Let's Move a Mountain

****UPDATE****

Click here to see PHOTOS OF STELLAN :)

From her Twitter (a little before 3pm):

Prince Charming and I JUST got back from seeing Stellan...it was my first time to see and hold my baby!! Pure bliss.

This is directly pulled from her website:

Big Mac, MckNugget and Small Fry joyfully announce that they now have another brother!!

Our long-awaited little MckMuffin has finally arrived...

Stellan

entered the world this sunny fall morning

at 10:19 am, CST

weighing 6 pounds, 10 ounces

and measuring 19 inches long

As you can imagine, there is a lot going on here at the hospital. Please thank God with us that little Stlellan is here and be in prayer for these first hours of his precious life. 

The NICU attended the birth--which went very smoothly--and Stellan is with the NICU team now. MckMama is recovering and, in spite of a pretty low blood pressure, is feeling well. She has seen Stellan only briefly, but Prince Charming has been back and forth between her and baby Stellan. When she is stable, she'll be wheeled on her bed down to see their new baby.

Details on exactly how Stellan is doing as well as photos of the sweet baby will be forthcoming. But, let's just say that Stellan got a 9 and a 9 on his APGARS and the NICU team has yet to find a single thing wrong with him...

Happy birthday, sweet Stellan. You are God's miracle to us and you are finally here!!!!

******

My original post today:

I love the story about the guy who worked hard all of his life but was tired of being poor. So he prayed diligently every day for years and years that he would win the lottery, and every time the weekly lottery was announced he was sorely disappointed. Finally one night in prayer he cried out, "God, I have been so faithful and worked so hard... why can't you just do this one thing for me?" Finally God spoke to him and said, "I'd love to help you out, but first you have to buy the ticket."

I think life is a delicate balance of trusting in our faith and belief, and taking action to help ourselves. One can't exist without the other, but each must be done with careful prayer and consideration. As another saying goes, "God said we could move mountains. But He never said we wouldn't need a shovel."

I have come to know a woman who embodies that balance. I told you all about her when I listed my seven favorite blogs last week and MckMama's was one of them:

MckMama: My Charming Kids
     Even though we've emailed back and forth I just now realized I only know her by MckMama. On her blog she gave the family McDonald-esque names, so she has a 3-year-old named Big Mac, a 2-year-old named MckNugget, and a 1-year-old named Small Fry. The newest edition to the family will be born next week and we know his real name... Stellan. He has health conditions they have been concerned about, early on saying he wouldn't make it to birth - but here he is. She is faithful, insightful, a great photographer and really ridiculously funny.

Stellan (soon to be known as MckMuffin) is going to be born this morning at 9:30am and I would consider it a personal favor if you could all stop at some point in the day and pray for him and his mom. Throughout the pregnancy Stellan has been diagnosed with multiple problems. At 23 weeks they were told that Stellan's death was imminent. But he's been stronger than they thought. MckMama has done everything medically possible to help her boy, at times taking medications for his heart that puts her own health in danger. She has taken her shovel and done everything in her power to move the mountain that has been put before her family, and has trusted God every step of the way to give her the strength to lift each mound of dirt.

So today, Stellan will be born. As soon as he is, he will go through many tests to determine what will be done for his enlarged heart and MckMama has all the faith in the world that things will go as they are supposed to. And I think it would be great if we could all put our faith behind her, too. Today we can send her all our prayers and strength and help her move a mountain.

Thanks for doing this for me, people. It's lovely to have such a great group of friends to go to when it counts. :)