Born Thursday, April 19, 2012
8:18 am, Mountain Time, 6 lbs 10 oz.
in Vail Valley Colorado Hospital,
to excited and thankful parents
Sabrina and Ryan Smiley!!
And rejoicing Grandma and Grandpa Rachel & Lawrence
(and Aunty Ericka, Uncle Mark, Aunt Janelle, Uncle Craig, and Aunt Mandy . . . besides many many more loving and celebrating family and friends. YIPPPEEEE)
Thank you for your prayers. Sabrina's c-section went really well; much better than expected. Praise God!
She did not have to go to ICU afterwards but could be with little Josiah.
Ryan's shirt says Solo Deo Gloria - and that sums it up as we thank our wonderful, Heavenly Father for the protection and sustaining Josiah's little life, from conception all the way to 'early' (but right on time) delivery at 37 weeks. Josiah's lungs are strong and he's able to nurse, and he just started gaining weight yesterday. A whole ounce! :) Keep going buddy!
The process truly is a miracle and it is WONDERFUL to see the whole family doing so well.
Tonight we had a sweet sibling/parent/baby family skype time, and were able to see Josiah on the video. He is precious. His name means, "Healed by Yhwh [God]", and also is named after the child-king in the Bible who followed in the path of his 'father' David, pursuing the LORD with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength. He left quite a legacy in Israel. (And our little Josiah happened to be born on holocaust remembrance day as we pray for the Jews and for Israel, asking the Lord to give great wisdom to current leaders.) Brock means able to stand his ground and protect.
So Happy Welcoming Day, Josiah Brock! We love you and are SO excited you've 'come out'!!
Other blessings:
*Grandpa Art (Lawrence's dad) had a very successful surgery this past week on veins in his leg. Praise God!
*Our cousin, Ashley, received CLEAR scans (no tumor) on her chest after chemo treatment! Praise the Lord!! (super-encouraging, real life, real faith blog posts)
*Mom's energy is climbing, after a much needed day of rest this week. :)
*Sat Mom & Dad participated in 3 mile walk 'Race for the Cure' downtown Indy w/ friends.
*The leaves are almost fully out on the sugar maple trees in the yard.
*One more chemo treatment to go--next week, Thursday, April 26!!!!
*Mom's making plans to visit 1st grandbaby Josiah over Mother's Day weekend, May 12.
Thanks for all your prayers and love and support--we're in the home stretch.
~Ericka
One more to go!!!! Keep up the good work. And we are celebrating Josiah with you!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations to the whole Smiley family!! It is truly amazing when I think back to when Craig told us Sabrina would likely never have children and now look at God's healing answer!!! He is awesome and so faithful to care for His own. We are rejoicing with you.
ReplyDeleteIt was so good to see you again Rachel. You looked beautiful as always and I would never have guessed you had been battling cancer. I'm so glad you are nearly through with treatments. Thank you for sharing a little with me.