Time Flies

Wow! Time really flies! We cannot believe our son will be 3 weeks old on Friday! It has been an adjustment for all as we have added this precious gift to our family but he is such a huge blessing! We still can't believe he is ours! He loves to suck on his fingers and sometimes will try to put his whole fist in his mouth! He is so handsome -just like his Daddy!

He and Daddy had to get dressed up for the first UT game of the season!

Please continue to pray for us as we are adjusting to life as new parents. Please pray for continued health for Caleb and that Mommy and Daddy would get much needed rest! Pray for Travis as he moves forward with his seminary class this semester and pray for all of us as we seek the Lord's plans to move to Wake Forest in January.

As always, please continue to pray for Mexico and the people there who still need to hear about God's love and his Son.

Lots of love,

Travis, Danielle, and Caleb

Caleb Pictures!

Last week, my Uncle's sweet wife Kate came to take pictures of our sweet boy on his one week birthday. These are just a few that she gave me as a sneak peek to see before she sends me the CD. I just couldn't wait to share!

Caleb Samuel

Wow, it has been one crazy, beautiful time for us over the past week. We are filled with so many emotions - unexplainable love for our son, a nervousness that we won't be good parents, a hope that he will remain healthy and strong all the days of his life, and amazingly grateful hearts for all the Lord has done for us.

Some may want to know - why Caleb Samuel? We kept the name a secret all this time so that we could reveal it and make it a special suprise for his birth day. However, his name also has special meaning and significance to us that we would like to share with our loved ones.

Caleb stood strong for the Lord with Joshua back in the days of the Old Testament and in some translations the name Caleb means "Faithful." We want to raise this little one to be strong always in the Lord and to grow into a man after our Father's own heart. We also never want to forget God's faithfulness to us and how he has provided for us again and again and again.

Now for Samuel - many of you already know our story so I will be brief. I have had some health problems over the course of our marriage and after a surgery and several treatments was told about a year and a half ago that it would be very difficult for me to ever conceive if even possible.

After that difficult doctor's appointment, I remember many occasions of Travis and I holding one another, crying, and calling out to the Lord to one day provide us with a child. During this time of much tribulation, God gave me the story in the Bible of Hannah and Samuel. One day, as I was crying out to Him, I heard Him speak to my heart and give me a personal promise that one day He would give us a child if we would only wait upon Him and His timing. We didn't know what that meant - adoption, fertility treatments, etc. but we took that promise and held it close to our hearts and promised the Lord that like Hannah, we would give our child to His service. When we found out we were having a baby boy, we felt it would be very appropriate to name him a name that would never let us forget our special story.

So, there you have it - Caleb Samuel - our precious, precious son.

Our Sweet Boy

Here he is...

We would like to proudly present Caleb Samuel Rann. He was born yesterday at 3:02PM. He weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces. He was 20 and 1/2 inches long. Both mommy and baby are great. We will update more later when Danielle is feeling a little better.

Tomorrow is D - Day!

We just got back from the doctor a little while ago and will be having our little boy tomorrow! The amniotic fluid was lower than on Tuesday and so she said it is time to have this baby. He is still breech so we have a C -section scheduled for tomorrow afternoon at 3:00. Please remember all 3 of us in your prayers and we will update you as soon as we can!

Excitement . . . .

I feel like all I do is baby updates these days but it is kind of the main thing that is going on in our lives right now!

We had another doctor's visit today. She said baby is doing well (still breech) and I am thinned out and dialated further than last time but the amniotic fluid is looking pretty low - she said this means that it could be baby time! We are going back on Thursday to check the fluid again and unless I go into labor before then or unless the fluid dramatically increases, we will be having our little boy on this Friday, August 27th ! The grandparents are on standby ready to go, mine and baby's bags are packed, and the carseat is waiting by the door.

Please continue to pray for us and our baby boy - we are SO excited we can't stand it and are just praying he arrives safe and healthy. The doctor has put me on extra rest until Thursday which will be extra hard because I am just sitting around waiting to see if our little boy will come!

We appreciate so much your prayers and will update as soon as we have any more news!

Love,

Travis and Danielle - and sweet baby boy soon to arrive!