Happy Birthday (a little early), Ashley & Hannah!

Sydney, Ashley, Megan, Kari, Hannah, Chelsea, Martha, and Ariana ... 
Our first pool party (at our house)!

Connor, Jed, and Kyler

Kendall, Sarah, Amelia, and David

Sarah D., Mikaela, and Chelsea

Happy 11th Birthday, Hannah!

Happy 13th Birthday, Ashley!

Mary Kate and Daniel

Caleb in his new pack'n play

Pool's up.....a near fatality....Caleb's first bath....

Scott has been working hard on getting the pool "swimmable".  
He let the kids in for the first time this past Saturday.  They are sooooo excited!!!

Thank you, Ms. Cathy, for letting us borrow your swing.  
And Ms. Daneen - we appreciate the cool shades!

Thank you, Ms. Linda, for all the western gear and for thinking of me all the way from Montana!

This was our near fatality.  Scott and the three older kids were out late for the end-of-the-year swim team awards banquet (Daniel, Caleb, and I stayed home, but I wasn't walking all the way out to the chicken coop yet since the surgery.) the other night.  Upon arriving home, Scott drove up to the coop and sent one of the kids inside to close the chicken door/window and count to make sure all of the chickens were in.  There was a miscount and this poor girl was left out in the dogwood tree where she was obviously attacked sometime overnight.  It is a deep wound, but she seems to be acting normal and the other chickens seem to be leaving her alone.  Grateful.

Caleb's first bath!  He is the first of our children to not cry during their first bath.
In fact, Caleb seemed to enjoy it!

Not even a whimper...So cute...

"The audience"

Doing well...so blessed...

We are so thankful that Caleb and I are both doing so much better now.  The first week was a little rough, but each day gets better.  His jaundice is greatly subsided and we don't have to take him to the hospital to be tested anymore (heel stick).  Praise the Lord!  Caleb is such a blessing - we stand in awe of what God has done in him and in our other four children.  Babies/children are such miracles.  The older children have been big helpers and love their baby brother so much.  And..... another praise -- my swelling is pretty much gone - first my hands returned to normal, then I had knees again, then ankles, and yesterday I could see my normal feet!  Yea!

We continue to be amazed by God's love, encouragement, and grace.  We had to take Caleb to the hospital three times for the bilirubin testing and each time I prayed that God would heal Caleb and that we wouldn't have to come back.  When Scott, Caleb, and I were leaving for the third trip to the hospital, guess what song came on the radio as we left our driveway?!?  Chris Tomlin's "Let Faith Arise"...."Be still...there is a healer...".  Scott and I just looked at each other - we didn't need to exchange any words.  God has used that particular artist and song, and specific verse (Psalm 46:10) powerfully in our lives since May when I first went to the hospital for the tick infection and He continues to remind us that He is Sovereign, He does have a plan, and He is faithful.  ...Overwhelmed...

It was such a whirlwind with Caleb's birth on August 4.  Scott and I then celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary the next day, August 5, with Scott leaving the hospital briefly to pick up some Olive Garden take-out for dinner.  He has been an excellent "nurse" to me - first with the tick infection, then with the c-section.  August 5 was also our 1 year anniversary for moving out to the farm.  Lots of landmarks and celebrations.  And we praise the Lord Jesus for each one.

He's here! All praise to God!

Spending some time with Caleb...Praising God that he is doing so much better now...

The five Dews kiddos with Gammy and Aunt Shannie...Dawn's mom and sister have been a tremendous help to us in watching the older children, doing laundry, cooking meals, cleaning, etc, etc....We are so thankful!

Caleb Scott -- born Saturday, August 4, 2012 at 9:17 a.m.
He weighed 9 lbs 4 ozs and was 20.5 inches long.

"But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it."  -- Numbers 14:24

Welcome to our family, Caleb Scott!  We are so thankful that God has blessed us with you! 

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Wow.  We are incredibly grateful for this baby; however, things did not go as we had expected and hoped. Fortunately we are children of the One True God who knows all things and is surprised by nothing.  My goal was to labor/birth as naturally as possible with the least amount of medical intervention.  Here's what actually happened.....

My water broke (the 1st time for me) at 12:44 a.m. on August 4 (his due date was August 10 - 6 days "early").  We had gone to bed not long ago and I woke up to such a strange feeling.  It didn't stop - the "water" just kept coming!  It was a huge amount!  The kids and I had stopped at Walmart and Gap after my doctor appointment on Friday afternoon.  I would have been horrified if my water had broken while out in public!  Very strong contractions started about 20 minutes later and Scott scrambled to get clothes in a bag, cameras, etc.  I couldn't really do much else besides breathe through them.  I had tremendous back pain even when not having contractions, so I didn't get hardly a break at all.  We arrived at the hospital at 3:30 a.m. and I was 6 cm dilated.  They gave me Nubain (supposed to help with pain) at 4:06 through the I.V.  We were very clear with the staff that I was not to have anything in my spine (epidural, etc), primarily because of concerns with the tick infection back in May.  By 6:30 a.m., I was 10 cm dilated; however, Caleb was still very high.  I pushed in agony for 2.5 more hours (birth ball, squats, etc) with Caleb making no progress in coming down.  We finally decided to have a c-section via general anesthesia.  Caleb was taken out at 9:17 a.m. but did not cry until 9:28 a.m.  It was very scary for Scott who was watching through the window at everything that was happening.  Caleb's initial apgar score was a 1 and he was completely blue.  He had a team working on him and didn't utter his first cry for 10 minutes.  Caleb was then placed in an oxygen tent and given an I.V. with fluids.  He then started improving  - all praise to God!  It took me a while to "come out of it" and I couldn't nurse him for the first 24 hours (the doctors said they needed to make sure all of his organs were working properly).  The OB/GYN who performed the surgery said there was no way Caleb could fit through my pelvis - he was too big.  In fact, the poor baby had a huge bruise on the top back of his head where he was trying to get through.  So.....a c-section was definitely the last thing I wanted to have done....but we do believe that it was medically necessary and I'm thankful that it was an option in this case.  He is having some trouble with jaundice, but has started nursing pretty well and his weight loss has stabilized.  I am unbelievably swollen from fluids - even 6 days later......

But the important thing is that Caleb is healthy and absolutely precious.  We thank the Lord Jesus for protecting him and blessing our family with him.

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"'Be still, and know that I am God...'"  -- Psalm 46:10