The Best Day Ever!!!!

Wednesday 9/10/08 as I was meeting with a leaders at the house of prayer discussing his vision for the Orphan Justice Center, my phone rang at 9:50am. I looked at the screen and it said "Danielle". My heart stopped as I answered to hear her voice on the other end. She asked how I was and I said good and then she said that she had "good news" for us. She said that she was being induced on 9/11 at 7:30am. My heart stopped and I shouted really loudly in the coffee shop "Oh my gosh!!!!!" I ended my meeting and ran to find Steven. I found him just as he was going on stage to play the 10 am. I let Danny tell him the news, not realizing till later that he had no idea what "induced" meant. Later that day he was asking what was going on and I told him and then it all clicked.

So like a mad women as soon as I heard from Danny I was in fast mode trying to get everything ready. I ran to Wal-Mart to get some things, went to Jane's house to turn in a check and then went to the bank. I went home and started cleaning like a mad woman. I was on a mission because tomorrow I was going to get my baby. I was flooded with emotions and couldn't exactly know which one to pick. I worked hard till 3pm and then went to work. At work I worked even harder making sure that everything was done for the next few weeks. It was a mad house and it seemed like everyone needed me. I stocked and got labs ready enough for a couple of weeks made out list and tried my best to leave the place in order. I ended up leaving at around midnight. I got home and finished getting stuff together and then went to bed around 1pm. I was exhausted yet I couldn't sleep a wink. I fell asleep around 2pm.

4am came very early on 9/11, as I needed to get up a little earlier than Steven to complete somethings before we left at 5am for Kansas. At 5:15 am I was still putting things in the car and saying good bye to Dakota our German shepherd. We left at 5:30am and I was nervous that this would put us late seeing as it was going to be a 4 1/2 hour trip to Lyons. I started out driving because I was pumped and nervous all at the same time. Those two emotions lead to a very alert state for about 2 hours then I crashed. I woke Steven up and he drove the rest of the way. We hit all our exits and arrived in the city limits of Lyons Kansas. It is a small town, mostly a farming community with a main street and a grand avenue. General store and feed coop were the main attractions and then there was their little county grocery store. We followed our directions but as we were making our way through the city we noticed that most of the streets were not marks. It was about 9:50am and I was feeling this tug in my gut telling us that time was of the essence. My nerves kicked in when we ended up on a road with nothing but fields on the side of us and entering another county. Whoops!!! We missed something. We turned around and I dial Danny's number to get better directions. Tobi her boyfriend answered and told me that he didn't know how to get to the hospital and that he was in Hutchinson watching Danny's daughter. Crap!!!! He gave me Danny's mom's cell and I dialed as soon as I hung up with Tobi. Jewels answered the phone and I told her that "I am sorry that we're late, we are lost". Her voice was fluttering as she said "I cannot talk now, Danny is ready to push, stop somewhere and ask for help". For those who know me well you can only imagine what I said after that. Needless to say we booked it back into the town and stopped at the nearest place. That happened to be one of our favorite small town delights, Dairy Queen. There was an employee smoking out by the dumpster so we swerved in to ask her help. I rolled down my window and with my panicked voice said "please we have to get to the hospital quick where is it?" She gave us simple country directions "turn left after the Alco store and then go a bit and take the next left". So we peeled out and found the Alco store and hung a left. I am sweating bullets by this point and I can feel the clock ticking. I didn't want to miss the birth and I sure didn't want them to say "where should we take her?" Well we were on the right road because we saw the the blue "H" sign for the hospital but then we hit dirt. Yes my friends we hit a dirt road and fields again as far as you could see in front of us. I started to panic and cry. We backed up and saw an unmarked street and took the chance to see if maybe it would lead to the hospital. As we drove up to this construction sight Steven said lets pull in and ask them where it might be. I looked at the small sign on the door and it said "Rice County District 1 hospital" I thought this better be it. I ran in and it was so tiny. A nurse stopped me and I didn't know what to say. I just said " my friend is having a baby and we are...." She told me that she knew who we were and for us to wait in the waiting room and she would go get the nurse. Oh the relief but so much anxiety still. Had we missed it? The nurse came out and told us that Danny was glad that were made it and that the doctor was on the way and it wouldn't be long. Danny had decided just to have her family in the delivery room so they showed us to another room to wait. We walked in and sat on the bed. It was a really small room but was clean and nice with a large window that came in handy later in the day. We were really nor sure what to do or what the staff thought of us or how to feel. We were giddy, tired, nervous and all of the above. I was passing and praying and Steven sat in the leather chair staring out the window praying quietly. We got to the hospital at 10:20am and at 11:00am another nurse came into our room with a huge smile and said "would you like to meet your daughter?" You cannot even imagine my heart at that point. After all these months and troubles and hoping and praying here we were walking down the hall to meet this little one who we are so in love with. As we walked into the labor and delivery Danny's mom was outside the door with tears in her eyes and said "she is beautiful." They led us into another room and then followed our little bundle of joy all wrapped in blankets. They handed her to me and when I looked at her face I just melted into a bawling mess. She was beautiful and perfect and she was here. Steven was huddled over me and we stroked her face. Danny's moms stood at the door watching us love on her. Jewels leaned in and said "take care of her" and they went back into Danny. We were in heaven with this perfectly healthy angel sitting in our lap. We loved on her and took this picture.

Meet Shiloh Abigail Cooper

Born 9/11/08 at 10:52am

6lbs 10 oz, 18 in long

Isn't she beautiful! Shiloh is Hebrew and means peaceful one, His gift, one who is sent. It is a prophetic name for Jesus and is also a very important place where Israel held the Ark of the Covenant. Abigail is Hebrew and means my father's joy, or my father is joyful. So her name means His gift is my Father's joy.

I will let you stare at her picture for a little while and then I will write about the rest of Shiloh's first day ever.