A Double Birthday!

Tuesday night, I stayed up pretty late in a battle against the charcoal oven and the bad attitude that was brewing against it. It's a difficult thing to bake a birthday cake with charcoal, but I was seriously determined since a new seven year old would be waking up in the morning! Tyler re-lit the coals for me around 10, I put my bad attitude aside, and we finished the cake together. We've always been a good team.

At 3AM the birthday boy woke me up to find a light to put in his bed. Even seven year olds need a light in their bed sometimes, you know? I got him back to sleep and realized I was having some good contractions. I went to bed and started timing them. At 3:30, I woke up Tyler, and we began to collect all of the things on my list to have a baby in our upstairs.

As crazy as it sounds that we would choose to deliver a baby alone in a mud hut with poor lighting and the only medical help available is a clinic in town with a bad reputation, it was our only option! We tried to meet with doctors, midwives, anyone who might know more than us, and every time we tried, the door was slammed shut. A few weeks ago, we even travelled a few hours for emergency training from a doctor/missionary. We stayed in a hotel the night before the meeting with her, and Tyler ended up throwing up the whole night and next day. We went home knowing God was not allowing any intervention, and HE ALONE would carry us through it. No doubts, and no other options!

So from 3:30-4:30 between stopping for contractions, we collected the medical supplies, towels, laundry baskets, set up the bed, and scrubbed out a few cloth diapers so no one else would have to. At 4:30, I got in bed and Samuel John was born PERFECTLY and CALMLY at 5:48AM. We had very little time to use any of our fancy medical equipment!

The delivery room.

The very un-official weigh in.
This is a kilogram scale we use to weigh sacks of sugar and rice.
He weighs somewhere in the 7.5-8 lb. range.
I'd love to know to the ounce,
but as long as he's eating and pooping...
I think his weight is okay!

We have a two-story hut. It's one of a kind for sure. But in the upstairs, there is a trap door in the floor to get into the kids' bedroom downstairs. Around 6:15, Jonah popped his head up through the floor with a smile a mile wide, and said, "I HEARD EVERYTHING!"A brother is the best present he could think of!

Samuel John

Thankfully, there are two missionary girls, Emily and Maddie, here taking care of Zane and Summer's children. They offered to take our kiddos all day. I thought this new baby would put a damper on Jonah's day, but he had a full day of trampoline jumping, soda drinking, Star Wars watching, and playing in the sun with some of his best buds!

A serious treat!

Thanks for the rest Emily and Maddie!

I promised Jonah mac and cheese for dinner. Chef Maddie came through with it for me! The cake was finished the night before, so Tyler whipped up the frosting, and we enjoyed it after dinner. It was an awesome double birthday!

As for me and Samuel, we're doing awesome. Resting as much as possible, and trying to teach Elisabeth that it's okay not to be the tiniest one anymore! THANK YOU to all of you bazillions of people who are faithful in your prayers for us. "Thank you" seems so trite in really what I mean. God will give you a better reward than I could muster up in words. I'm so blessed to be able to share all that the God of Glory is doing here in this humble hut. He alone gets all of the glory for the ease and perfection of this awesome birth story!

Birthday Brothers.