Friends,
I know that our pregnancy announcement has surprised (and
excited) many of you and given lots of questions, so I will do my best to
answer them all!
Q: Is Baby Chari a
boy or a girl?
A: Baby is one of those! God and our doctor know which one,
but we have decided to wait until we are in the delivery room to find out. Those of you who know us can guess who made
this decision (hint, hint: it was not the impatient mommy!) Nyasha really wants to experience this
surprise and I want to give that to him—but I won’t lie, at every doctor
appointment I pray that someone will slip and say “he or she” hahahaha
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| Your guess is as good as ours. I think Baby is a boy, but we will know soon enough! |
Q: Will we remain in
Zimbabwe on the mission field with the baby?
A: Absolutely. I was
certain of my call to Zimbabwe before I met Nyasha, long before we married and
even more so now that we are serving God together. I was worried about how this would work out
in terms of my ability to serve, but when the people I work with learned of my
pregnancy they were thrilled and feel that this experience just continues to
validate my voice in the context in which I work. I, like many women in Zimbabwe will strap
baby to my back and get on with my work… I am sure that our caregiver training
groups will be more exciting with a real baby as opposed to a therapy doll! I
anticipate that they will also be slightly noisier as well! (Baby wearing mamas I’d love your opinions on
wraps and carriers!)
Q: How does Ru feel about being a big sister?
A: This was our biggest concern regarding the early timing
of this baby; however I have to say that I was surprised at how excited she has
been! Nyasha’s brother and sister in law
had their third baby last December and Ru was enchanted by Tina from the
beginning. She loves having a baby
cousin and at that point instructed us that “We could have a baby anytime” but
that she would prefer twins! We knew
that our baby would be a slightly different story and that there would be lots
of emotions… and there have been. She is
so excited—and our doctor has been so great with her! He let her come into one
appointment and see the baby on the ultrasound.
Her face lit up when she heard the heartbeat and she couldn’t take her
eyes off the screen. The baby didn’t
disappoint, he or she turned its little head and looked straight ahead and
scratched its head! Ru was amazed and the doctor printed a picture that she has
been carrying around ever since! She is convinced that baby is a little girl
and she has already begun creating a duty roster that will allow her to hold
the baby the most. But she told us not
to worry, that we will be able to hold Lucy (the dog who thinks she is a
baby!)
This does not mean that this transition will be easy. We know that there are moments where she
wonders about her history, the time she was in the womb and most importantly
her birth mother. We know that seeing
this baby have experiences that she did not have will bring up more that we
need to work on, but she also knows that we are in this together. This little girl has our whole hearts and
she knows that we are not afraid of the ways in which these transitions stretch us as a
family.
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| This was Ru when she found out she was going to be a big sister. The preciousness in this photo is just too much. |
Q: Will the baby be a citizen of the USA?
A: Yes. Thank you for
being concerned about these details! The
baby will be a citizen of the USA based on my citizenship. At this time dual citizenship is not allowed
between the USA and Zimbabwe, so we have to choose one. For many reasons, we have made the choice for
baby to be a US citizen.
Q: Will we have baby
in Zimbabwe or the USA?
A: This is another
million dollar question. Although there
are reasons that we would choose to have the baby in both places (mainly because
we have so many people we love in both places) we have decided that if all goes
according to plan, baby will be born early February in Michigan. My family is there and they have so
graciously allowed us to experience so much that they missed out on (including
our wedding) that we really want to be able to be with them when baby is
born.
At this point it looks like I will travel over at the end of
November. I will spend Thanksgiving in
California (my first American Thanksgiving in 10 years!!!!!!!) And Nyasha will
travel over at Christmas time (his first American Christmas EVER!!!) Nyasha will stay with us until he needs to
get back to work and as soon as the doctors say we are good to go, baby and I
will head back to Zimbabwe.
Q: What do we need/how can you help?
A: I am completely overwhelmed by the idea of creating a
list of necessary baby things! It’s madness!
However I do know that there are some things that we need to borrow and
some that we need to bring back with us.
Here is what we know we need so far:
- A place to stay in Michigan (preferably a house-sitting gig for some snow-birds for Jan and Feb)
- A car to borrow in Michigan (Anytime from early December on)
- Maternity clothes (for winter, Michigan is COLD!!)
- Various baby stuff…. This will be a post for another day!
- Flights (if anyone has any air miles that they would like to share with us, we would appreciate it!)
Q: How can we pray for you?
A: This has been a tough
pregnancy. I have been quite ill,
catching pretty much anything that comes my way—from stomach bugs to
conjunctivitis! Please just pray that baby and I will remain healthy and that
our travel is uneventful! Pray for peace for Nyasha as he prepares to take time
off to be with us in the USA when the baby comes. Please pray that Ru continues to be excited
as she is promoted to Big Sister and that she openly explore all of her
emotions during this time. Pray that God
continue to provide for all of our needs, as He most certainly has so far! Our big prayer is that this transition of
welcoming a new baby home is as enjoyable as our transition into marriage was,
we have laughed and connected so well and we hope this continues as we add a new
transition to our list of life experiences.
We appreciate your prayers and love so very much!
