Our Life in a few Pictures

These are just a bunch of miscellaneous pictures from the past week or two.

We've been very busy lately... cleaning, traveling, working at home, cooking, etc. It's been really nice to be so busy, though! I'd much rather be busy than sitting at home twiddling my thumbs, well, it is nice to do that too sometimes. :) 

Here's da tweet Katers. She's just way too cute!

Perplexed?

Katelyn had a check up the other day. She's been gaining an ounce a day since her last appointment! I can't remember what they said she weighs now, 8 something. 

I thought you'd enjoy this picture, Nate! She's starting early... :-/

Dad and daughter snoozing. :)

Second generation to be rocked in this chair! Kater even spit up while Mom was rocking her in it. The rocker is pushing 29 years.

Sammy was drawing and coloring pictures to sell, he said. The ambition of this little boy amazes me sometimes! :)

Abi hatched some chicks recently. They're lots bigger than this now. I think altogether she hatched 7 but one died. 

Did you hear that we had another massacre in the chicken coop about a week ago? KK had some chicks out there that had just been put in with the big ones. All the chicks and 9 hens were killed. Poor KK was really sad... He had put a lot of time, effort and money into those chickens.

 Girl's Weekend Out

Mom, Abi and I had a girls weekend out this past weekend. There was a baby shower for Kels in Holdrege, so we decided to make the best of it.

On the way out, we stopped at a rest area. When we came out of the building, Mom noticed that the back driver's side tire was very low. Thankfully, an exit with a gas station was just about a mile down the road so that we could get air. After filling it, Mom checked the pressure, which was just 25 psi after we had filled it. We texted Ryan and he told us that we'd better get it checked out. So, next stop, Walmart. At Walmart, we found out that the tire was bad enough that it would have to be replaced. It was good that we weren't in a hurry. :) The next hour and a half was spent wandering around Walmart looking for baby shower gifts and of course, snacks.

We stayed at Super 8 in Kearney that night. It's a very nice hotel! 

Self portrait of your's truly. :)

I noticed that we kinda made a mess. Usually we girls are very tidy, but it seems as though we relaxed on this trip.

More stuff. :)

And, of course, you gotta have the bathroom picture! :)

 Katelyn's Baby Shower

This was the head table. 

These cupcakes were so yummy! You'd never guess it from the picture, but they were bite size.

Da star of da show, Katerpillar!

Aunt Annette made these pinwheels. I never tasted them, but I heard they were really good.

Smith family's famous bean dip, which, by the way, was delicious!

These baby food jars were part of a game... You had to guess what kind of baby food it was. Wow, was that hard!

Abi and I were able to help out with some of the last minute preparations. I was glad that we could be a help, as poor Whit and Kiley were scrambling to get things done.

Gifts!

Whit had decorated the night before, so at least we didn't have to do that. :) She did a really cute job!

Oreo balls that Whit made. They were really, really good! The inside was crushed oreo and cream cheese, blended smooth, then dipped in white almond bark.

*Are you drooling yet?* :) 

Hotel #2

Long story short, the other back tire went flat while in Holdrege, so Ryan and Mark rescued us by putting the donut tire on so that we could make it to Walmart. We made it there just as they were getting ready to close at 6, but they got us right in and had it done in about 30 min. or so. By that time we were very tired, but we wanted to drive a little farther than Kearney. So, we drove to Grand Island, got off at the wrong exit and spent the next 45 min. driving through town to get to the main road. Once there, Abi spotted a Super 8, but they were full. Just across the way was another hotel, which of course was full too. There were several events going on in Grand Island, which was why everything was full. No rest for the weary in Grand Island, but York had room! We stayed at the Victorian Inn, which was ok.

This is our room. Abi kept trying to take pictures of me... The fan went out on our lap top while we were here and started sparking... That was scary! :)

On the way home the next morning, it rained cats and dogs the whole way! We got soaked loading the car up at the hotel.

Toward the last leg, a big, bad storm crossed over the highway in front of us. It got really dark and the clouds started doing funny things. Praise God, it skipped us! We all agreed that this had been the most eventful and crazy trip we ever had. Not even our trip to Ireland was this crazy! :)

This brings you up to date on the latest Grice doings. We will be having a church picnic this Saturday, so be ready for some fun pictures! :)

"The Wages of Sin is DEATH"

"If you will not have death unto sin, you shall have sin unto death. There is no alternative. If you do not die to sin, you shall die for sin. If you do not slay sin, sin will slay you."

-Charles Spurgeon-

Sin is like poison ivy. It looks very pretty; pretty enough to pick and fondle it. We all know the effects of poison ivy... It leaves nasty, pussy, itchy and irritating sores that spread like wildfire. 

That is exactly what sin does to us. When one toys with sin, it will spread just like the poison ivy sore. Only, sin will end in death and an eternity in hell.

The only way to escape the wages of sin is to be washed in the blood of Jesus, to confess your sins, ask for God's forgiveness in true contrition and repentance and put your trust in Jesus. You need to do a complete 180* turn. Don't be like the dog and the pig in 2 Peter 2:22 by turning back to your sins, "But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire."

Katelyn Renae Grice

Announcing the arrival of our sweet little Katelyn Renae! 

Here is an excerpt from an email announcement that Ryan sent out...

"Many of you may have noted that we didn't make it to church on Wednesday. Kelsey was beginning to have some contractions and other signs that labor was coming soon, so we decided to hold off on doing any traveling.

We ended up coming up to Cass County Memorial Hospital on the afternoon of Thursday the 23rd, and Katelyn Renae was born at 2:46 A.M. the following morning on the 24th. (We are wondering if she will be a punctual, organized girl... because she came right on her due date. :P ) She weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces (exactly what Daddy did when he was born), and was 20 1/4" long. We think she looks a lot like Kelsey and some of her sisters did as babies.

The Lord gave us both much grace and strength through the labor and delivery process. We could really feel God's peace comforting our hearts as people prayed. It was such a blessing to hold this little Sweetness the Lord gave us. We felt like it was such a LONG wait, and now she's finally here! We are so blessed and excited!

We've had two small snags in the process, though. It appears Kelsey broke Her tailbone during the delivery, so She is in a good bit of pain at times if She happens to move it wrong. There is not really any good way to treat it except to wait for it to heal on its own. So please pray that She would have minimal pain and swift healing.

The second snag is that Katelyn was a little on the sluggish side when it came to learning how to nurse. So she got a little behind, and is now having some trouble with a some weight loss and jaundice setting in. She's eating well now, but it could take some time for her to get caught up. Please pray that the jaundice would clear up soon so we can get our little girlie home... The doctor and nurses have been exceptionally helpful and very respectful of our preferences, but they are a little reluctant to send her home yet until the jaundice and weight stabilize. It's sounding like we may be going home on Monday, but a lot will depend on how well things clear up.

I think that's about it. Please pass this on to anyone that is interesting in how things are going. Again, we want to give a huge thank-you to everyone who prayed and supported us during this exciting event. The Lord was glorified, and we just can't stop thanking Him enough for this precious, sweet little bundle He chose to give us. What a reward this little fruit of the womb already is!"

Katelyn is over the jaundice by now. Just recently she developed a very bad diaper rash, though. Ry and Kels tried just about everything out there to get rid of it, but nothing seemed to be working. So, they just let her "air out" as much as possible. :) That seemed to help a little. At least, it helped with her attitude. :) They finally decided that she must be allergic to the kind of diapers they were using. After switching brands, the rash disappeared, PTL!

Kelsey's tail bone is feeling better, but it's still very sore. Please keep praying for her swift recovery!

Well, as Ryan and Kelsey's camera quit on them, we lent our's to them. So, basically, the only pictures that I've got right now are the ones that we took at the hospital. Thanks to a few cell phone pictures, I did have a few recent pictures. :)

Patient Parking

There's Ry and Kels' van. :)

Dad

12:23 am...

Mom and Dad had gone to the hospital earlier while we children stayed home. Dad told us just to go to bed and they would call us when the baby was born. Well, around 11 pm, we heard that Kels had dilated more. Who could sleep after hearing that news?! We called Daddy and asked (ok, maybe we did beg some :D) if we could please go to the hospital. Thankfully, he said yes. :)

Now, here it is, 12:23 am and no baby...

  

Waiting...

1:05 am

Still no baby...

*Sigh*

2:37 am

This pictures was taken exactly 9 minutes before Katelyn was born.

We received a text, two minutes after she was born. At this point we still didn't know her name.

Oh, the agony of waiting!

After the "IT'S A GIRL" text, we rushed over to the nursery window.

Scale

Everything waiting in readiness for Sweetness. Notice the clock? It is now 2:55 am...

Finally!

After waiting all this time, we finally get to know what her name is!

Aw...

I have to confess that when I saw the nurse and Ryan walk into the nursery, I had to blink really fast to hold back the tears... It was a precious, precious moment.

Daddy's Hand

Scowling at Dad :)

She had the lustiest cry! It was so cute (and still is).

Katelyn Renae

After getting home between 4:30 and 5 am, we were back up at the hospital to hold Katelyn around 11 am. Boy, were we tired!

Grandma

Aunt Emmie

Sweet little foot

Aunt Abi

Mayflower

The nurses had wrote all the May baby's names on flowers and taped them on the nursery window. 

Proud Papa

Grandpa

Uncle KK

Katelyn

Uncle Sammy

All of us together

Well, except Nate and Josh. Nate is in Haiti again and Josh was in Ohio visiting friends. Also, it was so disappointing that the Smiths weren't able to be there. :( 

Home at Last!

They arrived at home Monday evening, May 27.

This is a collage of pictures that Gram put together. The really blurry picture in the top left corner is special. Mom was able to rock Katelyn in the rocker that she rocked Ryan in when he was a baby. That rocker is almost 28 years old! 

Proud Grandpa :)