Alivia Faith Bartel

Our good friends John and Angie welcomed Alivia Faith Bartel to their family this past Wednesday the 27th. Livy was 10 lbs 4.8 oz 21 and 1/4 inches long.
This morning at church Mrs Calhoun shared her testimony about God's faithfulness and it has been on my mind all day. God is always faithful and knows just what we need. I say this because for those of you who don't know about my friend Ang, I wanted to share just a little bit. John has been gone for almost 6 months. He is in the National Guard and is in training. We weren't sure if he was going to make it back in time for Livy's birth but God's timing is always perfect. Ang had planned to have a home birth and things had gone well all day. However after almost 3 hours of pushing, Angie was exhausted and was not progressing.
All the while, John was flying home and trying to get there in time. Of course, when his plane landed at 4:30, him and our friend Joseph got stuck in 5:00 trafic. Meanwhile, the decision was made to take Ang to the hospital. When they pulled up, John was there waiting. He had gotten there just minutes before. John's mom was with Ang, and she had never seen her son in his uniform so she began to cry. Ang said when she saw him it was like an Angel of strength waiting to hold her. It wasn't long before Alivia was born and her daddy got to be there. John had to fly back this morning to finish training and yet again, God was taking care of them. While he was gone he was supposed to be preparing to go out into the field this week and finish up some paperwork for graduation. If he didn't have everything together and ready (what everyone else had the entire weekend to complete) in a few hours, he would have to stay an extra week and couldn't come home as planned. However, he arrived to find that all of his buddies had prepared everything for John for him so that he would be caught up and could get home to his family! So, John will graduate June 9th and hopefully will be home on the 10th!
-I got to meet sweet Livy tonight, and mom and baby are both doing well. I will have more pictures soon from our long trip. We have had a wedding and graduations and lots of family and fun. But for now I am going to bed. Thank you Lord for your constant provision and your perfect timing...