Beth McClellan and Bethany Ann Bender. 

The McClellan family has cared for, loved, and welcomed Catherine and I to our life out here in Texas. They were my Texas family before Catherine and I married. And when Catherine came they welcomed her with a wedding shower to end all showers.  When we needed a car they let us borrow theirs. When we needed friendship they had us over for dinner. When we needed prayer, guidance, love, a place to rest, baby supplies or just a friendly face, the McClellans have always been one of the first in line to help. 

When we were choosing what to name our new baby we wanted a name with meaning. We struggled for months to find a name that idealized the character and love we hoped our child would grow up to exemplify. Then we thought of Beth McClellan. We could think of few people in our lives who have so beautifully shown us this kind of love and so we named her Bethany after Beth McClellan in the hopes that she may one day learn this same kind of love.

Mom and Dad Schivley came down for a week to meet Bethany and help out around the house. Dad ran the vacuum, washed the dishes, and kept us entertained. Mom organized some meals, changed diapers, and took care of Catherine. They were great help.

New baby girl!!! This is Bethany Ann Bender. She was born on June 3 at 8 lbs. 4 oz., 20.25 inches in length with blonde or strawberry blonde hair (not sure yet).

Catherine was up a bit the night before with some contractions but thought they were false labor pains. We had a doctor's appointment the next morning at 9:15 and while checking her out, the doctor said, "Your in labor! Go home, get your bags, and come back here. Your having a baby today."

Labor was a pretty quiet experience right up until the end. About hour before the birth the contractions got significantly more severe but Catherine said the pain was still tolerable (she did the whole thing without medications) but the last twenty minutes of labor the pain got serious. Thankfully, this part of labor only lasted about 15-20 minutes and then Bethany was born.