Tim's blog

Here are more pictures of Grand Daughter Caitlin, born Feb 9th in Thailand . . .

Kathy with Baby Caitlin, Abby (6) and Joseph (2)

Daddy Andrew with Abby and Caitlin

Mommy Sarah with baby at the hospital

What are the odds of a grand daughter being born on her Grand Dad's birthday?  What are the odds of it happening TWICE?  I don't know, but that's exactly what happened yesterday!  Little Caitlin Lydia made her appearance to Mom & Dad (Andrew & Sarah) on 9 February in Chiang Mia, Thailand weighing in at 7 pounds, 7 ounces!

Caitlin now joins big sister Abigail with a 9 February birthday, along with Grandpa Tim, making this date a bigger deal for the family!  Two year old Joseph now has a baby sister and a big sister - what a life Joe!

God's timing was once again PERFECT!  Kathy arrived in Thailand on January 28th to help Andrew and Sarah, hoping the baby would arrive on time - February 8th was the due date.  The 'on time delivery' gives her about 8 days (after the arrival of Caitlin), before returning here to Dublin.  This will give Sarah time to begin her recovery with the help of Grandma KD (our nickname for Kathy) with the other kids.  

Caitlin is our 5th grand child giving us three girls and two boys.  That will change in June, however, when our son Mark and wife Aubrey deliver their first child.  He will even things up with 3 boys and 3 girls - how cool is that!!

No pictures of the baby yet but proud pappa said 'she is gorgeous'!  I'm sure that is a very objective observation . . .   Thanks to all for praying for the family; please thank the Father of all life for His great blessing!  Whoa!  Andrew just emailed a first photo, so here it is with Abby holding the baby. 

Wow it's been a REALLY busy week!  The brief recap is:

1.  Kathy made it safely to Thailand last Friday after close to 24 hours of travel - she 'did good' in a very long internaltional travel agenda to end up in Chiang Mia.

2.  Our 5th grandchild, scheduled for an approximate 8th of February arrival, has not yet made his/her appearance.  We are praying he/she will be 'on time' as Kathy has to leave Thailand on the 17th and would obviously like to meet the new little one and help all she can in the first days of family adjustment.  Sarah is doing great but at that point of wanting to be holding the baby and not just 'carrying it'!

3.    Our second son Mark, and his wife Aubrey, are now expecting their first child in June!  They live in the Sacramento, CA area and just got the 'official confirmation' that it's A BOY!  They have already choosen a name:  Jack Henry Laughlin!

4.  Finally, our house move went very well thanks to the help of many friends.  A huge thanks to Jeff, Caroline, Ann, Rhianwen, Kate, Lori, and others for all the help with moving, cleaning and feeding us during the transition.  We are about 85% settled in and headed to our local Ikea store tomorrow for a few key items in order to get to 100%.

5.  We have met one new neighbor so far at our new house and had tea (dinner0 with an 'old' neighbor.  We are only a little over a mile from where we lived before so we are going to do all we can to keep and grow friendships already begun.  God is so good all the time!