Celebrating

Life moves forward. We celebrated, amidst tears, my Dad's life and homegoing. We celebrated our whole family being together again for the first time in I don't know how many years. Only days later we celebrated, with fun and laughter, our miracle, Alana Marie. Born a healthy 9 pounds and 8 ounces, no one suspected that she had a birth defect that would cause her to have to fight for her little life. Alana spent two weeks in the NICU with friends and family across the country praying for her. While staring down in shock at all the tubes coming out of our precious baby, doctors told us of the many, many problems that she could potentially have. So far, she has had very few problems, and we feel overwhelmingly blessed when we compare her health to that of others born with the same thing. Alana asked Jesus to forgive her of her sin when she was 7. Her Sunday school teacher, who just happened to be her Grandma, had been teaching about salvation for several weeks. Her big brother, having heard his Dad speak on Revelation, had been worried that she would be left behind when the rapture occurred. So he had been sharing with her about how to be saved. One night after our family time, she climbed up in my lap and said, "Mama, I want to ask Jesus to save me. Can you help me?" She is now a healthy,fun, loving, sweet nine year old as of April 18th. We can hardly believe that she is so big so soon. Here are some pics of her birthday. She and her friends Reilly, Julianna, and Melodie, along with her brother and sis, had a blast at a quickly put together Build a Bear party.

We love you, Alana Marie!

The cake that Mikayla and Alana decorated.

Cake at home
The birthday girl. She was glad they didn't give her a crown.

Finished!

Ice cream at Dairy Queen On our way home. See our new animals?

Games at Build a Bear

Nathanael enjoyed the party, too, even if he was the only boy.

Don't let her fool you...she had a blast and loved doing the bear just as much as the little kids.