Welcome Emily Nicole Malan

Welcome to the world, Emily Nicole Malan! Emily was born at 1:14 PM on June 3, 2010. She weighs 6 pounds 4 ounces and is 19.5 inches long. As far as we can tell, she is healthy in every way!

Here are a few highlight photos, but you can see more if you visit our Facebook pages.










Here is a simple timeline of the delivery.

9:45 PM June 2 Christina's water broke
12:00 AM June 3 We got into the labor and delivery room where the nurse did all the setup and checks.
2:30 AM We tried to sleep, with little success.
4:00 AM Christina received the epidural and really appreciated it!
12:30 PM Christina started pushing
1:14 PM Emily was born!

We wanted to commemorate this special event with a passage of Scripture, so Ben read Psalm 139:1-16 over Emily. It is a reminder of what a great God we have that has formed us and knows us all the days of our lives.

Ben was so excited that he mowed Emily's name into our front lawn a few days before the delivery!

Waiting for the Big Day

Our baby is scheduled to be born next Thursday. As could be expected, many people have been asking us how things are going. Since it has been a very smooth pregnancy, we don't have many stories to share at this point, but I'm sure that after our daughter is born we'll have a lot to talk about!

8 More Weeks To Go!!!

Well, time flies when you are having fun! Time has definitely flown by for us and now we have 8 more weeks until our angel (Emily Nicole Malan) will be born. We are gaining more and more excitement as the time draws near. We just finished painting the nursery and now we are putting finishing touches into it. We are reading books and attending birthing classes as well. We are feeling more and more prepared, but only as prepared as you can get without really knowing what it will be like once she is born. Christina continues to feel good and has not had any complications or illness. She is however having pain due to a nerve being pinched or something to that extent. Christina is having to learn to slow down with life, which is not fun for her as she is used to being busy and on the go.

We continue to do well. We just returned from our last trip as just the two of us. We went to Tennessee to see Gatlinburg and the Great Smokey Mountains. We had a wonderful trip and got to see lots of great sites. Everyone tells us to treasure our time together as just the two of us, since it will never be the same once she comes. So, that is what we did!!! Ben just finished up his second quarter of Seminary. It was a tough quarter due to lots of reading and projects and on top of that lots of programs going on at church to keep up with. He finished well and had a week break. He will be starting again tomorrow (Monday) with his 3rd Quarter of classes. He is really enjoying school, learning a lot and able to apply almost everything he is learning to his job, which is great and very practical. Christina is continuing with work as a social worker for the next 7 weeks. She will stop working on May 21st (unless Emily comes sooner) and will not be continuing with this job. They were not able to offer her any part-time work, so the Lord has closed that door for now, but we are confident He will open another door closer to home. She is very excited about being able to stay home as a mom, so she is not worried at all about the next step regarding a part-time job. Those are the highlights in our life right now. We will most likely write again after Emily is born to give all the updates and share pictures.

And the Verdict Is.....

On Tuesday Ben and I went to the doctor to get an ultrasound done and to find out what the gender would be and we found out that we will be having a girl! She is very healthy and on target with all of her developments and the due date still stands at May 27th. It was a very encouraging visit to the doctor and since then we have had fun telling family and friends all about it. Now we get to start the fun part of painting and decorating the nursery. We are very excited and anxiously await her arrival. The pregnancy continues to go well, however the frequent bathroom visits get a little old sometimes. We just took a road trip over New Years and Ben had fun stopping frequently so I could use the bathroom. Anytime he couldn't find me he quickly figured out I was probably in the bathroom. It has become a funny joke between us now. Anyways... I really have much to be thankful for. Based on all the stories I've heard, I feel very fortunate to have had such a great pregnancy thus far. Well... I will write and post more pictures later when we progress to the next stage.

On to the 2nd Trimester

Well... I am done with the first trimester and have now moved on to the 2nd trimester. I am now in my 19th Week! I had a very smooth 1st trimester and felt very fortunate to not have gotten sick at all. I only experienced being really tired, but now am not experiencing that as much anymore. It is really true when they say you feel great during the 2nd Trimester. So far I feel great and continue to not have any complications. We continue to go to monthly check-ups and the baby is growing and developing as expected. January 5th is our next appointment and at that appointment we will get to find out if it is a boy or girl. We are very excited to find out the gender of our baby. We will post the news as soon as we find out. We have been having fun starting to get the baby room ready. Sometimes it is overwhelming all that there is to get for a baby, but then I remember that there is 9 months in which to get it all and that is very helpful. I have posted a picture of what I look like right now. I haven't grown too much for the public eye, but I can tell that growth is taking place. Enjoy!!!

On other notes, Ben and I are overall doing well. Ben just completed his first quarter of Graduate classes and he is really enjoying it. He now has 3 weeks off to gear up for the next quarter and to enjoy the Holiday season. We are staying plenty busy this Christmas with Church programs and holiday parties etc. We will not be going back to the west coast to see our families, which will be hard for us to not be with them, but we have had to make choices in regard to traveling since Ben started Graduate school. We are glad to have each other and know that we will have a very enjoyable Christmas together. We also have plans to go to Kentucky to see the Mammoth Caves over the New Year break. We are looking forward to getting away for a couple of days and seeing some new sights. Those are the highlights about us. More to come in the coming months!!!

Ben In Seminary

At the beginning of September, Ben began Seminary in the major of Family and Children's Ministry. He is doing his studies through Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Primarily his studies are done at home and from a distance, but 2 times a year he goes to St. Paul to have 2 week intensive courses. Right now he is attending his first intensive studies and really enjoying it. He has met some great people and gets to sit-up late at night and discuss Children's Ministry with other Children's Ministry directors. The program he track he is on is 3 years. Ben looks forward to applying what he is learning to the current Ministry. This is the only new update in our lives, other than expecting a baby. Otherwise we are just plugging away at our jobs and Ministry at the church. We are entering a very busy season with the holidays coming up and all that goes with them. We will post more later.

First Ultrasound

Ben and I went to our first ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and it was really fun. Seeing the baby makes everything real. The doctor said that the baby was healthy and that all the tests she did came back normal. The baby's due date is definitely May 27th, which was also confirmed by the ultrasound. Below is a small picture of the baby, but the best that we have right now. I (Christina), continue to feel pretty well. I have had to fight off a few colds, but have continued to not have any morning sickness. I have decided to keep pressing on with my 10 hour work days as my doctor said I will not experience this extreme tiredness in my 2nd Trimester. I have 4 more weeks to go until the 2nd Trimester, so we will see if I can do it.