from july 27...

Saturday was a beautiful day in sunny Southern California. I started off by going to breakfast at Coyote Hills Country Club with Kate and Katie. They are the leaders of the Bible-Study I participate in at EV Free Fullerton and I am involved by way of the design team and we had a fun brainstorming session. Breakfast was delightful and it was a wonderful way to start the day. After the meeting I headed to Carlsbad where my parents were on vacation along with numerous other families that I’ve shared literally my entire life with. My first stop was space 54 to catch a glimpse of the LOVE OF MY LIFE Miss Madeline Swope. She was gloriously dirty and in a fabulous mood. We played for about an hour and then I packed up and headed down to the beach to enjoy a luxurious afternoon. I sat in the shade of my dad’s umbrella and read about 100 pages of Harry Potter and then my phone started to go off… Becka was having a c-section and Molly would be here within a half hour. The excitement flooded me and the prayers took over immediately. I spent the next several minutes soaking up the sun while deep in conversation with my Lord. Molly Joy Burke arrived at 3:07pm. She weighed in at 7lbs. 11 oz. and was 20.5 inches long! She has BIG blue eyes and reddish brown hair and sports her daddy’s nose and her mommy’s eyes! She is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!! My heart overflowed with joy when I saw her picture…there is just nothing like a newborn baby to restore hope and remind you that God is so very real even now right here amongst us. My heart was touched. I spent the rest of Saturday afternoon enjoying my family and sweet friends then traveled back to Orange County to sleep. Sunday I slept in until about 10:30 and then hopped in the shower and got ready for my day. I met Jenny for a mimosa brunch at Renaissance Bistro at noon where we gobbled a succulent feast of deductible delights. Everything we had was absolutely delicious. After filling up to the brim, we headed to the hospital to visit Becka and for me to meet Molly for the first time. It was so wonderful seeing Becka’s bright smile as she passed around her daughter. She looks like she is doing fabulous and although she is obviously quite sore from having surgery on Saturday, she is enduring like a champ. I am SO PROUD of my sweet friend and admire her strength and spirit more than I can explain. I so want o live a life that resembles hers. She is authentic and genuine and really lives life transparently. I am honored to be her friend and truly blessed to walk this journey of life with her! Her love overwhelms me. God is so good! The rest of the weekend hailed in comparison to meeting MJ – but it was nice to rest and relax in front of the television and even take a long nap. It was a WONDERFUL weekend all around…