The Big Reveal

Pink or Blue?

We had the big gender reveal party on Monday night! It was a fun celebration

for our sweet little baby! Our family and close friends were all there to enjoy the very special night with us! I wanted to share the night in pictures with all of you.

Our sweet Caroline is going to be a Big Sister!

Everything was decorated so beautifully!

Our amazing friend Emily made us this beautiful cake!

40 Black Balloons ready to be popped! Pink or Blue Confetti
was hiding inside!

Everyone was asked to come wearing either a Pink shirt or a Blue shirt. Depending on their guess!

Representing Team Blue!

Representing Team Pink!

And Team Blue overwhelmingly outnumbered Team Pink!
Now to find out... Is our baby a Boy or a Girl?

Our Baby is a BOY!!!!!!!!!

We could not be more excited!!!

We are so in love with our little Boy already!

Thank you to everyone who already loves our little boy, and for all of the many prayers on behalf of him and us. We are so incredibly blessed to have such love and support from so many amazing people. We are so thankful! Monday was a special day of rejoicing and celebration, a day to thank God for the new life that He has brought into our lives, and for the good news that everything is growing "normally". We still walk a very difficult road in the months ahead, and we know that there are never any guarantees. It is still with very cautious hearts that we continue to move forward one step at a time. Yet today was a huge milestone for us, and for our little baby. We are praising God for all of the good news! Each step we walk is only through the power and strength of our mighty God, who is holding us close in the palm of His hand. We continue to choose to put our hope, our trust, and our fears in His capable hands, knowing that He is faithful.

And Now For More Big News....

     We are also so excited to announce that we have decided to name our little boy William Noah Mulder. We will be calling him Noah. The name William is very special to both Josh and I. It is a name that has been passed down in his family for many generations. In fact, for those of you who do not know, Josh's first name is William. We know that it is very special that we can pass on this name to our son. So it is with great honor that we will be giving our little boy the name William.

     The name Noah has been on my heart since the very beginning of this pregnancy. Something that I have not shared openly is that I truly believe that God told me we were going to have a boy. Even before I found out that I was pregnant, I was sitting one evening at Bible Study, and this thought suddenly popped into my mind. It was very clear to me in that moment, "You are pregnant, and you will be having a boy". Now at the time, I wondered if it was my own selfishness just wanting so desperately to be pregnant, after all, when we want something badly we can often trick our minds and hearts into thinking whatever it is we would like to hear. But that night, when I got home, I happened to turn to the story of Noah in my Bible. It is a story that has been so close to my heart during the past year, as we walked down our journey with Caroline. In this story, we hear of a man who trusted in God. In the midst of so much sin and wickedness in the world, the Lord found favor with Noah. The Bible says that "Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of that time" and then my favorite part..."and he walked with God." Even though I am sure Noah was tempted, and he was discouraged by all of the wickedness that was going on around him, he continued to stay close to God. Then God decided to put an end to the corruption that was happening on the earth, and He was going to destroy the people. Yet the Lord found favor with Noah, and amidst what I am sure was the most difficult time of Noah's life, he obeyed God. Noah trusted in God that it was not crazy to build a huge boat, and he lived on that boat with just his family, and the animals for many days and nights. It probably felt like forever to Noah at times. I am sure it was scary, uncomfortable, and discouraging on that boat as the storm surged around them. I often wonder what thoughts went through Noah's head, as they had to trust in God for their very lives. But at the end of the story, when they were finally able to leave the boat and walk safely on the dry ground once again, God placed a beautiful rainbow in the sky as a covenant, a promise, to Noah and his family. What an amazing sight that rainbow must have been to weary Noah!

  Last year we went through our own storm. It was a rough and scary storm. There were times when we felt so trapped, almost as though we were stuck on a boat with no dry land in sight. Noah chose to follow God, and obeyed His commands, even though he did not know how it was all going to turn out in the end. The only thing he could do was trust that God was in control. As I read this story again that night, I was reminded of how God has led us through the storm. We were never in control of what was happening with our daughter, no matter how much we wanted to be. The only thing we could do was trust that God was in control. It was not easy, and it has taken so much time, but I feel like we are finally taking some of those first tiny steps on dry ground once again. Looming brightly ahead of us is the beautiful rainbow, God's promise to us. We know that no matter what happens, we can trust that God is never going to let us go. Even though there is great darkness and pain in the world, we can choose to walk close beside Him, just as Noah did. We are choosing to find our hope in the Lord, and we are completely trusting Him with the life our sweet little boy. As we cautiously take those first steps on dry ground, we are walking slowly towards the rainbow of hope that God has placed before us.

     Once I finished reading this story, I just knew that the name Noah was going to be perfect if we ever had a little boy. The name Noah holds such significance and meaning to us, and it is a perfect reminder of God's promises to us, His precious children. So every time I call my son by his name, Noah, not only do I think of that beautiful rainbow of hope, but I also thank God for the storm, and how He has safely guided us through, and continues to guide us each and every moment. I thank God for the joy that He brought to us in midst of the storm, through our beautiful daughter Caroline Joy. I thank God that Caroline now has a little brother, who brings hope into our lives. I thank God for the promise of a rainbow!

     So Caroline's little brother will be named William Noah, two very special names to us. Whenever we look at him in the future, we will forever remember God's faithfulness to us.

On the same night, we were having an open house at our house. The past four weeks we have been working almost nonstop on getting our house ready to be put up for sale. It was the first night of people being able to view our house, it has only been listed since Friday night. We got a phone call shortly after the balloons popped, letting us know that we had an amazing offer on our house! We are so excited to say that we signed the offer acceptance papers at 9:30 Monday night, and are now in the process of getting that SOLD sign up soon! It was such a huge day for us. At the end of the night I was completely speechless. God is so good!