Emma Grace

decided to join us for Christmas this year! :) What a beautiful little baby! We are so happy and blessed!

On Wednesday we were just at home taking it easy, trying to get some things ready for Christmas, etc. I (Arlin) decided to run to the store for some ingredients in the afternoon. I called Kayla from the store, and she was having some “hard” contractions…ah, what’s new? I took my time getting back home. I got home, and lo and behold, these were hard contractions (not “hard”) :) and there was a quite (lovingly) demanding tone to her voice when she said “hurry” as I left to take Isaiah to Kimberly and Mairi’s house. I hurried, got back home, we packed a few last minute things into our bag (that had been packed and ready, unpacked, washed, rewashed, repacked and sitting downstairs for the last 2+ months) and headed out the door just in time to get ahead of the fierce 5:00 rush hour traffic that quickly constipates our main road toward the city. We were at the hospital and in the labor room by 5:30. Back up a bit, at our last doctor visit, the doc told us she would be gone Wed. and Thu. so again (she was gone when Isaiah was born) we had a new doctor for the delivery. This new lady was a great doc though, and very encouraging. We were a bit worried because although they knew we wanted to do a natural birth if possible (Kay had a c-section with Isaiah), there is like a 90% C-section rate here in Thailand, and we were a little worried a new doctor might be quick to want to do that. Thankfully, this doc was very patient and when we got in, things progressed fast, the delivery went good, (apart from some red marks and minor swelling on my hand) and Emma was born at 8:06, about 4 1/2 hours from start to finish. What an experience! It was amazing to experience everything happening the way it should, and we are so thankful! God is good!

As for the rest of our lives before this time, we said a tough goodbye to all the IGo students, who headed back to the US, some after 4 months, some after 8. Dylan stayed an extra week with us, with high hopes of being here when the baby came, but God had other plans. We had a great time having him around that week. It was a little busy with IEC’s Christmas party, as well as our annual Christmas English and Culture Activity for the neighborhood kids. We found some time to go fishing, and I caught my personal biggest fish ever, but Dylan had no luck! :( Sorry Dylan.

We are currently on our Christmas break, we closed IEC for 2 weeks over the holidays, so this was actually a perfect week for Emma to arrive! :) Thank you all for your love and prayers, we are anticipating at least another year here with IGo, and have no plans beyond that, trusting God to lead us. You can pray:

• That we could adjust well to a new person in our home
• For wisdom and fresh passion and inspiration for leading out at IEC in a new year
• For our visa and travel arrangements, we hope to visit the US in March
• For our Thai friends, neighbors, and students, that Satan’s grasp could be broken and they could see the Truth
  

 
Christmas party at IEC                                               ECA at IGo

My mentoring group at IGo’s banquet              Dylan heading home

Feeding fish at the pond near our house       Christmas cookies!! :)

Merry Christmas and God Bless!!!

Monday,

was here and gone and still no baby. I never thought at 9 months pregnant I would feel like spring cleaning the house, washing the car and much more. Seems like I feel better and have much more energy than I have the last 8 months. Weird. I told our team yesterday at lunch “the house is clean, the car is clean and ready to go, the Christmas decorations are up, what else is this baby waiting on?” 9mo. is really a long time, so thankful im not an elephant, who has to wait much longer, 24mo.?? Although, after only having to carry Isaiah for 31wks.. I feel like I am caring this one for 24mo! All in all, I am so thankful to God for allowing me to go through this long wait and hopefully being able to bring our little girl home strong and healthy just a few days after she is born. Thank-you, so much for all of your prayers, I know the Lord heard and answered!

Getting the car ready to bring little sis’ home!

Dreaming!

Yes, Isaiah is his fathers’ son!

These two are my “pride and joy”. I thank God every day for a strong, Godly husband to lead and to care for my little family, and I thank Him for our little man who brings so much joy into our lives. And am so excited to have little sis’ join us soon. I am a very rich woman!

Another Day…

has passed, and we are still waiting. We are very thankful parents! The last few weeks have been filled with Thanksgiving activity, some great times with our English students, cleaning the house, getting things ready for our baby girl, mentoring, enjoying watching Isaiah grow up, and waiting… :) Today was a little overcast and cool this morning (around 70), and it was feeling somewhat wintery, so we decorated for Christmas. :) Due to my lack of time right now, this we mostly be a picture update. :) Tonight we are going out with our team to celebrate Mike, Mairi, and Kimberly’s completion of the CELTA course, Kimberly and Jon’s birthdays, as well as an appreciation for Jon and Doyle’s time they have given here at the Centre…they leave in about 10 days. I’ll try write some more detailed updates in the future. :) God Bless you all with a wonderful Holiday season!

11-11-11

Got a few things done today. Can’t keep Kayla sitting still much longer!… Had a checkup last night and the doctor said, “let go, let the baby come now.” lol. So we are letting go….

Thanks for your prayers!

A Day in the Life of...

...a pregnant father.
Today Kayla is 35 weeks pregnant! :) Another "milestone" we have to rejoice in. Every week, every day is another blessing as we wait for our daughter to arrive. The doctors were hoping she could make it to at least 34 weeks, so now that we are past that goal, we are wondering WHEN is this little girl gonna show up!?! Most babies born between 34-36 weeks have very little, if any complications. Isaiah was born at 31, so we are very very thankful. Thank you so much for your prayers and all the encouragement we have received! We have felt God's hand with us every day!
Its so very nice that Kay can do a little more now without worrying so much, but the flip side is her feeling less and less like DOing those little things. :) The good news is that Kay is feeling good, a contraction here, a lot of contractions there, but nothing extremely hard or regular at this point. She is definitely feeling very pregnant!
So today I had prayer with my mentoring group in the morning, I was at IGo for that, and also caught up some with some of the teachers at the English Centre.
In the meantime, I arranged a babysitter for Isaiah, and took my cabin-fevered wife out for a stroll in our nearby 5-story mall. We hadn't had a real date for a while, so it was very nice to treat ourselves to Big Macs and a caramel frappe from McD's :) and just enjoy being together, and walking our legs off. We came back, and Kay was ready for some bed time, so I took Isaiah and Mia (his puppy) on the bicycle down to the Centre for a bit, then played basketball with Isaiah on the court by our house until Kay was up and about, but she wasn't feeling good or hungry for supper, so us guys heated up and shared some leftover spaghetti and soft pretzels. In other news, Isaiah finally took off walking about 2 weeks ago, and is progressing pretty quickly. His favorite toy is any ball, but the ones that give him the most joy are full-sized basketballs that he can hardly lift, but he's getting better at it! :)

Now Kay is feeling a little better, and is entertaining Isaiah while I write this and my computer is pumping out Bible songs by Wee Sing. :)

I am learning a whole new appreciation for my wife and my mother, and every other mother out there! :) I am learning: patience (the definition of a good mother), flexibility, priorities, love, and more kids' Bible songs! Some days I wonder what I have "accomplished" and then God shows me my wonderful wife, my active and happy son, and my unborn daughter in that haven of protection and safety that He has given her for another day, and I can only be thankful, and know that not a minute of my time with them has been for naught.
We are blessed to have Jonathan Schrock and Doyle Byler here for another month as part time teachers at IEC. They came to cover for our other teachers as they took their CELTA training, but having 2 of them here has freed me up a lot during this time to take care of my family.
Please continue to pray:

• for our teachers and students at IEC
• that we can present the love of Christ to our students through our celebration of this holiday season (Thanksgiving and Christmas parties at the Centre)
• for Mairi as she takes the very intense CELTA these next 4 weeks
• for the guys in my mentoring group, as they finish up their IGo experience, and we spend some very intense and focused time together, getting ready to re-enter their home cultures after 4-8 months of being over here. pray that I could lead those times well, and be directed by the Holy Spirit
• for the people of central Thailand as they deal with the worst flooding in over 50 years
• for God to arrange our travel plans according to His plan: we would like to make a trip back to the states the first part of the year, but due to the timing of our visa renewal, we may not be able to make it during the time we'd like
• that our continued presence in this culture would point people to Jesus

Thank you all for your continued prayers and love that we feel!
Because of Christ,
The Beachys :)