Tag Archives: pregnancy

Seeing the Boy [Surprised by Joe]

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Jen and I had an ultrasound appointment this week. The boy is growing nicely, and, as this is the one time in his life when he can kick and punch his mother with impunity, he is taking full advantage.

baby-rig-3

We did have a little scare on the ultrasound: a calcium buildup on his heart. But the testing of our faith produces perseverance, and God was gracious to us in multiple ways, not least of them the prayers of many. And, as best as the doctors can ascertain, everything is fine with the boy. Getting bigger and cuter every day.

You can read the details of the week over at my wife’s blog.

What Might Have Been… [Surprised by Joe]

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(Shout out to Roger Scharf)

I noted yesterday that Jenny and I were surprised when we discovered that we were having a boy. For a variety of reasons, we had been expecting to have a girl. In fact, we had already settled on a girl’s name, one that we both loved. (We haven’t settled on the boy’s name yet, and when we do, we’re planning to keep it as a secret until our son is born).

Some of you have been asking what our choice for a girl’s name was, so I thought I’d give you the opportunity to guess. It’s a rare biblical name that also carries contemporary relevance.

It can be found in Genesis 36. First one to guess it in the comments gets a gold star.

UPDATE: And the gold star goes to…

TJ!!

Oh, and we weren’t really going to name our daughter that. Are you crazy?

We’re Having A Little Riglet [Surprised by Joe]

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As I’m sure most readers of this blog are aware, my wife and I discovered this morning that we will be having a baby boy. Both of us were fairly surprised at this, as those around us had repeatedly insisted that we were having a girl. I, being the trusting type and neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, had begun to believe such prognostications. That’ll teach me. You can read my wife’s summary of the trip (with pictures) over at her blog.

In any event, our doctor’s appointment went very well and we are happy to report that our baby has all body parts present and accounted for (as far as they are able to tell at this stage) and therefore, we want to offer up a mighty round of thanksgiving to the Creator and Sustainer of life. We have no claim on our son’s life and we are happy to entrust him to the everlasting arms of our Heavenly Father.

In other news, the DG Pastor’s Conference ended this week. I thought it was fantastic. I particularly enjoyed Chandler’s talk and Dever’s third talk. I love hearing stories of gospel triumph. The conference did leave some questions unanswered for me so I hope to wrestle with some of those in the coming days.

Again, thank all of you who have been praying for our little Riglet (Pastor John coined that one). We ask that you continue to pray so that God’s answer to the prayers of many may result in praise and honor to him in the coming weeks and months.

For All the New and Expecting Fathers in the House [Stories with a Point]

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Once there were two robins who were married. We’ll call them Papa Bird and Mama Bird, for they had just received the happy news that chicks were on the way (Don’t ask me how they knew; they just did). Needless to say, they were both very excited, as this was their first time to have eggs of their own.

After the first few days, however, Papa Bird’s excitement turned to confusion as he began to notice some odd behavior around his house. At first it was small things: he would come home from worm-hunting and find that his favorite twig, the one he sat on every night, had been moved across the nest. Being a patient bird, he didn’t say anything, but just adapted to the new view.

But his confusion continued when, a few days later, his twig was again moved to a third part of the nest. And then a fourth. Having heard that this sort of thing was “normal” (if that’s the right word) in expectant females, he again kept his mouth shut.

Then one day he came home to discover that the red twine that held the inside of the nest together had been removed and discarded beneath the tree, along with the wallpaper and gum wrappers that had adorned the east side of the nest. Taking the twine in his beak, he flew to the nest to find out what the problem was. But before he could ask, he was greeted with a question from his wife.

“Could you fly down to the big parking lot and get me some new twine. Light green and yellow please. And pick up a couple of saplings on the way back?”

“What’s wrong with this twine?” Papa Bird said, motioning to his beak. “And do you mean the big parking lot that’s three miles down the road?”

“Yes, that’s the one. And nothing’s wrong with that twine.”

“If nothing’s wrong with it, why are we replacing it?”

“Because the green one is prettier. And it’s just time for a change.”

“Well if it’s time for a change, why can’t we just use some of the twine that we’ve stored in the hole over there?”

“It’s called basic sanitation. Do you really think I’m going to have that filthy and dirty old stuff anywhere near our new chicks?”

“But I don’t understand. You’ve been moving stuff around around in this place for weeks. It’s like a totally new nest. Why do you all of a sudden feel this need to rearrange everything?”

“For the same reason that you feel the need to get up, puff out your bright red chest, and sing the same song every morning.”