New Nephews!!

Many of you know our families so we thought you would enjoy seeing pictures of our two new nephews. Yep, all boys and all have names starting with "J" - what a hoot! We are so glad our little Joel will have boy cousins his age to play with. What an extra sweet blessing from the Lord!

Jayden Jonathan Vegter - born to Jon and Hope Vegter on Tuesday, December 4th.

Jayden was born with a diaphragmatic hernia - which meant half of his diaphragm was missing. By God's awesome working, Jayden has already had surgery to correct the diaphragm and move all his organs that were up in his chest cavity back to their proper places and he is off of the ventilator and only has a small oxygen tube now. He is even nursing and swallowing already. He is doing so well they are talking of allowing him to go home in the next few weeks. What a miracle little Jayden is!! We know God is always at work but it is so thrilling when we are able to actually see His mighty hand!

Jack William Allen – born to Nathan and Denise Allen on Friday, December 7th.

We thank the Lord that little Jack is healthy and he and Denise are doing great. Jack makes number 4 for Nathan and Denise. They have Rachel (10), Samuel (9), and Andrew (4) - all pictured here with my parents.

Christmas 2007

Our last quiet Christmas! Okay by us - we've had quiet for 11 years; we're ready for a change!

(Well, maybe not all of us are ready!!!)

We spent Christmas and New Year's with my parents and most of my family this year. We would have been in Florida with Jeremy's family for Christmas this year but we didn't feel it would be wise for me to fly being 7 months pregnant. So, our Christmas Day was very quiet with just my parents and Jeremy, Laddie and I (and baby Joel, of course - he made his presence known by kicks not squeals this Christmas!).

We were joined by my sister Christy, her husband Todd and their two children, Caytlin (11) and Zachary (9) and my brother Tommy, his wife Tracy and their three children, Hannah (10), Thomas (9), and Brittney (7) for New Year's weekend. We had a great time together!

(Thomas and Zach)

(Caytlin, Brittney, and Hannah)

We were also able to be at my Grandma Warne's Christmas this year. My grandma is 95! Doesn't look it, does she?! She's just as sweet and precious as ever. She is an inspiration and sweet blessing to me.

Another sweet blessing of this Christmas season was having my dear friend Phyllis Rice visit for a few days. She was my drama teacher at Maranatha and has become such a dear friend. Last summer she moved to WA and lives with her daughter Lydia and her husband and their new baby Lily Sophia. I was overjoyed that she was able to be here and see my "babybelly" in person. Joel let her feel some good hard kicks, too.

Hope all of you were able to enjoy a blessed holiday season and are rejoicing in the gift of another year to walk with the Lord! We are overflowing with eager anticipation of the joy this new year holds for us! In less than 9 weeks (give or take a few!) we will be holding our precious son!!

26 weeks!

Baby belly pictures have been requested by my "far-away" friends so here are a few of my 26 week belly.

Showered by Showers!

We’ve all experienced “April Showers,” right? Well, I just recently experienced "November Showers!” We flew Jeremy’s mom up to help get our nursery ready and she had a few other things in mind while she was here. Let’s just say I was “flooded” with happy baby wishes and gracious baby gifts! The way so many of our friends and family are rejoicing with us in the gift of this little one is a tremendous blessing to us. What a joy to be able to praise and thank the Lord together!! Here are a few pictures from the occasions:

Vegter/Lowery Family Baby Shower -

Lowery Family in the area -

Pregnant Cousins!

Two of Jeremy's cousins on the Vegter side - Nikki Arn and DeAnna Henkel - are also expecting. They are both two months along in this picture.

Mini Baby Shower #1 -

Esther Matthiesen and Dolores Boyes are dear ladies from our church. The Matthiesens are our neighbors and Dolores is like an adopted "great-grandma" to little Joel. She gave him his first basketball (much to Joel's daddy's delight!) and made me a "cake" out of cloth diapers (complete with football decorations - much to the delight of Joel's mommy with her football family roots!)

Mini Baby Shower #2 -

All of these ladies are close friends of my mother-in-law and she combined her visit with them with a little baby shower for me and Joel because each of the ladies has prayed so much for Jeremy and I over the past several years. Fun to rejoice together!

Surprise Baby Shower!!

My mother-in-law loves surprises and she was at it again!! She had it all planned out - as I was being distracted upstairs by a few friends who just "dropped by" to see the nursery my home was filled with several friends eager to share in the joy of this coming little one. Yes, I was surprised!

It was such a treat to have Hope (Budhal) Robertson and her son Joel come to the shower.

My mother-in-law surprised both Jeremy and I with a sweet gift of Jeremy's old toys for our son to enjoy. These toys have been toted all over the country through my in-laws' numerous moves just waiting for Jeremy's son to inherit them! (Jeremy's dad is rejoicing that he doesn't have to pack them anymore!)


And here is Laddie's favorite gift given to little Joel:



(We are just hoping it goes the other way around, too - "Laddie Loves Baby!!!")

Mini Shower #3 -
Again combining visit with friends and welcoming baby:


Joel's first Winnie the Pooh!!

"I love my Daddy!"Joel will be clothed and clean!


Yea football!! Yes, Joel will be one adorably dressed little fella - as well as greatly celebrated and dearly loved!! Thanks for sharing in our joy!

Baby Vegter's First Photo Shoot

Meet Joel Douglas Makaio Vegter - "Joel" is one of his mommy's favorite names, "Douglas" is after his daddy (Jeremy Douglas) and "Makaio" is Hawaiian for Matthew which means "gift of God." What a precious gift from God little Joel truly is to us. We were able to see very clearly that this little one is a he! (for his privacy we left that picture off of our blog ; ) Hope you enjoy pictures of our adorable little son!

Isn't he the cutest little fella???!!! - with his cute little button nose! Here you can see him looking straight at us - his mouth is open with his tongue sticking through...

Perfect little foot...

And his arm and hand - he's waving "hello!"

Growing Baby Belly!

Some of you have requested pictures of my growing belly. So, here it is...

15 weeks:

19 Weeks:

We're back!

Wow! I am sure you have all given up on me…since it’s been 3 months since my last post! I apologize for the lack of communication, but I have a good excuse – a VERY good excuse. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll let these pictures speak my excuses for me…

Yes, while Jeremy and I were on the Big Island of Hawaii we found out we are expecting our first child in March!!!! We wanted to commemorate the day by writing in the Black Sands of Waipio Valley, but no words can truly express our joy and gratefulness for this precious answer to prayer. To those of you who have prayed for us in this regard we can only say “Thank you!” and may the Lord be praised!

So, now you understand! I have spent the last three months dealing with “morning” sickness – which for me has meant all day nausea with some intense vomiting – as well as a great amount of fatigue. But as we heard the heartbeat of our little baby all the struggles of these difficult days melted away into an overwhelming gratitude for this miracle of life within me. Because of my past health issues I was never fully sure I would be able to conceive and carry a child. Now my heart cries out with Hannah, “For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of Him.” (I Samuel 1:27)

We praise the Lord that I am experiencing a “normal” pregnancy (no abnormal issues because of my past illness) and I am 15 weeks along. My official due date is March 9. Only 24 more weeks…but who’s counting?!

Since we have made it past the critical three month mark we are starting to enjoy the preparations for the arrival of our sweet little one.

Even Laddie wants to be a part of the action. We’re not exactly sure how he will respond to having to share his mama but we’ll do our best to make the adjustment as easy as possible for him. He’s a sweet pup!

Now that I am feeling somewhat “alive” again during this second trimester I will do my best to keep you updated. Once “Baby Vegter” arrives I will have more to write about and pictures galore, but I’ll do my best during the next five months to keep you in the “loop.”