elsie ann hughes

our 2nd niece made her debut on monday morning. she entered this world at 703 am weighing in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. and she was 21 inches long. sweet elsie ann hughes had a very traumatic delivery and came out with the cord wrapped around her neck which caused quite a scare. after a few quick snuggles from her momma and daddy, elsie was whisked away to the neonatal intensive care unit.

as soon as i found out about my dear niece's breathing problems, i quickly texted my small group and a few of my best friends and asked them to begin praying. amanda and andrew did the same. after talking to the nicu doctor and the nicu nurse on monday afternoon, amanda and andrew were pretty certain that they would be spending their time at the hospital without their brand new baby in the room with them and that they would be dismissed at least a day before her. we are confident that because of the prayers of God's people-sweet elsie ann was able to go to her momma's room last night AND she was dismissed at the same time as amanda this afternoon. tonight they are home for the first time as a family of 3 (or 5 if you count the spoiled pups!)

we are already certain that God has big plans for elsie and boy is she a CHAMP! oh, and her momma and daddy. yeah, they are pretty much rockstars too. they handled her stay in the nicu with such courage and grace. i am so so proud of both of them. and i'm a pretty proud aunt too!

today when i got to see her in person for the first time-i, of course, cried! :) God is so good. and you know, even if elsie was spending another night in the nicu tonight-God would still be so good. but we are forever thankful that he chose this route for her life, and that she will be sleeping (hopefully!) in the pack-n-play in her momma and daddy's room at her very first house tonight!

welcome to the family sweet elsie ann. we prayed hard for you--for 2 years! we cried when we found out you were coming. and then we cried when your mommy's water broke. and we prayed for a smooth delivery. and then we cried when we heard you were here. and we cried when we heard of your breathing problems. and we prayed that God would heal you. and He did. and i'm sure we will cry over you many, Many, MANY more times and we will pray for you many, Many, MANY more times. you are such a blessing. and you are really lucky to have one awesome momma and poppa! :)

happy family of 3!
sisters-in-law with their baby girls.

sisters-in-law with their nieces! :)