more pictures

The Marrone's!!!

FCAT - "favorite cool aunt Tara"

Rachel with her cousins


my dear friend Kimberly - i love you

wedding pics and more

Constance & baby Rachel

Kim & Me - "south side"

Uncle Matthew and Rachel

precious Eli & Jordan

Daddy & Tara - such a beautiful bride

normalcy has arrived!!

Well we just sent my sister and her new husband Jeremy on their way to their honeymoon, all my family went back home and i think things will be back to normal for a little bit. This has been a crazy but amazing past 3 weeks. Learning to be a mother, seeing my sister and best friend get married and spending time with lots of precious family....it has been so much fun, tiring but fun!!!

Thank you for all of you that have been praying for us and Rachel. We are walking in the grace and love of God. Other than some congestion and a little cough, Rachel is doing great and we are enjoying every moment with her (even the ones at 3:00 a.m. - ha). She is gaining weight and was 7 lbs. and 2 oz. this past Tuesday. We see the doctor on Monday the 17th for a check up and we will keep you posted.

thanks again for praying - we love you all and look forward to you being a part of little Rachel's life! Here are some sweet pictures of our precious little daughter and a look inside our crazy last couple weeks.


this is her "going to the bathroom face" if you know what i mean - too cute!

Four generations! We love you grandma Diana & great grandma Peggy

She can sleep in any position like her mom

I can't believe we caught her with such a great smile....she loves her daddy!

more photos!

daddy's little princess.

"what are these huge things in front of my face"?

sleeping so soundly in mommy & daddy's bed


My first bath - I don't think I like this to much!
i just wanted to share a few more photos with you guys. These are actually from my camera so they are alittle better quality. Can't wait for her to meet all of you people that are so special to us!

love you all - Stephen, Tandra & Rachel Avery

our new precious daughter

Our daughter finally blessed us with her presence this past Tuesday Oct. 14th at 12:53 a.m. She weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and is 20 1/2 inches long. She is perfect!!!

I am sorry I am just now posting these, i will be sure to write soon about the "whole adventure" of delivering this precious little life. Words can't really explain the joy and overwhelming emotions of Rachel Avery being here. Can't wait for all of you to meet her!

she really loves this little warm womb of mine!!

Ha! tricked you. This is us with baby John Graves a while back. Soon this will be our little girl though!!

I haven't sent an update in a while so i thought i would fill you guys in! Since my last doctor's appointment nothing has changed too much. I have still been having good contractions on and off and we have been walking, resting, sitting on the exercise ball and eating of course. Thankfully i have been able to be home resting and "nesting". My husband has gone above and beyond during these last 4 weeks (yes, I said 4 weeks) by cooking for me and just serving me and loving me! Thank you Jesus for giving Him to me - I really can't imagine doing life without him.

Since we passed our due date this last Monday we have been even more anxious to get our little girl here but we know it's in Jesus' hands. Dr. Hutcheson said that I had not dilated any further than before so I am at a 4 for sure and possibly 4.5 or 5. She had been super patient and encouraging by not pushing us to prematurely bring Rachel into the world, and is just super sweet about the whole process. At our last appointment (last Monday) she asked if she could break my water on the 16th if Rachel has not arrived yet.....we both felt fine with that so that is the next step.

We are praying and believing that God will bring her before then because it is our desire that this process be as natural as possible. So....please be praying and agreeing with us about that. I know you all have been praying and standing with us and we are so grateful!

We will be reporting back soon with some pictures of our precious daughter. Love you all

yesterday's doctor update

the first words out of my doctor's mouth were "I can't believe you are still pregnant". She then proceeded to check my and told me that I have definitely progressed, even if it was just a little bit. I am dilated to a 5 now and am 85 to 90% effaced. (which is the percentage of how much my cervix is thinned out) So needless to say she sent me home without an explanation of why this baby is not here yet. When we are without explanation in life that normally means it can only be Jesus doing what He wants to do for a divine reason! My blood pressure and everything else looked great! So praise Jesus it was some sort of progression! Until next time!!

today?

Well, thank you Jesus for this new day. It is so beautiful and cool outside so Stephen and I enjoyed a quick walk this morning. I have an appointment today at 2:00 with the doctor so we are believing in JESUS NAME for a great report and some sort of progression in the labor process. I will do my best to keep you posted.
I added a few more pictures from this weekend that i wanted to share.


Daddy bonding with is little girl

Jordan and Eli with "exciting faces" after the day of shopping

My mom and Tara

Boardwalk Fun!!

Today, I wanted to get out and do something fun while my family was here to pass the time of this "waiting game" we have been on for a while now. The day started out great as I walked in the cool morning praying with my husband! We asked God for a great day and He definitely gave us that. My mom and sister Tricia as well as her kids were in town to help work on wedding stuff and hopefully be here for the arrival of little Rachel. We decided to go to Louisiana to the boardwalk so I could get lots of walking in and we could do some shopping and fun things with the kids. Most people I know would think i was crazy for leaving Texas this close to being in labor but it didn't seem to concern me. So we walked around and had yummy snacks and ate dinner and of course did some shopping for a little bit then headed home. Here are few pictures from our fun day.


My beautiful Mother and sister Tricia

(this is before we ever got there believe it or not)

My bride to be sister, Tara and I

Noc Noc (stephen) is a great race car driver....or Eli thinks so

Princess Jordan riding a broken carousel...it didn't even work.

Last belly pic

Hopefully Rachel Avery is coming very soon so I took this picture today to get a good "last belly picture". Keep praying for God's timing (TONIGHT!!!) hahaha, just kidding we really are trying to be as patient as possible. His timing is great, we just wish we knew when it was.

It's been so long

Sorry it has been such a long time. I am really hoping that the arrival of our little Rachel Avery will inspire me to write more and keep you people up to date. I am just not too good at it.

We wanted to give you an update about our pregnancy/labor. The long story short is that I am 38 weeks this week and have been walking through a slow process of labor since last Wednesday. I am dilated to a 4 and 75% effaced. My doctor was expecting us to have her last Thursday or Friday but God obviously has a different plan.

As anxious as we were to have her last week I saw the hand of God over the entire process since then. All of my family drove up from Beaumont and Stephen stayed home from work which allowed us to have about 4 days straight of quality family time. Stephen's parents stayed with us prior to that (because their electricity was out) and we had a great time with them as well.

Stephen and I went walking ALOT but we had some of the most amazing talks and prayer times together and just got to enjoy each other before our lives are changed forever. He is the most amazing man that I know. Seriously, I am so honored to be his wife. He is full of love for me and has been an amazing support through this process. I love Him and can't wait to bring his daughter into this world.

Well, all of my family has gone back home as of today and things are "back to normal". We are just waiting patiently and praying for God's perfect timing. I am not working or leading worship right now (I miss it alot) but I am also at complete peace about this new "at home" season being the wife and mother I am called to be.

This is so long but hopefully next time you will be seeing a picture of our little Rachel and hearing all about her. I am going to add some random photos that I wanted to share with you.

Thank you Jesus for the great things to come.


My Elvis pose at our most recent visit to Memphis, TN

Me and Lomamma - such a faithful friend.
Just in case you don't know...she hates Whataburger

Our cousin Farris Owen (Warnock) at her wedding in Tennessee. She is just as beautiful inside.

Stephen and I at Farris' wedding. Isn't he cute in suspenders? (All the Warnock men wore them in honor of Grandpa Bob).

Tara & Jeremy! We have a wedding date...Nov 8th - God is so faithful and His timing is perfect!

This is pretty old, I think Isaac was like 6 weeks old her but i wanted to recognize and honor one of my precious friends. Mel, you are one of the most amazing wife and mom that i know. Thank you for being you!

Memories

this weekend i was able to meet my dear friends baby boy Isaac Thomas. He is such a cute baby. I am so proud of my friend Melissa, i know she is and incredible mom to him. I miss all of my friends that are in Dallas. Anna, Melissa, Laura, Katie, Noel- these friends were apart of my life in some of the most character shaping and heart forming times of my life and although I am thankful for new seasons those precious times are greatly missed. They challenged me, spoke into my life, loved me, laughed at and with me, prayed for me, believed in me, comforted me. I can't imagine anyone ever being able to take their places in my heart and I definitely can't make some of the crazy memories i have with them. i love them so much and am so thankful to my Jesus for the times i have had with them. Thank you jesus for new seasons and new adventures.

the "blog" world

well i am definitely new to the "blog" world but i am going to try and be diligent in keeping people apart of what's going on in our family. I am not too much of a creative writer but i make people laugh when i am not even trying to so we'll see how this goes. I would like to give thanks and honor to my friend Laura who set this up for me (i told you i was pretty new). well busy at work and i don't know what else to write so....toodles!