Good news!

Our visas for America have been approved! We had to go to the embassy on Thursday and everything worked out easily. We were so amazed at how it all went, it really was a miracle!Praise the Lord! We plan to leave for the States around Jan. 10th and will start at MTC on Jan. 19th! We are so excited to see many friends again!

Coming home

After 7 long weeks in the hospital we brought our sweet Lucy Chanelle home! Last picture in the hospital! yay!!!
First time outside!
Welcome home!!! Our first family picture!
All 4 of us!
Snuggles with mommy

Love love love

Here just a few pictures of the people I love the most :)

I LOVE my husband, he is amazing! Those of you who know him will agree :)
My sweet Elise Zoë, what a treasure. She fills our days with much joy and laughter!!!

My beautiful princess Lucy Chanelle, so little and precious, so alert and curious, what a treasure!!
We are doing well! We brought Lucy home 3 weeks ago and what a great time it has been! She is doing really well and is just a really easy baby, eating and sleeping! Elise loves her little baby sister! Walter is back to work so I am home with the two little ones. It's been really good, though I'm always thinking of things to keep Elise entertained :) She loves to help mommy and we do lots of fun things together. She is such a lot of fun, I love this age, 14 months!! She is constantly talking talking talking, knows lots and lots of words, we are always amazed...though most of you wouldn't understand since we talk Flemish at home :)
We are still working on our papers to go to the States in January. We pray for wisdom as we deal with different things that come up. We really hope it will all work out as we are really looking forward to continue the training with NTM there.
With God no circumstance is accidental and no experience wasted... I read that in '31 days of Praise' a long time ago...and it's always stuck... It's something we always cling on to, wherever we are, whatever we are doing :) Sometimes we're just not too sure of why God has us here for this time being...but we know it's all in His hands and we are thankful! We are enjoying this time being a family of 4 and also spending time with our church, our families & friends!

A mountain...

I lift my eyes unto the hills...where does my help come from?

My help comes from YOU LORD, Maker of Heaven & Earth!



I was reminded of this verse this morning and it encouraged my heart! Sometimes it feels like we have a huge mountain ahead of us, and many many unknowns...but our help comes from the Lord and we are so thankful!



It's been almost 5 weeks now since Lucy was born, and to be honest, it sometimes all feels kind of like a blur and we are a bit tired :) We can't wait to bring her home, hopefully in a little over 2 weeks, if all continues to go well.



For the most part she has done really well. She is so very precious, and now weighs 2.1 kgs (4.6 pounds) so that is great. She had an infection and was put on antibiotics a while ago, but she got over that pretty quickly. Now the past couple days we had noticed that she wasn't doing great and since this morning she is sick again and on another set of antibiotics :( We hope she can get over this infection quickly as well! It's hard to see your little one not well but we've been very pleased with the care she gets at the hospital so that makes it a little easier!



The dr also told us yesterday that Lucy has a heart murmur due to a little hole in between her heart chambers, I think it was. I guess a lot of premies have this. It's something that could close by itself, but could take up to a years time and otherwise she would need surgery. We pray this hole will close up by itself!



I have been able to nurse Lucy twice a day, for the past couple weeks, except for when she was sick. But she doesn't really do much since she is so sleepy all the time!! Only a few times she has done well, but I hope it will keep getting better over time. She does get bottle fed as well and she does well with that because then she can drink while sleeping :):)



Thank you so much for praying for us! We really appreciate it :) Please keep praying for our little girl and also for all the paperwork we need to get done in order to start the training in the US in January.

whirlwind...peace...& prayers...the Whole Story!

Wow, when I sit down to think about the past couple of weeks, my mind just feels overwhelmed with everything that has happened in our lives! Here's an update on how we are doing :)

August 1st...was a very very special day for us as Elise Zoë turned ONE! She has brought so much joy in our lives and we thank GOD for blessing us with our sweet little girl! She has SO much personality and is just SO fun!

When she woke up in the morning we went in to sing to her. She was a bit confused and her hair is just like it is every morning hahaha :)
Happy Birthday Princess!!!!

Opening presents!
She looked SO pretty in the dress aunti Liesbeth bought for her!
In the afternoon we had a birthday party with grandma's & grandpa's, aunts & uncles, cousins...very very fun!
She was very very excited about her strawberry cake! Elise LOVES to eat!!!!
The balloons are her favorite! She is still playing with this one, a lot more than with any of the toys she got!! I LOVE these pictures of her!

We took Elise swimming for the first time. We weren't sure how she would do but she absolutely loved it and wasn't scared one bit!!!In fact, I was a LOT more scared for her than she was :):)
CUTIE!
Being wild with daddy
mommy loves to swim even when pregnant!

Wednesday August 6th...my hubby's birthday!!!! I'm SO very thankful for my husband! He's my favorite favorite person in the whole world and I LOVE being his wife. I love sharing this life with him and I consider myself very very lucky.

Elise was with the grandparents & we spent the afternoon at the pool because it was very very hot! In the afternoon we had a dr's appointment just for a regular check up. I like to come here in Belgium because I know my dr here and I was also getting an ultrasound, which they don't do in England at 30 weeks. We didn't have any concerns whatsoever, I had been feeling great & had lots of energy

So we were very surprised when the dr did a check and I was 5 cm dialated, completely effaced and water ready to break. We had a bbq planned for Walter's birthday at night...but I had to go to the hospital right away. Dr wouldn't let me go home and pack a bag quickly...

At the hospital they put me on medicine to stop the contractions (which I guess I have but don't feel) and also medicine to mature the baby's lungs. I was on complete bed rest. It was all very very sudden and unexpected but we were very calm and had an amazing sense of peace. God's peace that surpasses all understanding...knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was in complete control and that NOTHING comes as a surprise to Him. Anyway, I guess I didn't really fully understand what was going on because I was still thinking I would be allowed to go home and just rest there for the rest of my pregnancy. Pretty soon I was told I wasn't going anywhere for a LONG time :) and just figured I would be in bed there in the hospital for 7 weeks or so until the baby came. I really didn't expect the baby to come yet.

I didn't really have time to get bored there in the hospital, the few days I was there... reading, watching the Olympics (yay:) getting visitors, missing my man & baby girl. On Saturday the medicine against contractions was stopped (they can only give it for a certain amount of time)

Saturday night I didn't sleep well...no pain really, just achiness in my back which I thought was just from laying laying laying. I was also getting put on the monitor every couple hours, but it would never really show much, just little bumps, never really looked like strong contractions, and I would just feel it tighten but not really pain. Anyway, was checked Sunday morning and had 7 cm...oh oh this wasn't looking good, this baby is not going to wait! I had to be transported in the ambulance to another hospital, where they are more specialized in taking care of premies!

They brought me into the delivery room right away but I was just laying there on the monitor, didn't really look like anything much was happening and they always come and ask how I was feeling but I was just a bit uncomfortable. So they moved me to another room as they said the baby wasn't coming yet. But I was checked I guess about an hour later and I had 9 cm! My body is crazy! The pediatritian came in and told us all about premies and the special care they need & get. We were feeling overwhelmed and not realizing what was happening. I also was getting a bit panicky! I wasn't ready to give birth! I didn't want to do this yet! I really felt like I didn't know what to do and I didn't want to do anything :) But I guess you don't really get a choice and our beautiful beautiful little girl was born August 10th at 5.45pm...weighing 1.48kg (3.2lbs) and 38cm (14.9inch). I got to hold her for a minute...she was crying...so cute! She's SO little! Pictures can't capture how small she is! Every time we see her we are surprised at how small she is...yet so perfect... so complete...God is SO good!

LUCY CHANELLE DELEU

She's done really well so far! She needed help with her breathing the first couple days but after that she's done it all by herself!

She gets fed through a little tube in her nose. It started with one ml every feeding, and she is up to 3 ml now! Most of the time she digests it pretty well. She has lost quite a bit of weight since she was born but yesterday she gained 10 g (0.35 oz) and today 3g (0.1 oz):) wow :)

The diaper is just huge!!! :)

Daddy bought a monkey that is just her size!
This was the first time we got to hold our little girl! So very very special!
A very proud daddy!
She has lots of blond hair. She looks so sad here! I miss my mommy & daddy! We miss her too!
We've been very pleased with the care she gets there at NICU. So far everything is going well, we just hope she doesn't get infections as little ones like that are very vulnerable to that. We were told this morning that we need to plan on her being in the hospital until her due date...which was October 20th....it seems like such a LONG time from now :( and it is hard leaving her behind...but every time we see her she's sleeping peacefully and we LOVE getting to hold or kangaroo her once a day! I go to the hospital every morning and then Walter & I take turns going at night. I was laughing the other morning as I was driving to the hospital cause I thought 'there's nothing more dangerous on the road than a mommy who wants to get to her baby quickly :):) hahaha

Well, so much for making plans huh. Our plan was to be here in Belgium until the 24th of August, take a short vacation in France and then head back to England. Now, we will be in Belgium until at least mid October. Please pray as we don't really have a place to stay yet, for that whole length of time, and we need one soon!!!! (at the end of this week!)

It's also quite funny cause we really didn't bring a lot of stuff (we were only going to be here a month and Walter always says we take way too much so we really tried to be good this time) I only have maternity clothes, hahaha, so I need to go shopping as all my clothes are in England!!!!!! crazy! I only brought summer clothes for Elise and it will get colder here in the fall....just things like that...but anyway, we are well, cared for and loved by our LOVING Father and we are SO thankful knowing Him and resting in all He has for our family!

Thank you all so much for praying for us! We really appreciate all of you! We will keep you updated on how things are with baby Lucy!

Pictures

I LOVE my MAN!!!!

26 weeks pregnant and feeling great! I'm SO thankful and we're SO excited about this baby!

hahaha these pictures are terrible :) I hit my face, right by the corner of my eye on a shelf in the nursery. Had NO idea it would turn out like this. I think it will turn all colors of the rainbow before it goes away!

LOVE this baby! She's tooooooooooo cute!


She's pulling herself up on everything! I can't believe she's almost one year old!
I love this picture of us :)

Time for an update!

Hi friends!

Thought I would give you a quick update on what is going on in our lives since it has been forever since I posted anything! :)
We are well... all 4 of us :) Walter and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this past weekend! We went out on a wonderful date to a nice Italian restaurant! I am so very very thankful for the man God has blessed me with! I can't believe it's been 5 years already and look forward to the many many years to come...until we are old and grey and our teeth are falling out :):)
Elise finally starting crawling about a month ago. It's so nice to have her moving around! She's actually climbing onto everthing and always wanting to stand up...she does not seem to be scared one bit, it's too funny! Not sure how quick she'll be with walking, sometimes I think she'll be doing it really soon :) We just love her, she is SO much fun and she imitates everything... silly faces, lion growls and other crazy animal sounds...this is especially funny if she does it right in the middle of a quiet moment in the church service :)
My pregnancy is going well, 25 and a half weeks already! It's going by so fast! I'm feeling great! I actually don't even really feel pregnant and I just love feeling this baby move and kick around inside! We have a newborn baby in our hallway here at school, and seeing this little one really really makes me excited about welcoming our little one into our family soon!
We have 2 and a half weeks of school left before the end of this year! We head back to Belgium at the end of July and will be there all through August before we come back here for another year of training. We are looking forward to our time at home... visiting with family and friends and our church family.
I will have to post some pictures soon. I'm not on our computer right now so I don 't have pictures on here...but hopefully soon!
Well, I guess Bye for now! Love to you all! :)

Sunny days

Elise is such a clown sometimes, it's just too funny!!!! She loves loves loves her bathtime and gets water ALL over the kitchen :)
She loves to clap her hands and 'sing' :)
Big blue eyed princess :)
We've had some really nice sunny days this past week and it's been great sitting outside and playing. Elise loves to throw the balls all over the place...She isn't crawling yet...well, at least not forwards...she moves backwards and sideways but just can't seem to ge forward. Not sure when she'll figure it out :) She also got her first two teeth just this week! I felt so excited about it :) Poor baby also got an earinfection at the same time, but she is on antibiotics so hopefully will be over it quickly.

Just today

We are blessed!

Happy News!

We are very excited about baby #2 joining our family in October! I'm 15 weeks pregnant now and feeling great. Didn't suffer too much from sickness this time but seemed a lot more tired. I think I'm over that fase though so that's great! We had a great time at home in Belgium for two weeks, spending most of our time with our families! Walter's surgery went well but it will be a long recovery! He is amazing! Elise continues to be SO much fun, we love her to pieces :)



Here's a picture of our precious new life!

We had Elise hold up a sign, it was too funny...she just loved to be crazy with the paper! She just loves to be wild and crazy! :)