Overwhelmed by Prayers

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for this child. We are forever grateful & humbled. Recently, my moms' group surrounded me yet again with prayers for this baby. Last night, our small group at church prayed over Reagan and I and this baby. A precious friend has organized a 24 hour prayer vigil at our church to cover our delivery and this baby in constant prayer. And the amazing thing is that not only have people signed up for every hour of the day and night to pray, but often multiple people have signed up for slots! WOW! I've been so convicted this week - would I give up my sleep to pray for someone? Sometimes when I'm lying awake at night, I pray... but would I voluntarily set an alarm to get up & pray for an hour for someone? Or would I give up an hour of my day to pray for someone? Thank you to all of you for modeling what it means to be the body of Christ for us. Thank you for sacrificing your time & your sleep to lift us up in prayers. I hope to be able to do the same for someone else sometime as you are doing for us. We are so grateful to be on the receiving end of your grace. Thank you for serving us. We are overwhelmed by your love for us & our baby!

So often this summer, people have told Reagan & I how "strong" we are. We often laugh - we are not strong at all. In fact, we are confident that the only way we've been functioning since June 20th is because others have been praying. We often don't even know how to pray or what words to use. We have sometimes been so consumed with emotion or with exhaustion or with despair and we know that the only way we come out of that is through the prayers of others. And somehow, we've been able to still find great joy! We were talking just recently about what an "easy" pregnancy this has been. Obviously, with what we've been experiencing, the fact that our joy has not been stolen is due to your prayers! I'm so grateful to have so many happy memories of pregnancy- more happy times than tearful times!

For those of you who don't know how to pray... here are some of our specific prayer requests as we prepare for delivery soon:

• a miracle of hands & feet
• that bone structure would be optimal
• that our baby would have no difficulty feeding
• a smooth labor & delivery
• no more scary surprises
• safe travel to & from the hospital
• that all of the best doctors would be in place & coordinated so that we can maximize our time in the hospital
• that this would be a time of joy & celebration -for everyone who enters our room!
• life!

We can't wait to introduce this baby to those who have "prayed for this child." (1 Samuel 1:27)
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!