WOW, long time!

As we approach the middle of September, I cannot believe how quickly the time has flown since my last post... it was just three short days before my baby girl arrived.

The birth was text book as far as I'm concerned...

Went in at 6am July 23, 2009
Got my ultrasound for the estimated fetal weight... Got the Pitocin around 9am... They broke my water around 12, was dilated to a 4...Contractions were at a minute and a half apart by 1 when I received my epidural, dilated to an 8... Dilated to a 10 and began pushing around 4:20...

Avery Anne Carmichael arrived at 4:44pm 8 lbs 6 oz, 21 inches long

The emotions that ran through my body at that exact moment were totally indescribable... happy, joyful, thankful, praising the Lord, amazed, and really just complete and total surrealism...

Avery is now nearly 8 weeks old come this Thursday and I have enjoyed every single second of being a mommy and watching this precious girl grow and learn each and every day! She already has a funny personality and I'm loving watching it change from day to day... she smiles at mommy and daddy and knows just what to do to melt our hearts! :)I am currently working on getting baby girl on a better schedule... and that's been fun, it's challenging but I enjoy the challenge! :) I'm having a hard time finding the motivation to do things around the house though lol, just still don't feel normal... and it's hard to make Sheldon understand that. Maybe I'm just using it as an excuse but I just seriously want to stare at Avery all day long ha ha! And I feel guilty if I leave her in the swing for more than 15 minutes, yes I know she's fine but I should be spending time with her while she's awake, not cleaning right? lol Yet I'm supposed to sleep when she sleeps? HOW does ANYONE get anything done? HAA I suppose God will help me balance all of that in his timing! :)

I have been meeting new friends lately and that has been so nice... I was depressed about not having friends for a good while and God is beginning to fill that void for me. I am truly appreciative of his timing this is for sure... he always knows when we need him the most! :) Since being at Park Street, Sheldon and I have been praying for God to send us some counselors that will truly love on the kids and have a passion for seeing them grow in the Lord rather than doing it just to do it. Recently our two counselors that we do have got a renewed passion for the kids which has been super exciting AND he's put a couple in our lives that has just joined our church and definitely has that passion... we are excited to see what the Lord has in store for our ministry with them in the future if it all works out! :)

Missing all of my girls, thought I'd give a shout to each of you individually while I have a few spare moments....

Sarah Anne SARAH! Getting married in less than a month... so excited for you and devastated I can't be there :(

Lyndsi, thinking about you often lately hoping you're finding it easy getting adjusted to being married and holding a full time job! It's stressful sometimes but SO exciting! :)

Erin, as I said on your FB yesterday... Beyonce's dancing at the VMA's reminded me of your ghetto dancing! I love it! Favorite bachelorette party stripper ever lol... only some of you will understand that comment. ;)

Carrie... Haven't gotten to talk to you in a while but thinking of you often and hoping Arkansas is going well... wish you could come see us!

Kim HENRY! Excited where this next year will take you in your life... I know God is going to use you in a HUGE WAY!

Rachel, so glad i was able to come to your wedding in May... It's so neat to see you all grown up, married and working as a children's minister!!! Why do I feel like your big sister? lol

Kimberly, missing our college days as goofy CRAZY girls who would do anything if someone dared us to... sometimes I walk through wal-mart and punch items on the shelf in memory of our many trips there!

Amy...you have 3 babies now! How insane is that? Super mom! Wish we could see ya'll! It's been way too long!

Mickey... you left me!!! I am so excited for ya'll though and am so happy you were able to move on to a place that will bring about so many new opportunities to serve God in a new capacity! Thrilled to see what all God has in store!

Cassandra... cannot believe you're pregnant!!! You have always been the cutest ever and now you're gonna be the most PRECIOUS pregnant lady ever! :) I can't wait to meet baby Kuykendall! YAY!

Angela, so glad I got to see you in May and that you were able to come to my baby shower... excited to see what God has in store for you and Matt in the future! When are the babies coming? :) ha ha!

Kelli... I know life is tough right now but know that God has a place for you and going through times like this happens for a reason and you should be excited to see what he's got for you! I AM!

Erica, so excited for you and Ryan to see what God has in store for ya'll in Texas... I know it's huge and now I get to see you every time I come home! :)

Lori... I miss you and your family so much, you have no idea... ya'll mean the world to us! :)


To all of you and everyone else, I love you so much and I am so thankful God placed you in my life when I needed you most... missing each and every one of you and can't wait till everyone can meet Avery! :) I pray for all of you often and I look forward to the day when we all have our own families and can look back on college and reminisce about the good ole' days! HA HA!

The end!

Avery's Room... After!

It's hard to believe...

that in 10 days or less we will get to see our baby girl at last! At today's doctor's appt I was now 3 cm dilated and still 50% effaced. Because my doctor is worried about her being a bigger baby, she scheduled an induction for July 23rd at 6am... I AM SOOO OVERWHELMED!!!

Mommy and Bailee are flying in on Monday afternoon... so hopefully Avery will stay in the oven a little longer! I need my mommy here before she comes! ha ha!

I have so many craft projects going on at once because I want to make sure I can get them all done before Avery or my mom and sister comes! On top of that I need to clean both bathrooms, kitchen, our bedroom, and dust everything too! OMGoodness! So much to do! Anyone wanna come clean the bathrooms and kitchen? PLEASE ha ha! :) Pray that I can get it all done and that I don't pop her out in the process!

Long week!

Well Monday when I went to the doctor I was 1cm and 50% effaced! Kinda insane! She didn't tell me not to go to camp but she didn't advise me to go either... so you guessed it, I WENT! ha ha! My feet were swollen 110% of the time! lol yay!... gross! I've never had ogre feet before and let me tell you, it was no fun!!! The picture above of my feet, was about 50% of how bad they had gotten by last night but I would like to inform everyone, I now have ankles again! :) YAY!

We had an incredible week at camp, I do not regret going AT ALL! Monday night with our girl's devotionals started out strong... usually the girls don't open up until the 2nd or 3rd night so it was awesome to see them already thinking about what they wanted to get out of camp.

Several of our kids surrendered their lives to Christ... so basically whatever he wants for them they are now willing to let him use them! :) I think that's HUGE! We had one of our girl's gain reassurance of her salvation and I know that was a big big big decision for her, because it was really scary for her! There were many other decisions and self realizations that were made this week that just topped everything off! :)

I seriously love our kids so much... not only are they funny and laid back... but they helped me all week long. I didn't even have to ask and they would offer to get things for me like one of a million cups of ice, or food in the cafeteria, and so much more. It made me feel loved for sure! :) There were a few teams that were VERY VERY competitive and that pretty much turned our kids off immediately but they still did every game with stride, ease and a good attitude for the most part! :) I love that they don't care about the small things like that, they just love to have fun with each other... and yet they each are still so very different. VERY REFRESHING! Their different personalities compliment our youth group perfectly so that we are made up of so many different people but have that one common bond in Christ... love it! :)

Thank you guys for an amazing week and parents for letting your kids go! We love you so much!

Well...

... It's that time of year again... yep that's right! Tomorrow around 1pm we will be leaving with 35 of our kids to head to Fruitland Park, Florida for The REFUGE! WOOT WOOT!

At 8:15am I have an appt. where they will check for the first time to see if I've progressed any, as far as labor goes. I will also find out if and when I have to be induced. Last Monday she weighed 6lbs and 14oz... and I was also measuring further along... SOOO their plan is for me not to have to have a csection... and if that means inducing I'm fine with that because I'd like a semi natural process lol YES I AM STILL GETTING AN EPIDURAL! ha ha! Anyhow, I will update on facebook tomorrow to let everyone know what the verdict is! :)

Regardless of my progression lol my plan is still to attend camp this week... I guess we'll see what the doctor says but I'm pretty dead set. I've expressed my feelings to a few people but my main thing is, camp is the one time every year when we can get these kids out of the norm and get them to think about life and open up. If I miss out on these connections, I will feel disconnected all year long. Obviously if it comes down to Avery's health I will stay but I won't be happy about it at all. :( I will have a golf cart all week and will be in a downstairs cabin!

Please pray that everything works out well and that kids lives are changed and that the few we are taking that are unsure of their salvation make it right! I'm so excited to spend some time with my girls!