it's a girl!

I've been dying over this news for the past few days, but now that all of our friends and family know we can finally announce it here (and everywhere else). I can't even begin to express how much joy it's brought me to share our big secret and have so many people celebrate with us! This little girl is so loved, and we couldn't be more thankful.

I hope you'll permit me to be a little mushy right now because, seriously. If you can't be sappy at a time like this, when can you be?

We had wanted a boy first since long before we got off birth control, but we were always okay with either, truth be told. It's just that Pierce and I grew up with big brothers and we wanted our little girl to have one, too. But God had other plans, which I've discovered over the last few years is usually the way things work out. Sitting in the See Baby office, looking at the sonogram, I think we both felt a little uncertain about what to expect and how we would react, besides being ridiculously impatient to find out, of course. I wasn't surprised our little baby turned out to be a girl because, despite our repeated declarations that we hoped for a boy, I felt inexplicably sure it would not be the case. Call it a mother's instinct ;). And spending time with my nieces, my friend's babies, and even just editing these photos made me well aware that, perhaps, I wanted a girl after all. I just didn't know it yet.

(side note: my little sister and I did this photo shoot a week in advance and shot both boy and girl photos because she would be out of town when we found out and we didn't want to wait until she got back...as I said before, we are terribly impatient!)

My husband's only uncertainty about having a girl came from his quote/unquote lack of knowledge about them (although, as his wife, I'd say he's pretty darn understanding) as well as the sudden, overwhelming fear that comes from dealing with the tough stuff later on, like mean girls and boys who want to get in her pants. I have to say I enjoyed listening to my husband ramble on about how he could never let her out of the house and how he needed to Google some of his questions and, perhaps, even ask Liam Neeson for a little bit of advice.

At one point during our celebratory dinner at Wahoo, I said, "Baby, what are you going to do when she's a teenager and she walks up to you and says, 'Daddy, can I...'" to which Pierce quickly interrupted me and said, "Yes, whatever you want!"

Oh, he's in trouble already.

And so am I.

I've written in the past about my love for the name Lucy. It comes from my little girl obsession with "I Love Lucy" and Lucille Ball. I have books, and DVDs, and dolls, and wall prints, and magnets, and playing cards, and all kinds of paraphernalia, mostly thanks to my friend Jillian who has snatched up all these items for me for various birthdays and holidays over the years.

And anyone who knows me well knows I love Lucy. And they know how special the name is to me because it was selected for our little girl long, long ago. It's just a name, I know. But God has used it so many times in my life to demonstrate His love - His sometimes silly, always unfailing love - for me.

When I went to Kenya in 2011, I met a little girl named Lucy. And she completely stole my heart. The best part is that it wasn't until after I'd spent days playing with her that I found out her real name. When I did, I felt what Beth Moore calls "the fullness of God...the love that surpasses all present and fragmentary knowledge through the intimacy of experience."

And I experienced this love again - this sweet reminder of just how much God knows our hearts - when I found out our little baby was a little Lucy.

I guess, sometimes, we get lucky and God's dreams for us turn out to be the same ones we have for ourselves.

We love you, Lucy. And we can't wait to meet you, sweet baby girl.