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!!!