Easter Joy

Now that we knew little Hale was on the way, Easter had an extra special importance that year! Carly's good friend Kate Ebeler came to Boston for Easter, and they had such a blast! It was so much fun for Carly to share her good news with Kate! Carly and Matt had called Carly's dad on his birthday, and told her parents that they would be grandparents again! Look out AJ...there's another one on the way! Matt hadn't told his parents just yet, as he wanted to surprise them in a little bit more of a creative way. He sent them #1 Grandma and #1 Grandpa hats. It was fun.

Meanwhile...there are plenty more folks in Boston that needed to know the Hales' exciting news. We didn't know exactly how it was going to work out, but Matt and Carly decided to tell Sister Olga on friday before the service. I know it was a strange time, however we just really wanted to let her in on our secret. Sister screamed, and we just tried to play it cool, though everyone knew something was going on. We went through the service, which is always very hard and touching, but exciting as we know our Lord triumphed over the death on the cross for us!

There was a huge group congregating outside, including all of the brothers from the Brotherhood of Hope, at least the local ones, and somehow, word starting spreading like a wildfire through the crowd! Before you knew it, there was hugging, screaming, congratulations everywhere; it was awesome! We truly felt like we were celebrating with family!

Carly and Matt had an Easter feast planned for Sunday morning with a smaller group of friends. Of course Carly would spare no expense in cooking, and probably made enough food to feed twice as many people as were at the party. But isn't that the way Thomas parties end up? Carly was proud that she made her first Lamb cake, not as good as Aunt Laura's, but it was tasty! Carly's dad found a lamb cake mold and sent it to Boston for her! Of course there was green jello, jello eggs, and lots of candy! Of course we ate normal food too, but that's just not as important, right? A great time was had by all....even though they couldn't move by the end!

Just when we thought life had settled down....

So it was mid-March when Carly went to Kansas with the New Staff Training Leadership Team to have meetings and get things going for that summer's program. It was a great trip as she was able to spend time with the Cassidy's and the entire Benedictine College Team. The trip seemed to be going great, however Carly started to feel a little sick, and in shock that her morning cup of coffee so wonderfully brewed by Diana was not appealing at all. She quickly dismissed it, had a latte in the afternoon, and continued on with the trip as normal.

When she returned to Boston though, the sick feeling didn't really go away. Carly remembers talking to her mom on the phone and saying that she thought she picked up a bug from the Benedictine Team, as several of them were getting over a cold/flu bug. Again, Carly dismissed this sick feeling (as she hates getting sick) and remained in denial.

Well, one thing led to another, and after another week or two, Carly couldn't handle it any more! She and Matt talked and decided to take a pregnancy test. It was the only other possible explanation of why Carly was repulsed by coffee, was tired ALL the time, and just not feeling right. That Saturday morning, April 1st, at 6:30am, Carly sprung out of bed and took the test. While Matt continued sleeping in bed, Carly was agonizing over the thought that she would have to wait 10 minutes to know if it was true! Not so, as it changed almost immediately! Yep, it was a positive test! Carly was pregnant! This was so exciting and what Matt and Carly wanted most- a little one to share their love with! God is so good!

One problem though....Carly was about to head to the BU Women's retreat that day (women everywhere) ....and she and Matt had decided not to share their news with anyone just yet, keeping it to themselves for a little while. That was just not going to fly with Carly, so they agreed that they could tell one person their news. Stephanie, Carly's younger sister was on a retreat that weekend as well, so there was no getting in touch with her. Surrounded by women at the retreat, several to whom she just wanted to blurt out- "Guess what, I'm pregnant!"- but was unable. Finally, she decided to tell Joelle, of course also letting Miriam in on the secret. I know first hand that you can't tell one sister something and think it will actually stay there...not in a bad way of course, but sisters just don't do that to sisters! The girls of course were ecstatic! Carly was relieved that she was finally able to share this news that she was keeping inside of her! Matt of course told Nichlas Schaal, but would it be any other way?!?!

We were having a baby, and life would forever be different from that moment on.