Whirlwind

This past month has been a whirlwind to say the least!  After my parents visit, we headed up north for a quick trip.  Our first stop was by my parents place and to Plymouth Wesleyan where Riley was dedicated.  After the Sunday service, we trekked to Michigan to stay a night with my sister (Kelly) so Riley could see the rest of the Dongell clan.  So great to see Jen, Brent, Brandon, and the kiddos.  Love and miss you all tons!

Shortly after our return to North Carolina, Brenton's parents dropped in to love on our little gal who fell in love with her grandparents.  Riley started to cry the day after all our company was gone as she was not held every second of the day.  Our sweet girl is having to grow up, though not by her choice!

Riley will be four weeks this Thursday and is getting a belly to match her plump little cheeks.  We are loving having more to love on.  We have been blessed that she is sleeping a six hour stretch at night on her own accord, though we have been learning to adjust to her new fussy behavior as she stays awake more throughout the day.  Guess there is no such thing as a baby that does not cry!  However, I must make the disclaimer that she is a good baby and we have had it pretty easy, not sure what we will do with a baby that is not naturally as peaceful!

 

Our Little Sleeper

So far Riley has proved to be a restful little gal.  Of course she is up a number of times a night to eat, without us having to set an alarm, but then right back to sleep.  It has been a blessing as she only cries when her stomach gets a little gassy, when she has made us a messy diaper, or when it is simply time to eat.  Thank you Riley for letting us sleep a little!

While we are still tired, we are blessed with a sweet and beautiful charmer.  The one who currently has us mesmerized and constantly wanting to cuddle her.  She is more precious than we could have expected or imagined. 



And even with another big weekend snow storm, my parents blessed us with a last minute visit this past weekend and early week to help spoil us and Riley.  We are also looking forward to seeing the Benwares shortly, as both parents have been so gracious and flexible regarding visits due to snow storms, work schedules, and anxiously waiting on Riley's arrival.  Thank you to both our godly and loving parents that have gone before us to model parenting and set wonderful examples for us to follow!

How Our Sweet Riley Graced Us...

We cannot thank everyone enough for praying us through God's timing concerning the birth of our little gal. Had Riley graced us early, I really cannot imagine how different our experience would have been.  The Lord's timing in Riley's birth was so amazing. We went in early Thursday morning to be induced. While the hospital staff was preparing for the day and monitoring the baby and I, they realized my contractions were 5 minutes apart (though I felt nothing). Within the half hour my contractions came on strong and were less than 2 minutes apart. From the point I started to feel contractions, Riley was born less than 3 hours later. Praise Jesus that we had scheduled this very specific induction date and for all the prayers. If the Lord had not coordinated these specifics so intricately, I would not have made it to the hospital in time to receive the epidural. I am amazed with anyone who has given a natural birth at this point! Thank you for your prayers and thank you Jesus.

Riley Grace Benware was 9lb. and 21in., to everyone's surprise.  Her little foot prints were so big they went onto the writing space in her baby book.  Our doctor, and the two nurses were all floored with her size, as we had been assured our baby could not be 9lb. or more.  A few of the first comments in the room were, "Look at that mass of hair!" and "Those hands and feet are huge."  We have plenty of loveable pudge, which just means more to cuddle, and tons of dark baby soft hair.  Riley's little blue eyes are still taking time to open much as she is still a little swollen.  It is fun to see her changing ever so slowly, even in one day.  We love our little girl.

 

White Christmas

Today marks the first white Christmas for a guy who has waited thirty years... you finally got one bud!  It is also our first Christmas alone, which I have to confess I thought I'd be crying by now.  However, we have had plenty of calls from family and we have been enjoying our last few weeks together before the little one decides to arrive, keeping plenty busy.  Brenton and I have made about every kind of Christmas goodie one could think of, watched all our Christmas movies, slept in, gone to the mall for plenty of walks to try and hurry our baby gal along, and, with working, I have not had a chance to be sad.  Exactly what I had hoped for, a fun and full Christmas, our last one with just the two of us.

And so today, Christmas day, we've been pretty lazy; watching the snow fall, resting, listening to Christmas music, waiting on the ham to cook, and watching the dogs frolic in the snow.  It is absolutely beautiful and perfect.  We've come to expect our weekly snow storm on the weekends here in the North Carolina mountains.  It usually snows about two to three days and then clears up for the remainder of the week.  Within a few hours this morning we already had two inches... feels like we are vacationing in a mountain cabin, though we live here.  And it looks like the constant snow could leave us with 8-10 inches of fluffy white goodness with no trouble at all!  Pray we make it to the hospital if our baby comes with in the next two days, and that I don't have to ride our neighbors 4-wheeler down the mountain by means of getting there.  Although, I can imagine it could be much worse!

Merry Christmas!

Love the Benwares

And a little picture to leave you smiling!  The pups trying on our baby's gifts...

A Benware Thanksgiving

Happy turkey day!  It was our first Thanksgiving without family and we decided to lay low. 

A little bit of advice, I learned the key to self-control on Thanksgiving.  I (Kelly) got a stomach bug this past weekend that had me out for most the week.  Today I'm feeling fine though I've not been able to eat much.  Sadly, it had to be on our first attempt at cooking a turkey, which turned out mighty fine.  I ate a small portion of turkey, potatoes and corn before I felt I'd eaten a huge Thanksgiving feast!  I'll say we had a feast on our table though I was the little bird that just did a fly-by. 

Regardless of how much I ate, I must say that I am thankful for all that we have.  We are thankful, thankful for family, friends, and everything the Lord has blessed us with when we truly only need Him.  I left humbled from our local grocery store yesterday.  We were in line behind a young mom with three kids, one a newborn.  Whatever her circumstance, she had misjudged how much she could afford.  It started with her her taking a few Thanksgiving items out of her bags and quickly became weekly groceries that were unloaded.  The kids were oblivious that they were leaving with a few bags of groceries, as opposed to their weekly grocery list.  Why I did nothing, I don't know.  I do know that the family and their apparent need has not left my memory since I walked out of Ingles.  So, again, all I can say is thanks to our Savior, while asking He'll make me a better steward.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Here's a few days out of 35 weeks.  Just about a month out from meeting our little girl...  I told B that from this picture I look like I ate the whole Thanksgiving feast!  One would never know.

The Blessing of Parents

Brenton and I often talk about how blessed we are by both our families.  We are grateful for godly heritage, loving parents, the prayers that bathed us before we were born and those that still cover over us now.  Most recently, a few different blessings have brought this conversation up again.

This past week, the Benwares made their yearly fall visit to the North Carolina mountains to say, "Hey" and catch some soccer games.  Thankfully the boys won both games we attended, finishing their season 10-6, and are now preparing for their first conference game this weekend.  Sadly, the Benwares had a family reunion without me (Kelly) much of the time as The Cove had four programs in one week; a concert with Selah, a seminar with Erwin Lutzer, a Pastor's Institute with Johnny Hunt and Jerry Vines, and a seminar with David and Kay Arthur.  While they were ever so gracious with my constant yawning and nodding eyes, Brenton and his parents relaxed and made some visits around the area.  And they caught the end of our fall leaves, as our trees have become quite bare.  It is truly amazing how quickly the leaves changed and fell this year. 

  

All the other random pictures are of a cosmetic wall my (Kelly) dad added in our basement downstairs.  We use to have a large living area that we only used one side of, which became our living room.  The other side, we were able to convert into our third room, thanks to the Dongells.  Mom and Dad, thanks for making the trip out here this summer to make this possible.  Here is our new guest room and living room! 

And I almost forgot to mention how infatuated our dogs are with both of our fathers.  You can begin to get the idea from the few pictures posted!  Does not matter how much time passes, grandpa is still a hit!