. It was the kind of prayer where they read your mail and you have snot dripping from your nose. But the coolest thing was Jenny asked if she could put her hand on my stomach to pray for you. You hadn't been moving much that day, but the minute she put her hand on my stomach, you started moving around and continued to do so for her whole prayer. You're pretty shy when people try to feel you move, so this was quite unusual. She prayed health and life, that you would be a man who will follow God his whole life, along with lots of other good stuff.

It was such an amazing few minutes. I think you already like getting prayer! And I only hope that we can model and show you how important this part of our life is. We pray for you everyday as do your grandma and grandpa. But I can't wait to pray for you when you're actually here. For your boo-boos and bad dreams. And for lots of wisdom to know how to raise up a little guy who loves Jesus.

I can't believe we're going to meet you in about 110 days! I love you so much already.
Love,
Your Momma

Dear Baby

Dear Baby,
Tomorrow we go to the ultrasound to make sure you are all ok from the episode from last week's ER visit. But even more importantly, if you cooperate we will find out if you are a boy or girl. I am so excited, I doubt I'll be able to sleep very well tonight!

Tonight, I was looking through a few of the baby purchases I've made over the last 3 months years. And then I was crying. I cannot feel you move just yet and you're not making my tummy too big, so it doesn't completely feel real yet. But holding those little clothes and toys, I was totally overwhelmed. I wasn't just wrapping a baby gift for another shower. There's actually going to be someone in these clothes. You. My baby.

We know that boy or girl, you're going to be just the right baby for us. We have no idea what we're doing and I'm sure we'll make tons of mistakes. But I thank God everyday that he chose US to be your parents. I look forward with great anticipation when we see the Kingdom break through all the way and we hear your first cry. I love you so much already.

Love,
Your Mama