The days of our probation (waiting to go to the MTC) are winding down.  We have had a couple of hiccups in our planned schedule before we left. We planned to spend 9 days in So Carolina, then 12 days home to finish up final preparations, and then enter the MTC on Sept. 19.  It has been said that "when man plans, God laughs". Well God had a good laugh on us!

We had planned to fly to South Carolina the end of Aug to be with our daughter when she gave birth to our 4th grandchild.  She was due on the 30th and has never gone past her due date with her other 3 children, so we thought we would hopefully make it in time to be there to greet this new grandchild. Another daughter, Meghan had even come a week before us, just to be sure she would be there to photograph the happy event, as she had been too late on two other births.  So, on the 29th, we were all there waiting....and waiting.....and waiting.  Aug 30th came and went.  Then the 31st.  Meghan was scheduled to fly out on the 31st.  Should she extend, or go home and miss everything? We debated and discussed.  It was finally decided that since we didn't know when the blessed event would actually happen, that she had already been away from her own family for 8 days, and it would cost her a pretty penny to extend, she sadly and reluctantly went home without taking a single picture of the birth.

And then we waited, and waited, and waited...and waited some more.  We were scheduled to fly out on Tues the 6th, but as the days passed with no baby, we decided that we needed to extend, knowing that Kellee would need help after the baby came.  So we changed our flight and planned to stay an extra 5 days.  Labor day weekend came and we thought,  maybe Mon, since that is LABOR Day.  Nope. Tues came and the midwives came for a check up, and what they found was less than encouraging. Kellee was now a full week overdue, which was a new and frustrating situation.  Since waiting was all we could do, we waited.

Finally, at 10:30 that night, labor began and baby Zayva was born early the next morning.  The waiting was over!  We were so happy we could stay and witness this blessed event and then be able to help out for a few days after.

Now we are home, looking at squeezing in all that needs to be done into 6 days.  Whew, it'll be tough, but we are up to the challenge!  Bring it on!