Welcoming Mary Michelle Elysabeth Wright - the abbreviated birth story -

Lots of people have been asking, wanting to know all about Mary and her "birth"day, so we thought we'd share some details and some photos. This is one of our favorite pictures taken that first day at the hospital - after the craziness of a very long day, she looks so sweet and peaceful as she rests in between visits.

Richelle woke up with regular contractions on Tuesday morning, December 2. Normally, that would not indicate an immediate trip to the hospital, since they weren't spectacular on the contraction scale; however, because of our circumstances (Tim not here, small children, snowy & icy roads, a history of fast deliveries), Richelle's doctors felt it prudent for her to head to the maternity ward ... better safe than sorry was a frequently used expression. We spent the morning waiting - contractions continued, not slowing down, but not progressing either. The decision was made around lunch to go ahead and break her water and see if that caused things to move along any quicker. It didn't - so finally around 6:30 in the evening, they started pitocin. That was probably the one thing that Richelle wanted to avoid - having had less than positive experiences with it in the past. This time, however, it did the trick. After about 45-50 brief minutes of sleep and rest, contractions resumed, and Mary made her appearance at just after 8 p.m.

We aren't so sure that she was too excited about her change of environment.

Richelle's first good look at Mary after her arrival.

Sibling introductions.

Of course, every baby is unique... but Mary's outstanding feature is her head of thick, silvery blonde hair. She has a ton of it, and the color is unusual - so it is usually the first thing people remark on. The nurses had lots of fun playing with her hair before her hospital picture that night - or so we were told.

This photo just cracks us up - look how interested Elsie is in the baby, while Jonathan is totally focused on the computers behind us. What a typical little (or big) boy!

Visitors that first night at the hospital.

Where does her name come from? Tim's sister is named Mary Elizabeth - and it is a name we really like. It is also the name of a wonderful friend, which we found out after we'd started considering the name. We added the Michelle because we wanted her name to be a little bit different, and it is also quite common in Nigerien culture for children to have 2 or 3 middle names. We also love the meaning of each one of her names: Mary is “beloved,” coming from the Egyptian word "mry;" Michelle is of French origin and means “gift from God,” or “who is like God” - she certainly is a gift and there is no one like our God! Elysabeth means "my God is bountiful," or "God of plenty," - which also seemed so appropriate as we welcome her, our eighth beautiful miracle of life, into our family.

Our other favorite part of the "birth" story comes from the other side of the ocean. Brendan was asked to make the announcement of his sister's arrival - during the chapel/assembly at school on Wednesday. Knowing how much our son likes to speak in public, especially in front of his peers - that gave us all a few chuckles.

Thanks to all of you who prayed for us and for her safe arrival. Please continue to remember our family in your prayers. Jonathan and Victoria are having a hard time understanding why Richelle and gang can't come home immediately, and we still have tons of official paperwork that needs to be taken care of before we can return to Niger.