And the Blessings Begin

Getting ready to come home

Dear friends,

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the nearly 100 we've already taken in the last few days! We are sure to have lots of stories as we go, so will try to be much more faithful about keeping up with the blog. It won't be such a hard task during the summer since we are both off work (technically), but once school starts again in August I know it will be a challenge - more about that later!

Hanging out with Daddy

"Whew, I'm tired!"

She is SO alert sometimes!

Another cute view of her feet!

Waiting for the doctor to say we could go home!

Snickers wasn't quite sure what to do ...

Today is Day 2 at home, and Snickers wants to be right there with the baby ALL the time! She is constantly at our feet and has even trotted off into the other room at the sound of Esther's cry - as if she's checking on her! What a great dog!

Stay tuned for more!

- Jen

Please Welcome, Esther Seonha (선하) Dyck!

Until I find a few extra minutes to upload the TONS of photos we've taken since Esther's big debut, here is a link to some pics on facebook! Lots more to come, I promise!

Thank you for all the prayers and well-wishes at the arrival of Esther on Wednesday, June 22. She was born in Seoul, Korea and weighed in at a whopping 3.95 kg and measured 54 cm long! For those of you who, like me, don't normally think in metric - it's 8 lb 11 oz (yikes) and 21 1/4 inches.

We are so thankful for this beautiful gift from God (meaning of Seonha).

- Jen

No News Yet

Well, we are down to less than 2 weeks from the due date! We are both excited and a bit apprehensive, especially with regards to the actual delivery. Lots of women do it everyday, so we'll just trust God and see what happens!

(A surprise baby shower was held by my family in WV - a surprise to my mom, the guest of honor, and to me, who found out by a "Baby Shower in a Box" that was mailed to Korea!)

We are in our last week of school - graduation is Friday night. We'd been praying that Baby Dyck would wait at least until after graduation, and it looks like that prayer is going to be answered! We are reminded that God's timing is perfect! We didn't plan on this little girl (yet) but God knew exactly when was the best time for us to become parents! And, ready or not, now is the time!

(The Larkin men comparing bellies ... I hate to say it, but I've definitely got you beat!)

We'll be on summer break until August - working here and there, but mostly home taking care of our new baby! We hope to share LOTS of pictures with you once Baby Dyck is born! Cory is finishing up his 3rd semester of his Masters program in the next couple of weeks and both of our moms are coming out this summer to help! It will be an exciting summer!

(The happy Grandma!)