Our New Granddaughter and Extended Time in Bangladesh

 We are so excited that our granddaughter, Emma Grace Miller, was born two days ago, on April 15. She was so impatient to meet everyone that she came early. She was born at 28 weeks and 4 days and weighed in at 1.19 pounds and 11.5" long and is superseding everything the doctors could hope for!  

Baby Emma Grace with Caitlin's hand.

Emma never had to be intubated, but was just on an oxygen-rich CPAP machine. She is breathing so well that she has now been moved to having "room air" which is just the regular oxygen mix that each of us breath in a regular room! She has been taking some of Mamma's breast milk in her mouth on the end of a Q-tip! We are so thankful for how God is growing and developing this little baby!

Caitlin feeding Emma with a Q-tip.

Nate and Caitlin are such great parents. Caitlin is recovering well from her C-section. The hospital there in Colorado Springs is wonderful. Emma is in a private room with a bed for Nate and Caitlin in the room! Nate has stayed with her since she was born and Caitlin will move over once she is recovered well enough from her C-section and is released from the other side of the hospital, but she is able to be wheeled over every day to spend time with Emma.

Nate and Caitlin with Emma Grace!

In other news, Jim and I are still in Bangladesh! Our flight was cancelled 27 hours before we were to fly out on April 15, due to Covid and the graciousness of our Heavenly Father! Although we were scrambling and changing all kinds of plans, I now see what a blessing it is that we are here with Emily and Alpha while receiving all the news and updates about Emma Grace, instead of being in the air and in airports during the almost 2 days of travel it takes to get from here to the US! Plus, we get to spend more time with Noah!!! 

Although we are still working while being here in Bangladesh, it has been in the context of Noah getting his first tooth, starting to crawl, standing on his own for a short time, and taking his first steps!!!! How can a baby change so much in such a short time.

It has also been an incredible opportuning for hanging out with the guys in Alpha and Emily's band, as well as the young people who live on their compound. Jim has become the "Bible go-to Man" for every Bible related question! It's so fun to see him in theological conversations with the young people here. He also has become "Pastor Jim" to the church here and has preached 4 times, 2 at church and 2 during Alpha Studio's online "Worship Live".

Emily and me with the girls in our Sarees ready for church.

Eating and hanging out with the young people at the church.

Jim built a shelving unit for Emily and Alpha. Sorouv, one of the boys on the compound, worked with Jim on the unit, sanding, sealing, and varnishing. He is the one in the shelving unit. The others are Sinthia, holding Noah, and Joy.

The unit installed in Emily's laundry area. It adds a whole lot of much needed storage space!

We look forward to eventually resuming our travel plans, hopefully within the next week, but since things seem to change every day, we are thankful to hang out here with family!

Prayer Points:

• Pray for continued growth and health of Emma Grace. If you want to keep up on updates, you can go to her CaringBridge site where we will post the most up-to-date information. 
• Pray for Caitlin's recovery and for her and Nate as they stay with Emma Grace in the hospital until, most likely, the first part of July.
• Pray that we will be able to start traveling, and that we will stay safe, healthy and Covid-free!
• Pray for JV Germany as we continue to minister from afar during these next 11 months!