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Who would have thought I’d ever blog about having a baby when I started this whole thing some 11 years ago?

I went to work on the night of the 26th and didn’t expect to come home shortly after that. I did though, I got a call from Sky. Her water had broken, and it was go time! I had these images of every father seen on TV who couldn’t remember where anything is. Who would then forget the wife as he is rushing out the door to get to the hospital. I wasn’t like that. We planned ahead and had a bag that we needed to take. We knew this time would be coming.

We grabbed the bag, filled Jake’s bowl full of food and water, and headed out to the hospital. We waited, and waited, and waited some more. It was a long time in labor. We waited so long that the nurse eventually said that we would have to do a c-section. The baby wasn’t turning right and also the size was too small for the baby. This was after hours and hours of trying to have the baby vaginally. They scheduled an immediate c-section and we felt like we didn’t know what side was up. What a whirlwind of emotion. We were frustrated, especially since we knew the stats and how many women are forced into c-sections, especially in the US (even when it’s not needed).

Emotions aside we prepared for the coming baby. I waited in a room while they prepped Sky. Eventually, they brought me in (see photos of while I was waiting). I felt like I was Dr. Karev from Grey’s Anatomy (yeah I probably watch the show too much). Then I went inside the room and took photos of the baby being delivered. What a crazy experience. I was talking Sky through it because she couldn’t see what they were doing (which was probably for the best at that moment in time).

Then, at 6:29 pm we heard a little voice fill the operating room.

Welcome baby! This previous child that I was holding in my arms. After the baby was cleaned up, they had me walk with her to the room. On the way the nurse stopped me in the hall and asked if I’d like a photo of just me and my newborn daughter. You can see the photo below.

As time went on, we decided to post a photo on social media. We tagged Matthew West since his song “Hello, my name is” is so popular right now – plus we love the line “Child of the One True King!” How much of a greater welcome could we give her?! He saw it and apparently loved it. We started getting notices from everyone that they saw our baby on the page for Matthew West. The post soared and got over 110,000 likes. We were not use to this kind of popularity.

With this also came the negative side of social media. We read things that people were saying about our child – really mean things. Nothing I want to mention, but some of it was disgusting. Due to this, we ended up saying “this will be the only post” that we have. We would not have our baby on Facebook. Any photos would be on Instagram and locked down so that only friends and family could follow updates.

We decided on a name: Arabella Hope.

Arabella being “prayer answered” and “Hope” is pretty self-explanatory.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/07/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of February 2014 to keep chronological order.

February! We expect our lives to change pretty dramatically this month. The big question is: When?!

In the meantime, we have been keeping with our normal schedule. Before church, on Saturday we had some extra time so cruised the neighborhoods surrounding. We came across this horse – fondly named by us as Mr. Ed. After church, we took time out and went to our favorite pizzeria – Oreganos. That deep dish. Yum.

Online there has been news of a company opening up a new store called “Dumb Starbucks Coffee” – how funny! I think they will be taken down by the corporate lawyers quicker than they can open the shop.

Got an update from my parents that there was an accident at my dad’s work and he was injured. There was some hot liquid that came out of the car and got on his face and his arm. It looks pretty bad. It would be nice if he didn’t have to work anymore. I think this job will kill him. Ugh. Happier note: Jake gives great snuggles.

To make things a little more official with the Church, we decided to add a decal to our car. *gulps* this is like going steady with someone! We visited Oreganos again (the wife has some cravings for the pizza, and what the wife wants- she gets).

One of the things I really like about Central is that they have dedicated nights for just worship. Here is a picture of one of them. Think of it like a worship concert for God. No big lights for people on stage – no this is all about worshipping the God who loves us.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/28/22 but moved the publish date back towards the end of February 2014 to keep chronological order.

A new year! This is the year of the horse. We picked up this Starbucks card so our child will be able to have it – maybe they’d think it was cool. I would have.

My birthday came and went, and this year I got a mission belt. I thought the reflection of the Blazers logo on the belt was pretty cool. Why don’t they make a Blazer’s mission belt?

On November 30, 2013, Paul Walker died. We took a trip to go see the area where Paul Walker died (it is in the city my parents currently live). There was a bunch of stuff (car parts etc.) that had messages written on them to Paul and his family. The sidewalk also had been written all over with messages to Paul from his fans.

One thing that is nice about working so late, is that most places have little to no lines. We went to Mcdonald’s and we had to wait a bit for someone to come to the speaker for us to order. How funny.

Jake is being super cute and LOVES laying down between your legs. He snuggles right up next to you with his soft paws stretching out. We’ve been going to church each week- despite the fact that we live 45 minutes away we think that Central will be our home church – at least it feels that way.

The Coyotes! We ended up getting cheap tickets to a game, and considering that the Glendale arena isn’t super far away from us, we went to the game. While at the game why not get some Tim Hortons!? I don’t know if any other place stateside where you can get it.

The last photo is of the waiting room for the location that we go to for our appointments to checkup on the baby’s health. We see Dr. Damian Bass – outside of hating LA he isn’t so bad.

Pregnancy cravings are no joke. Maryia has been craving Popsicles and the like for some time now. We keep them stocked in our freezer. We have also been to target recently and shopping the clearance asiles. It has been a little hard to get things that can work for a baby boy or girl, BUT we figure sports is pretty safe.

Above is a candid photo of Jake and me taking a quick nap-a-rooni on the couch. The last photo is more of a status check to show how pregnant the wife has gotten.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 09/28/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of January 2014 to keep chronological order.