Sometimes you never know who your blog is reaching, but today I realized what an impact it was making right here in my own family. As many of you know, my Nana recently gave Kristin and I a car. We felt as though this gift could never be out-given, but apparently we underestimated the generosity of Arthelene Rippy. Today we received a package that contained the greatest gift we have received for quite sometime. It was a pre-release for Alive: Music & Dance the new John Tesh CD/DVD combo. This musical adventure includes some of Tesh’s greatest hits with hip-hop dancing and a Tesh-tastic stage performance.

Nana, I truly don’t know where your generosity ends. I would also like to let all of my readers know that I am considering honoring Nana with a special installment of Sacred vs. Secular entitled, “Arthelene Rippy vs. Martha Stewart”.

My family was in town this weekend for a friend’s wedding. My mom, grandparents, sister and 8 week old nephew, Andrew all stayed with us at the Rippyplex (that’s what Kristin and I call our Duplex). We were so excited to find out Ashley and Andrew were coming…Through a breakdown in communication, we didn’t find out they were coming until about an hour before they arrived. It was quite the great surprise.

This has been quite the exciting day. To recap, my sister announced that she was pregnant on Christmas Eve. Her and her husband, Bobby, had been keeping the news a secret since Thanksgiving. They also decided to keep the baby’s sex and name a secret..Even they did not find out that it was boy until today! All of this added to the excitement and anticipation of the baby’s birth. My mom just sent me some more pictures of the baby. Here’s a picture of Ashley and I talking on the phone. Apparently in the midst of labor Ashley asked Bobby to get me on the phone so that I could talk her through everything…Or maybe this is from when I called her about two hours before the birth…I can’t remember, it’s been a long day for me.

And here’s a picture of Ashley and Bobby with the baby.

And finally, here’s a picture of Andrew looking into what he probably assumes is the face of his grandmother, but it’s actually a camera lens.

Here’s a new photo Zack sent me from his cell phone.  Also, I just found out that Andrew weighs 6 lbs. 10 oz. and is  20 in. long.

Kristin and I have a new nephew! Andrew Robert Ryals was born today at around 1:30pm (central). Mother and baby are doing great.

* Better pictures coming soon!