GIRL!!!

From Daddy:
Karis Faye Lanier, the name of our soon to be born child has already been a marvelous blessing to us. I can hardly write these words without getting emotional. I am so excited that God has graced (Charis, means grace) us with a child, and a precious girl at that. For a while now, we have speculated with many that we were having a girl. As a matter of fact, God had given me a special confidence that we were having a girl and that she was going to be o.k. during the time of our scare when we thought we had miscarried. I look forward to being "Daddy" to this precious child, on lend from the Lord. Pray that her and Mommy remain healthy and graciously cared for by our Dad.

PS. I know what you may be thinking. Yes, the Kovacs and the Laniers are naming their daughters Karis. It's actually quite funny. We were having dinner with them a couple weeks ago when Shawnda asked us what names we were thinking and we said Silas or Karis and Shawnda's eyes lit up and we knew "You guys are thinking Karis as well, aren't you?" So we had great conversation about all of it and are joyful to be able to share yet another part of our lives with our dear friends.

From Mommy:
Well, I know what many of you are thinking..."I knew it was a girl!" My dad's comment was, "How much did it cost for them to tell you that? I could have told you for free." We had a great dinner with my family tonight and gave them the news by showing them a little girl doll, the first doll that Daddy has bought his little girl. Of course, we are just so excited and love being able to say 'she" instead of "the baby". And we are thrilled to be able to pray for her and call her by name! So, as soon as we fix a couple of computer glitches we are having, we will share our latest ultrasound picture. It was wonderful to see her today, big and healthy and moving all around. Well actually, it took a long time to see if she was a boy or girl because she had her legs completely crossed. The nurse kept saying she was stubborn. We like to say she was being modest...:) So, the nurse left the room and I walked around and jumped around and pushed on my belly a lot to get her to move. And it worked! The doctor came right in and saw it immediately. So exciting!! Also, the other update is that the growth I had was completely undetectable today. They said it's just gone...don't know what it was or why it's not there anymore, or where it went. We know the Lord just healed my body and is keeping our little Karis safe and healthy! So, thanks for celebrating with us!