What a precious gift it was to bring our little Israel home! I [Sarah] was so overwhelmed by bringing our son into our house, that I cried and hugged my mom. :) What a joy it was also to introduce our Izzy (Israel’s nickname) to his cousins Savannah and Caleb! We’ve been home for almost 2 weeks now. Israel is doing GREAT. He’s already gained back his birth weight plus some. He’s sleeping and nursing well. His mom and dad are blessed beyond measure!!!

Savannah and Caleb meet their new cousin! It is so sweet watching them with our new little guy. Savannah loves him SO much and is so tender and gentle with him. She says that he wants to play. :)

Cousin Caleb giving Baby Izzy a snuggle :)

Sweet Israel pointing to his favorite PawPaw :) …

Our little man :)

Greg and Israel! Izzy is wearing his first camo outfit that Uncle Chris and Aunt Catherine got him! The moosehead slippers came from cousin Britney and Mike! Cute stuff!!!!! :)

Israel’s Nana (my mom) has been staying with us – she’ll be with us for a total of about a 2 and a half weeks. Greg and I are praising the Lord for her love and sacrifice in ministering to our new little family! She has cooked and cleaned and advised and let me take naps and been ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!! Love you, Momma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our sleeping Israel. He is bring such delight to our home! Praise the Lord for such a precious gift!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We love you, Israel Jude!

Today marks our precious Israel Jude’s one week birthday! We are overwhelmed by the goodness and blessing of our Lord. Our first week of being parents has been nothing sort of miraculous. We’ve drawn closer to each other, closer to our Lord, and are LOVING being a united family of THREE.

Here are pictures of Israel’s first week. He is simply the sweetest, most handsome, perfect little boy in the world! We are wealthy beyond words!!!

Just born! Israel Jude arrived on March 11, 2010 (his due date!!) weighing 8lbs 14oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. After a long and difficult labor which lasted about 16 or so hours from the time my water broke, the doctor knew that a c-section was our only option to deliver our little son. God gave us the grace to lay our plans at His feet. And we were delighted to welcome little Israel!!!!! His daddy was there for the operation and was/is the proudest Pappa in the world!!! Greg was AMAZING throughout the whole day of laboring and delivering our little “Izzy”. He supported me and loved me and comforted in ways that no girl deserves or could ever hope for! I love you, Greg Mandreger!

Can you see the GLOW in Greg’s eyes???? I love my husband SO MUCH!!! I love MY BOYS!!!

…Not exactly the most flattering picture of me [Sarah] ever taken. But TO ME, it is perfect – me and my two “dreams-comes-true”.

Momma and Israel Jude. You may have heard people say that motherhood is AMAZING and MIRACULOUS. Don’t believe them! It’s BETTER THAN THAT. Sometimes, I hold Israel or think of Israel and just cry. It’s THAT GOOD.

Israel LOVES his Nana and Pawpaw :) And they are SMITTEN with him! :)

Israel Jude and his Daddy. FYI: In my humble opinion, Greg is a WONDERFUL, PERFECT daddy!

Israel Jude and his Uncle Chris! They are gonna have LOTS and HEAPS of fun together in the years to come!

Israel with his beautiful and wonderful Aunt Catherine! Catherine was such an encouragement to me as I labored! I praise the Lord for the gift of my sister!

Uncle Chris was SO kind to give Daddy lessons in diapering and swaddling! :)

Uncle Steve and Aunt Susie came to meet their new nephew! :) They are smitten with him too :) :) :)

COUSINS!!!! Sierra, Kimmie, Nicole and Gabe, and Zak came for a visit to meet the newest member of the Mandreger family! Love you guys! :)

Daddy, Momma, Baby Israel, Cousin Josh, and sweet Rachel Shaw! :)

Isn’t he SWEET!!!!???? Greg and I love him more than we could ever begin to express!!! Such a gift……

Momma and Israel – getting ready to head home from the hospital!!! :) YAY!!!

FAMILY.

“Blessed be the LORD God,

THE GOD OF ISRAEL,

Who only doeth wondrous things.”

Psalm 72:18

And there are some pictures of our new family. We are blessed beyond measure and give all the glory to God alone. Thank you, Lord, for our child – an unspeakable gift. And thank you, Lord, for Your SON. THERE IS NONE LIKE UNTO OUR GOD!

Now OFFICIALLY announcing the arrival of

Israel Jude Mandreger!

8lbs 14ozs of handsome, healthy baby boy blessed his mom and dad by arriving on his due date, March 11!

Mom and Israel are home from the hospital and resting – both are doing great!!!! Welcome Little One!!!!

Hi y’all!! Welcome to the first official post on our newly renamed, redesigned website!!

Thanks to our good friend, Josh (www.joshloveskristin.com), Greg and I now have a site where together we can post for family, friends, the world – and for just the fun of it!

For those who were already visiting www.alwaysperky.com, you know that it has been entirely too long since I [Sarah] have posted an update! Very sad, I know :( And then here, I was feeling like in order to start posting again, I needed to play catch-up – and was entirely overwhelming – SO MUCH HAS HAPPENED!!! So, I finally decided to JUST POST and get this ball rolling! :) YAY!!!!!!!

I hope you all come to visit Greg and I here at our site often! We love company!

Blessings to ya!

Sarah (for the both of us) :)

Sarah Mandreger is HOME from an AWESOME 3-week Colorado honeymoon! Getting settled into a temporary apartment while our house is being remodeled! And loving my SWEET and thoughtful husband! No internet at the apartment so I’m running a tad behind on updating! Love Y’ALL!!!! :)

Isn’t Jesus our Lord WONDERFUL!!!!????