Our Sunshine

(picture above compliments of Jessica Epp photography) :)

Meet Clara Bailey DelGrosso. 6 lbs. 6 oz, 19 inches long at birth. We may be having some awfully cloudy and dark days here in Portland, but she is all the sunshine we need and is truly lighting up our lives.
We have been so blessed. She has been completely healthy and happy. Now that she's here, I can't imagine my life without her. GOD IS SO GOOD!
Her birth was so amazing. Maybe someday I'll sit down and write out the birth from my perspective. Brandon is currently writing it out from his. It was the most amazing experience.
Right now we are trying to rest as much as possible and just enjoy her day by day. I probably won't be here for a while (except for the occasional brag pictures :) )
Here are some to get started. enjoy!






"The Lord your God is in your midst,
a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing..."
Zephaniah 3:17

More Pictures

i heart this picture. makes me happy.

everyone posing at Haystack Rock

even Clara got her pic taken in front of Haystack

the girls :) me and Amber

DelGrosso Brothers (and sister-in-law) Visit

Last weekend (wow, was it ONLY a week ago that all this happened??) all 3 of Brandon's brothers and our sister-in-law flew out here to come celebrate with Brandon for his Multnomah graduation and for a little vacay. It was so fun to have them all here together and to spend some time catching up.
Yay for the SECOND graduation :)

no, they don't look alike, yes, we're sure they're all brothers :) from left to right: Aaron, B, Brian, and Andy

On Saturday we all decided to make a trip out to the coast and enjoy the sites. We drove out to Cannon Beach and then up the coast to Astoria before crossing into Washington and heading back to Portland along the Columbia River. It was a beautiful day and perfect for sightseeing.

.....and for some reason blogger won't let me add any more pics to this post....I'll try again later :)

the weeks are flying by!

I feel like life is flying by at warp speed right now. I thought the last few weeks of pregnancy were supposed to go slow?! well, that just doesn't seem to be the case :)

I am definitely and thoroughly enjoying my relaxing days right now. This is the first time I haven't had a job in a loooooong time so it was super hard to adjust to (slowing is not my specialty), but now I'm really enjoying it. yesterday I just went and sat at the park, in the sun, and read a book. it was marvelous! and as of Friday, I was officially 37 weeks (technically full-term). It is so insane to think that our baby will be here in *about* 3 weeks. we are so excited to meet her and see what she looks like! Hopefully we'll get out today (IN THE SUN!!!) and take some better pics of my belly before it disappears.

and I really am enjoying my last weeks of carrying this baby inside of me. it's such a miracle and I feel so blessed. and I really enjoy watching/listening to Brandon read to my belly. I can't wait to see him with her :)

and Brandon graduates from Multnomah on Friday!! woot woot! his brothers and sister-in-law are flying in on Thursday to celebrate this one with us. it will be so much fun to have them all out here at one time--the first time for a couple of them. hopefully I'll be good and take lots of pictures.

Also, if you think about it, please pray for Brandon as he continues his search for a job for the fall. we know God has a plan and will continue to take care of us. Brandon has worked so hard to get to this point and we're just praying that an awesome teaching job will come up in the Denver area. Thanks!

Woodburn Tulip Festival

I had heard this festival advertised several weeks ago and wanted to see what it was all about. We decided that it would be a great thing to take Kathi and George to while they were in town for graduation. George loves taking pictures of flowers so we thought they would really enjoy it.
There were ACRES and ACRES of tulips! it was much more massive than i had imagined and so so beautiful. i'm so glad we decided to go and see it.







my toenails matched these purple ones perfectly!!



oh friends, how i wish all of you could come here and enjoy our last few months in this gorgeous city/state!

Brandon DelGrosso MA

Well, finally here are some pictures from last weekend when Brandon graduated from Western!

On the Friday night before graduation, they have a really nice banquet that all the graduates/spouses and visiting relatives may attend. It was a good kick-off to celebrating this huge milestone.
God is so good. He has always been faithful to us and it has been especially evident in the area of Brandon's schooling. God has really gifted Brandon in so many areas and it makes me so happy to see him finally stepping into some of the new roles that he will have!

Here's Brandon chatting with 2 of his good friends, John and Steve, before graduation on Saturday.

receiving his diploma from Marc--his professor for all of his church history course work. OH! and I don't want to forget to mention that Brandon won the church history award for his graduating class!! see, he really is a rock star.

praying over the graduates

so happy he's done!

This is Ken and Joy. They have each mentored us individually since about 6 months after being here. They have also kind of adopted us into their family for holidays and such since we don't have any family around here. It has been so nice to get to know all of their family and to share Thanksgivings and Easters with them.


And it was so special to have Kathi and George here with us to celebrate as well!