Introducing Elisabeth Anne Ross!

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful,I know that full well." Psalm 139:13-14


She's here! On December 9, 2009 at 11:57 am, Elisabeth Anne Ross was born and our lives instantly and beautifully transformed forever!
Our last post was from her due date, and that night my water broke at 1:00 am, which prompted our trip to the hospital around 3:00 am and the induction process starting around 9:00 am on December 8. Labor was very slow in progressing, which meant increasing medical interventions to monitor Elisabeth's and my progress. Finally around mid-morning on Wednesday, December 9, after her heart rate was dropping consistently with each contraction, our doctor decided to do a C-section. After that the process was incredibly fast and she was here before we could even really process what was going on! It was a good decision as her umbilical cord was wrapped around her body several times which was preventing the normal progression of labor.
She weighed in at 5 pounds 14 ounces (the same as Mom when she was born!) and 19 inches in length. We stayed in the hosptial until Saturday and were cared for very well by the staff. The last few days have been adventurous, challenging, and so joyful that words just can't do it justice.
Elisabeth was born with a heart murmur that her pediatrician noticed and wanted checked out by a professional. We took her to the cardiology department at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City yesterday, and while she does have two small murmurs, the doctor is not concerned about them and told us to come back in a year to have them checked again. He told us to just pretend like they are not even there and to not treat her any differently because of it. This was very reassuring and we are thankful it is nothing more serious.
I plan to create some online photo albums with more pictures of Elisabeth, but in the meantime enjoy a few photos below!






Thank you all for your love, prayers, and support during this season of new life. We are so thankful to be celebrating our daughter's birth and the birth of Jesus so close together. Merry Christmas to you all!
Love, Jason, Kelley, Elisabeth, and Annabelle Ross

Today's the official due date!

Well, we made it to December 7th, our official due date! It seems that little Bambina is nice and cozy and not wanting to budge! We had our final prenatal appointment today, complete with a sonogram, and she is doing well and very active. She was even sticking her tongue out and sucking on her fingers. She had us all laughing! We can't wait to kiss those little fingers soon!
In the meantime, here are two recent pictures. One is of Bambina's new "friends" hanging out in her crib just waiting for her arrival. (I've already told them that they don't get to stay in the crib once she gets here, but they are cute for now!) The other is of of Annie having her own baby shower with some pink tissue paper from one of Bambina's gifts. Who knew it could keep a cat occupied for so long?



We'll keep you updated!
Love from the Rosses

November Showers

Even though it's December, November was such a fun month that we wanted to highlight some of its events before this month becomes eventful as well!

November was indeed full of showers. For starters, Lawrence had its first "snow shower" a few weeks ago on a blustery Monday morning. We walked out of our weekly staff meeting to a winter wonderland outside! We'll have to wait until perhaps January or February to have enough to make a snowman, but it was fun to see the snowflakes and anticipate the coming of the winter season.

We also had two baby showers in November, one with some friends from the Lawrence and Kansas City area and another with student friends from KU. Both were an absolute blast! It is always so humbling to be "showered" with so much love and support during a transitional time of life. We feel greatly loved! Below are some pictures from the showers. Laura, our sister-in-law, is also pregnant, so this was a picture of us and our growing baby girls at the shower on November 7. The babies' daddies are twins, so I wonder if they'll look at all alike? (-: (Both Jason's and Kelley's mom made it up from Wichita for the shower, and Kelley's mom is in the background.)

The next four pictures are from the KU shower and include a group photo, a picture with the two hostesses, Emily Clark and Kori Podszus, and pictures of the two handmade gifts from students' moms (little pink booties and a gorgeous white baby blanket!)






In the middle of the baby festivities, we had our annual Barn Bash, an outreach event consisting of games, testimonies, chili, cinnamon rolls, s'mores, costume contest, and of course lots of dancing with a live bluegrass band and official caller. It's a hit every year, and this year was no different. Below are pictures of one of the dancing sets.



We had our 39-week check up yesterday and our little girl is showing no signs of wanting to budge. We're thankful she's doing well and seems to be cozy! We set a "Plan B" with our doctor for an induction date of December 14th if she hasn't arrived on her own by then. We'll keep you posted, and in the meantime, below are some recent baby bump and nursery pictures from over the past month.





We'll keep you updated! Blessings and love from the Rosses!

The Main Event, Nursery Progress, and a 31st birthday!

Lots of updates over the past three weeks! We've been staying busy between campus and planning for Bambina, so here are a few updates from our life in Lawrence these days!



We are sending out a newsletter soon, so more details about Main Event, our regional fall conference, will be included there, but it was a great weekend! On Oct 9-11, over 600 students from around the region descended on Kansas City, and it was fun to see many dear students that we've grown to love from other campuses from our summers in Florida. This is often the first time we see many of them since saying goodbye in July, and it's always a time filled with lots of hugs and squeals (at least from the girls!) The above picture is from one of the large group main sessions.

NURSERY PROGRESS!
Bambina's nursery is progressing! The dresser and the crib are now complete, thanks to Jason, Daniel Petrosky, a KU student, and Jeff Burgess, the director of Campus Crusade for Christ, who all helped out in putting the pieces together! Below are some pictures of the progress, complete with our cat, Annie, helping out with the dresser drawers. We are getting closer to being ready for Bambina's big arrival!






KU was on fall break this past weekend, and we headed to Manhattan for a wedding of one of Jason's former K-State students. The reception was at a country club, so we took advantage of the beautiful landscape to grab a few pictures together as well as a recent view of the baby bump! The next day I did some "nesting" and decided that I've never had so much fun doing laundry! Just look at all those cute little outfits!




Finally, this past Tuesday was Jason's 31st birthday, and we had fun celebrating together, complete with the cake topper from his last birthday that he still has! (See blog posting from last year's birthday cake). This is a big birthday year as he officially becomes a parent at 31! We'll see if Bambina makes me a parent at 30 or 31...her due date is very close to my birthday so it could go either way!

Bambina turns 30!

Our little girl, "Bambina", had her 30-week pre-natal appointment yesterday, on the 30th, and our doctor said she's doing great! This week, mom, dad, and baby are all 30! She's growing more active by the day, and it is such a joy to feel every little wiggle, squirm, and kick.
We also had our final birthing class last night at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, where we will deliver, and we both really enjoyed going through it together. We feel more prepared for the big day!
Below are the most recent baby bump pictures, taken last night after our class. We are standing in the room that will be Bambina's nursery, but we still have a long way to go before we'll be ready to post pictures of the final product. Stay tuned! (Notice our cat, Annie, in the background of one of the pictures. She is not sure what to think of all this baby stuff quite yet. All new toys for her, perhaps?)

Celebrating in Two's!

This week was a special week for us as we celebrated our second wedding anniversary on September 15th as well as the culmination of two healthy trimesters in our pregnancy! Monday marked the beginning of our last trimester, and we can't believe we only have three months to go! At times it seems like it's been such a long process and at others it seems to have flown by. We are thankful and amazed at the process of the creation of life and can't wait to meet our daughter soon!

We celebrated our anniversary with a quick trip to Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, where we celebrated our honeymoon as well as our first anniversary. We love it that it's so close and easily accessible from Lawrence! Below are a few pictures from our trip. We found some new parks to explore and did some mild hiking to enjoy the beautiful weather and scenery.





Lake of the Ozarks is also where we take our student leadership team every Labor Day weekend for our annual Laborer's Retreat to kick off the new year. Our weekend together was a great time of connecting, learning, praying, casting vision, and of course lots of fun and laughing! On the Saturday afternoon of the trip we always have a special activity planned for the students that's usually a surprise. Last year it was a high ropes course, which definitely challenged all of us to overcome some fears, and this year it was spelunking in a cave. This was not a typical excursion into a cave, however. It included crawling through complete darkness and at times water and muddy clay on hands, knees, elbows, stomachs, etc. I, Kelley, did not participate, but heard all about it afterwards. They all agreed it was very intense, sometimes frustrating, but definitely worth it. Sounds like a good analogy for a spiritual journey of loving and serving God at KU!
Below is our group (all clean) before entering the cave. What a great group!

It's A...Girl!

Many of you have already heard our BIG news, but we are expecting a baby girl in early December, and we couldn't be more thankful or thrilled! Her official due date is December 7, which is just three days before Kelley's birthday.
The above picture was taken last Saturday, and we are now 26 weeks along. I've attached a fun link that let's you see how big the baby is compared to typical foods. http://www.babycenter.com/slideshow-baby-size
This week she's about the length of a long cucumber and weighing in at over a pound!We give praise to God for a healthy and safe pregnancy so far! Tonight we have our first birthing class at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, about a five minute walk from our home. This is where we will deliver and they recently opened a new birthing center.

We are nearly two weeks into the fall semester and things are going very well. We've met new faces, reconnected with older students, and are seeking God's direction in making the most of this final semester before we welcome our daughter into the world!

Thank you for standing with us!


With love, Jason and Kelley