Boys are home

Their home! After two weeks of traveling the Murray's are home with James and Will. They were greeted by their three girls, family, and a ton of fellow Clifton brothers and sisters. It was a great morning and very moving. M and I cannot wait to go over tomorrow and spend sometime with them. Please pray that all of them get their much need rest and that the boys adjust to the time change. I'm sure M will have a post up soon to tell you all about Maddy! I know for those of you in MS she is ready to show of her cute belly to you:)

As Mariah mentioned in the past post, we our watching three of our nieces while my sister, brother in law, and oldest niece are in Vietnam picking up two boys they have adopted. I cant tell you how excited we are and that we are eager to meet them. William is on the right with James on the left. They should be home in around a week. We know that they will not lack for attention b/c there are three girls here who are already calling holding them first. These are not only our nephews, but Madelines cousins! Till next time.

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!

Madeline looking at the camera and waving!

Showing she's a girl!

We had our second ultrasound yesterday and found out for sure that we are having a little girl!!!! We are so excited to finally know who is in there so we can name her and pray for her by name. Her name is going to be Madeline Frantz... not sure of a middle name yet. We went out and bought her her first present after the appointment. We bought her a Madeline book and wrote a little note in it to her last night! Of course that was Michael's creative idea. The doctor says she looks perfect and everything is going good so far. I am feeling her move a lot lately which has been really exciting and Michael has his fun talking to my belly so she will know his voice too! Thank all of you who have been praying for her and us through the pregnancy. Please keep praying... and now you can pray for her by name! You can pray specifically for the rest of her growth and development to be healthy of course and a safe delivery. We are already praying too for her future salvation and would love y'all to join with us in that. We would also covet your prayers for wisdom as we parent her in a godly and biblical way. We can't wait to meet her!!!!

We are actually getting lots of practice parenting girls right now. Michael's sister, her husband, and their oldest daughter Caitlin are in Vietnam right now adopting two little boys. So Michael and I are keeping their three youngest daughters for the three weeks that they are gone. It has been a blast... very busy, but lots of fun. We will be living with them until February 7th and are so grateful to get to do this. I'm sure we will have lots of fun and exciting stories to post from this three week adventure!!!

First Pics of Baby Frantz!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the doctor and got to have our first ultrasound. It was absolutely amazing. Baby Frantz was very active moving arms and legs all about. She checked out all of Baby's Frantz's body parts and said that everything looks great and is developing great. We are so grateful to the Lord for that and were so happy to get such a good report. Since I was just starting my 18th week the ultrasound technician said that she could not tell for sure if Baby Frantz is a boy or a girl. So when we go back to the doctor on the 22nd they are going to do another ultrasound and hopefully we will be able to tell this time. I'm in my 20th week of pregnancy now and feeling really good. I can't believe we are half way there! It is flying by. Baby Frantz has grown to almost a pound and is the length of a banana. I've also been able to feel the baby move which has been so amazing. My very proactive husband has already painted the baby's room and it is starting to come together! (He's such a hard worker) We both can't wait to get to meet our little one!
We had a really fun vacation with my family in Colorado. Michael learned to ski, and I shopped, read, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. Our first Christmas as a married couple was also a lot of fun. We spent Christmas day in Mississippi and Michael got to experience all the Hamilton family traditions :) We came back to Louisville the next day and celebrated with his family and had so much fun playing lots of games... and of course ate plenty of good food. We are back to the grind now. Michael's back working and I am taking week long classes this week and next so that in the Spring I will only have 3 left. 2007 was such an exciting year for us and 2008 has started out wonderful. We greatly anticipate what God has in store for us!

Wedding Bells

This past weekend my little sister Erica got married. Boy do I feel old! We had such a fun time getting to be a part of it and seeing a lot of family. Erica was great... probably the most laid back, stress free bride I have ever seen. The biggest drama of the weekend was if my bridemaid's dress was going to fit, and thankfully it did. The wedding was so sweet and really beautiful. It was Erica completely, really snazzy but classy. This week Mike flew back to work and I stayed at my parent's house to rest and get some reading done for classes in January. I think I mostly rested though! It was the longest we have ever been apart since we've gotten married, and we are thinking we may never do it again. We are leaving for Colorado for a week of vacation with my family. There will be 17 people staying in one house in Leadville, CO close to Copper Mountain. Mike will be learning to ski... so we are praying he doesn't break any bones!
Baby Frantz is doing great and growing like crazy! We went to the doctor before heading to Mississippi for the wedding and heard a strong heartbeat again. He/she is the size of an avacado now (don't know why they always use fruit!) Over the next three weeks Baby Frantz will double in his/her weight and length almost! These past two weeks I have definitely gained the baby bump. It's been exciting, and for some reason permits everyone to rub my belly. The thing we are most looking forward to in the next couple of weeks is finding out if this little one is a boy or a girl. We go back to the doctor on the 28th and if Baby Frantz cooperates we should be able to know then!!!!!!
We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas celebrating the incarnation of Christ!

It's Beginning to Look A lot Like Christmas!

Call us crazy, but Michael and I love Christmas! About a week ago we got out the Christmas music and started listening to it. We decided not to decorate our home this year for Christmas because we are leaving Louisville December 5 for Erica's wedding and won't be back until after Christmas. And this being our first Christmas in our first home, I was a little sad. But my husband, being the sweet and thoughtful husband that he is, woke me up Saturday morning and told me to get dressed because he had a surprise! After a good breakfast at Cracker Barrel... yes, my appetite is definitely coming back... we went and got a Christmas tree. We spent Saturday afternoon decorating, wrapping the few presents we have gotten, while of course listening to some Frank Sinatra Christmas! That night I cooked dinner and we curled up on the couch with our Christmas mugs, cookies, and watched The Polar Express. It was the perfect start of the holiday season!
The latest update on Baby Frantz is that he or she has grown another half an inch this week, and is now about the size of a large shrimp. By now his or her finger prints are fully developed! It has amazed us to know how intricately God is weaving our baby together. We are so grateful for how he has worked in this pregnancy so far, and how much he is teaching and growing us through it. This is the last week of my first trimester, so hopefully most of the sickness and tiredness will end with it. I'm glad that all this traveling we are doing will be during the second trimester, which I hear from everyone is the easiest. The pregnancy is really flying by. By the time we get back from Christmas we will be able to find out if our little one is a boy or girl. We have our next doctor's appointment a week from Tuesday. Thanks for all your prayers for us and for Baby Frantz. The Lord is graciously answering them, and we beg you to keep them up!

Week 12 (and counting!)

This last week our baby grew over 1/2 an inch, weighs 1/2 an ounce and is now about the size of a lime! Reflexes are forming this week, and although I can't feel it yet, the baby is very active moving all around. As for Michael and I, we are doing great. I think I am at the tail end of the morning sickness, and am not feeling as nauseous as much. We are finishing up Fall semester classes this week and then will take our finals the week after Thanksgiving. We would appreciate any prayers during these last couple of weeks of the semester, which always tend to get a little stressful. We are also taking any suggestions for names at this time (we accept money as bribes)! The consensus from family and friends so far is that we are having a girl... though I am not so sure. Can't wait to see many of you in December!