What a joy...

We are now the proud parents of a new baby girl - Annelise Merri Henderson! Born 6/11/09 at 2:23 PM - 7lbs 10oz - 19.5in - she is a wonderful blessing in our lives already! God was gracious to us throughout this entire day and He has richly blessed us with a wonderful daughter. Both mom and baby are doing well and seem to be recovering superbly from the day. Annelise has eaten a few times already and is taking quickly to the process - following no doubt in the footsteps of her big brother who truly loves to eat!

Nicole handled the events of the day like with beauty and grace and is presently resting here beside me. Our initial assesment of Annelise is that she is probably going to have some spunk - when she was first born she was quite literally jumping around and kicking her feet wildly. The doctors jokingly commented that we had a dancer on our hands! This no doubt spoke to Nicole's soul with her love of dance.

Caleb spent most of the day with his Mimi and Grandaddy but did come visit his new sister. When I first got off the elevator to visit with family while holding Annelise in my arms I got down to Caleb's level and introduced him to his new sister (crying sister).... He looked her over for a few seconds and point blank asked me - "Daddy - what is wrong with her - what is she mad at?" - we all got a kick out of his response. In another moment of humor I asked Caleb who's birthday it was today to which he exclaimed - "Aunt Pam's!" - The answer we were looking for of course was baby sister but his response did get a chuckle - because in truth it is her birthday. Caleb seems to be doing great with the new family adition and we know he is going to be a wonderful big brother!

Here are a few photos of the day and there are more here. Thank you all for your prayers, calls, visits and texts. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends to do life with! We love you all and look forward to introducing you to our newest family member.

Austin & Nicole