introducing Covenant

One week ago.  That's how long our "little" blessing has been with us in person.  Looking back on those seven days (specifically labor & delivery), I'm humbled at God's grace, provisions & His ability to encourage when the pain/labor seems never ending.  Sparing you my labor & recovery story, let's suffice it to say my Type-A, driven personality is extremely discouraged when any large amount of pain is involved. 

And then God gives you a moment like this...

Covenant Dean Miller was born at 9:45am on March 26.  Weighing in at 8 lbs 10oz. and 20.5 inches long, he was bigger than even my OB expected and thus the complications of my small frame & his large head/body.  His name means "promise" and while used frequently in the Bible, it's not necessarily a name.  Covenant is to honor our great God's promise of provision, strength & peace regardless of outcome or circumstance.  Unbeknownst to us until we researched, Arlan also means "promise" and thus Covenant is named after his Daddy.  Dean was my Dad's middle name and thus we honor Verlyn through little Covey also. 

heading to the hospital on Tuesday (3/25) arriving about 7:00pm...note, I'm still somewhat smiling as contractions are about 5-10 minutes apart.

When they first placed him on my chest, my OB was convinced he was "a good 7 pounder"...

the scale showed otherwise :)

Dr. Kindred with his newest baby & one very proud Daddy

Everyone wanted to know what Haven's first thoughts were...well, she literally said "Look Mom, he's finally out of your tummy & I can have your lap back!"

Covenent meeting G & G Miller for the first time...they were troopers, keeping Haven for most of the rest of the week for us.

Covenant meeting a very special great-aunt Vera

"Uncle Rich" & "Aunt Vicki" stopped by to meet Covenant

Aunt Amber stopped by on her lunch break

Right before we headed home...such a big yawn!

We were discharged on 3/27/14.

Covenant's first ride in the van

Finally home!

Friday's Funny: sing-a-long with Haven

Father Abraham

Praise Him, Praise Him All Ye Little Children

Adoption update...we are MUCH closer!!!

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 

~ James 1:27

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

 ~ James 5:16b

This past week has been one of nesting at our home...getting the nursery ready for baby boy Miller, washing some baby clothes, disinfecting pacifiers, re-cleaning car seats, packing bags (we plan on delivering in Peoria, so we feel the need to be "extra" prepared)...and when we get updated Keziah news, it makes us even more excited to add to our family and "double-nest"...our term for preparing to add two children to our family! :)

Last Friday we received an update that our investigations for Keziah in Uganda are finishing up and we will then enter the final stage of paperwork before we travel.  The lawyers overseas will compile all necessary documents (parent death certificates, family consent forms, Keziah's birth certificate, any more medical documents, etc) before they pass it along to the court system in Uganda and we receive our court dates.  

The exciting news?!  

Court dates=travel dates! 

Travel dates to Uganda means each of us: Arlan, Katie, Haven, baby boy all pack our bags for an extended stay in Uganda (probably around 5-6 weeks total) until Keziah is able to travel home with us!  Folks, this means we prayerfully are getting MUCH closer to bringing our 2.5 year old daughter home with us.  Folks, this also means that our timeline has been moved up significantly.  Our expectant wait till we travel (while they finish up the last leg of paperwork) is anytime from one and half months to the more likely three/four months...we are expecting our estimated travel time to be by middle/end of summer.  We also received more pictures of our daughter this past week and it makes it that much more real to see her in her homeland, wearing her little shoes & darling dresses as we wait to meet her, love on her, touch her and bring her home into her forever family. Oh how I wish I could show you her beautiful face!

Can you sense the need to pray for us?!  Please sense YES!!!!
And here is how:

• Pray for the healthy & safe arrival of baby boy Miller as we "patiently" await meeting him.
• Pray that labor would go as naturally & smoothly as possible.  We know the details of timing with baby boy being born & us receiving our court/travel dates are ALL in God's hands and He uses this to build our faith & draw us closer to Him.   
• Pray that our need for final travel costs/expenses would be placed into God's hands as only HE can provide for this quickened time table.
• Pray for our discernment regarding what vaccinations to give our children & the final paperwork portion/details we are responsible for.
• Pray for Keziah's caretakers, investigators, lawyers & judge[s] that her case will come before.
• Pray for transition as we prepare to welcome 2 children into our lives in the next few months & transit one little 4.5 year old to the concept of siblings :)
• Pray that we continue to hold our daughter (& children) loosely as we realize they are a blessing from God, given to us for a time to raise & teach...all for HIS glory!

Thank you.

Thank you in advance for praying and supporting us.  We have felt your love & blessings on this journey thus far and have greatly appreciated you partnering with us to fulfill James 1:27 and James 5:16b.

If you'd like to take a trip back memory lane with our adoption thus far, below are the links:
January 2014 adoption update-click here 
December 2014 referral post-click here
January 2013 post-click here 
August 2012 post-click here 
Beginning of our journey [May 2012]-click here

Kayleigh Jill

Congratulations to my sister Emily & her husband Mike on their new bundle, Kayleigh Jill.
She was born 3/7/14 and weighed a whooper of 8lbs. 14oz.
Anxious to meet her within the next few months...but first baby boy Miller needs to arrive!

Happy Birthday Arlan!

We don't WANNA live without your love! 
Happy 39th Birthday babe!

the group

We spent the last weekend in January in South Haven, MI with our out-of-state potluck group...we don't really like the term potluck, so we lovingly named ourselves "the group"...I know, original.

We left pretty bad snow/roads in Central IL but ended up making great time to South Haven where they have a lot of snow...folks, I'm not exaggerating. They.have.lots.of.snow.  So much snow in fact, Jon's Aunt & Uncle who live up there said they have no where left to push the snow so they are taking it to the lake & dumping it on.  The lake is frozen 25 miles out from shore & Lake Michigan itself is over 65% frozen.  Unbelievable numbers even for them.

It's been about 3 years since we formed "the group"...click here for the first post.  This group of friends has been a great sounding board & it's been humbling to see how God is working in each of our lives.  As Believers. As Dad's. As Mom's.  As people.  And this was the kid-free weekend...so we had lots of great uninterrupted conversation!

 Our house in S. Haven was amazing!  Huge. Very large.  Very nice.

7 + bedrooms and 5 bathrooms...and Jon B. got us a great deal during off season!

 while this was the kid-free weekend, any nursing infants are welcome and thus we had two darling infants...Charis Schlipf...

 ...and Callum Virkler.  They were both such good babies!

 The fabulous Mexican restaurant we went to again...Su Casa.

 Based on this picture, you'd never guess we really like each other!

January happenings

While the weather has been frightful, we have tried and made the best of it from time to time with some travel (when possible) and get-together with friends.

 One Wednesday after library story time, I had an appointment downtown Bloomington at the Health Dept. so I treated Havers and I to lunch at Lucca's.  We walked in & she instantly wanted to sit at the bar...she thought the high bar stools were real cool. She, of course, instantly hit it off with the bartender :)

In mid-January, Arlan had his first mentoring training in Alto, MI.  So off we went with him, staying with Holly's parents, Howard & Kristin Plattner & spending Friday night with friends...Titus (Aaron & Bekah Plattner), Judah (Matt & Shelli Oesch), & Haven had a swell time playing.

And by that Sunday afternoon, the stomach flu hit our house starting with Haven...Arlan enjoyed the 24-hour bug by Tuesday and on Wednesday, it finally got me.

The bad roads didn't stop us from traveling to Gridley one Tuesday to get our Jeep worked on at Schlipf Automotive & gave Havers the excellent opportunity to play with cousins in Aunt Twyla's basement.

Her new Wedgit set has been a hit this long cold winter & she's loving making new creations.

 After a trip to the library...books get broken in very quickly!

Technically the next several pictures are from early February...we headed over to our friend's house last week to see if she needed help shoveling her driveway while her husband was traveling...she, being the wonder woman she is, had already dug herself out but her kids & Haven took advantage of the decent temps to shovel for a few more minutes.

[note-by "decent temps" I mean like 20 degrees]

Mr. Carter Jackson was welcomed into the world on 2/4/14...Congrats Jeremy & Rachel!

He's a doll!

Haven had the fun privilege of a friend over the other day...her & Charis hit it off beautifully & had quite a fun time coloring...

 ...reading books...

 ...heading to Ironkids Preschool together...

 ...a lunch date...

 ...and ehem, "quiet time" :)

 This past Friday, I had my 30 week sono (although I'm actually 32 weeks, almost 33 weeks pregnant) and so Havers and I turned our Peoria trip into a play date with the Hodel boys at the CAT museum.  It was a great way to spend an hour on a cold afternoon as the boys & even Haven LOVED the big construction pieces to climb up on & pretend to drive.

And last not but not least, we traveled to Urbana to get together with some friends, Jeff & Gretchen and their four boys...it was WAY past due!  Haven started out pretty shy but by the end of the night was jumping/running/wrestling with the best of the Moser boys!