Saturday, August 23, 2008

Stay at Home Dad

It's been said that "the stay at home dad is a demographic that has been ignored far too long by the gangster rap world..."

We agree.

This is Casey's future.


Friday, August 22, 2008

Sarah's thoughts...

Hey friends and family,

So thought you might want to hear from the momma too, about all this new news. I can't even describe to you all that I have felt on Monday and the days since. I was so excited and nervous about the appointment on Monday that I couldn't even sleep. I knew our lives would be drastically shifted from that point on, once we learned boy or girl. The appointment was great, although Kieren is already showing her personality in being very stubborn; we searched around my belly for like 30 minutes looking for the 'girl' parts! Finally she gave in, and all of a sudden we were having a girl, Kieren Joy Prince. I actually was crying the whole ultrasound (no not awkward...) but once we found out that news, I was overwhelmed and emotional beyond what I even expected. The funny thing is, the last couple weeks I just new it was a girl, and all summer I felt like God was preparing me for a girl. I was privileged this summer to be around many young parents of little girls, and I loved every minute of it. And especially being with young dads fathering little girls, I mean who is going to be a better father of a girl then Casey?? He is going to be the best dad ever! But still, to get the news was more then I could handle. I couldn't even say the name 'Kieren' for the rest of the day, even though we have had that name picked out for years. It's slowly setting in, and has really helped me to connect with her as she grows inside of me. It's no longer an alien invasion (and I mean that in the most sensitive, nurturing way), but it is Kieren growing inside me. It's just crazy insanity and I can't even grasp it, but I love it all. I find myself holding my belly, praying for her, and thinking about her all the time now.

Here's things I haven't done now that I know Kieren is on the way. 1) Buying 'cute' baby girly baby clothes. Hi, have we met? I don't do 'cutsie' stuff that well, so we're going to have to figure out what to do here. I told Casey that we are going to go for 'township chic' (a phrase I coined) for Kieren, so when she is in Africa in the future she doesn't get beat up, or we don't get beat up. So yeah, no clothes yet. 2)I haven't decided the baby room 'colors.' Yeah, I don't know what to do about that because again, not cutisie mom, most stuff is really cutsie. So I do know this, one of the colors will be chocolate brown and then we'll throw in a green or purple or something. But just wait on all your baby quilts or whatever, I'll let you know. 3)I haven't started singing or talking to her yet. I know that will happen because I talk to Lance all the time, but just not there yet. Maybe I will get Lance to talk to her...

Okay, those are some thoughts for this week. Job going really well, I am EXHAUSTED at the end of the day, but so thankful for this opportunity. I feel like I'm in the perfect place and it's a great step towards whatever is next. Pray for Kieren's health and beautiful growing body and heart, and mom's health in the process. Feeling pretty good, but normal 'pregnant' stuff is always to be expected.

Love you all - thanks for all your love and support!
Sarah

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

It's a GIRL!!

Monday, August 18th, my world changed forever! I found out that I will be the father of a precious little girl!! Can you believe it?!?! I'm going to have a sweet, perfect, father-loving, little girl!! I'm so excited about this and it's making the pregnancy much more real. No longer is she "Sea Monkey" or "Alien", but she's a real person. With a heartbeat, a brain, some kidneys, a stomach, a spine, arms, legs, and even the beginning of woman parts! And best of all she has a name, Kieren Joy Prince. 'Keren' is the name of one of Job's daughters when he gets a family the second time. At that point those children were a true blessing to him as she will be to us. We added the 'i' to make it easier. Her middle name is from Sarah's grandmother, Joy, who just deserved to have someone named after her. Unfortunately 'Prince' is non-negotiable.
Sitting there watching the ultrasound was so mind boggling. It should be a worshipful experience to think that God is knitting together that child inside of Sarah. It's totally a miracle. I've been in awe of God since yesterday morning as I've continued to think of what he's creating there.
Please keep praying for Kieren. So far she seems to be healthy. She has long legs, 4 valves in her heart, a 3 veined cord, etc. Pray that she continues to grow like she should!
Here are some ultrasound pics. The first 3 are where you can notice that she's a girl! On the second one you can see her leg sticking out. She's basically mooning the camera, just like her Dad!








The next one is of her head tucked in towards her belly. The head is on the right.





This one is her head and body, but she's scratching her head with her arm. So, cool!





This final one can be a bit freaky. It's one of those more 3D images. You can see her arms and they are sort of in front of her face. I think that she's almost looking at the camera at this point.




This is such an incredible journey. I'm so thankful that I have an amazing woman to do it with. Thanks for all your support!!

Casey

Friday, August 15, 2008

Praise God - Sarah Got a JOB!

Hey everyone!

Many of you have been praying for me as I have been on the job hunt much of the summer for after my YCM camps finished. It's been a 'busy' few weeks back at home as I have gone stir crazy and organized EVERY SINGLE THING in our entire house (but no I will not come and clean yours now...). So finally got an interview Thursday with the United Way for a temporary position working with their Campaign Fundraising drive this fall - and I got the job today! Praise God! It's a great opportunity with an incredible company. I feel blessed!

Here is a link with info of the campaign I help to work with:
http://www.unitedwaytriangle.org/cc/index.asp

My job title is 'Speakers Bureau Coordinator' which means I get various speakers trained and connected to non-profits in the Triangle to speak to organizations and corporations who are giving to the Campaign. Here is more of what I am helping with:
http://www.unitedwaytriangle.org/cc/speaker_request.asp

Thanks for all your support and prayers - I am excited about the new opportunity and have so much to learn!

Love,
Sarah

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Hey everyone!

Here are our last two ultrasounds of the baby growing in my tummy! The first is only 8 weeks so it's just a sea monkey. The second pic is 13 weeks so baby is definitely out of sea monkey stage to quasi-alien form (head it at the bottom if you can't tell what's going on there). And during that ultrasound we saw an arm - what?? So fun. More to come!

Love,
Sarah



Baby Prince at 8 weeks



Baby Prince at 13 weeks

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

"I Saw What I Saw, and I Can't Forget It..."

Hey there!

Casey found this last week and I wanted to share it with you all. It is a music video on youtube by a Christian artist named Sara Groves. The song is called "I Saw What I Saw" and it's inspired by a trip she recently took to Rwanda. Certainly brought back many memories for us, and I hope it touches you as well!

Love,
Sarah


Sarah and the 'bump'

Hey everyone! We are going to start using our blog for baby Prince updates! I am currently 17 weeks pregnant and the bump is growing! We find out soon if it's a boy or a girl, so we will keep you posted.

Lots of love,
Sarah


Sarah at 17 weeks