Baby Isaac!!

Announcing the birth of my newest nephew: Isaac Steele!!

He was born last night, March 6, at 11:03 pm and weighed 9 pounds, 11 ounces and was 21 inches long. He has a full head of hair and is, according to everyone, absolutely adorable!

His parents, my sister Amy and her husband Josh, are happy to welcome him into the family and his siblings (Joshua, Anna, Alexa, Micah and Lizzie) can’t wait for their new baby brother to come home.

Of course I am a very proud aunt and can not wait to meet him. I showed his picture to everyone at church this evening at the Lenten soup & bread meal and the Lenten service.

God has not blessed me with children of my own. I know that some women would be upset that their sister has so many children and they don’t have any when they would love nothing more than to be a mother. But I am filled with nothing but happiness and joy for my sister. She is a WONDERFUL mother who takes great delight in each and every one of her children. And the advantage to being an aunt instead of a mother is that I can go and visit them, spoil the kids rotten and then go back home!

For example, one time I was out visiting and the girls (all of them except Lizzie – she was too young) had a slumber party in my hotel room. They got to swim in the pool, eat all kinds of snack foods while watching a movie before going to bed and then, in the morning, I took them out for pancakes at IHOP. Since I am the aunt and not the mother, I let them have as much syrup as they wanted. Anna was a little controlled about it but Alexa and Micah’s pancakes were swimming in every kind of syrup they had available on the table. After breakfast, we all went to church. I was standing in the Narthex of their church and the two young girls were dancing around me on a complete sugar high. I just stood there reveling in their joy. A woman walked by and gave me a puzzled look because they girls were running around me and I just said “We went out for pancakes!” Enough said. My sister walked in with her husband, son and Baby Lizzie and gave me a not so pleased look and I grinned at her and said “Good luck with this!”.  Ah…the joy of being an aunt!!

I am hoping to go out and meet Baby Isaac in about three months. The kids should be out of school and it will be warm and sunny and I can spend some time getting to know my newest nephew. My sister likes it when I visit when she has a new baby because she knows I am more than happy to just hold the baby for hours on end and she can get stuff done around the house. Another advantage to being an aunt – never tiring of just holding the baby and gazing at it’s sweet face.

Welcome to the world, Isaac Steele! I pray that God blesses you and you grow up to be strong, successful, and happy with a tremendous heart for God!