Finding out who this little one is... Part 1

Here is the latest picture of Baby H...

I couldn't believe that you could get such a perfect little profile shot of this tiny person who is only about 4 inches from head to rump... God's handiwork is truly amazing!

We have never known the sex of any of our babies before the day that they were born...

Greg always wanted to find out, but I didn't... I guess since I was the one carrying the babies... I won:)

This time around we are going to do it a little differently...I want to explain why that is the case, but first I want to give you a little back ground...

I want to post a copy of the article Greg wrote for our church's newsletter from November 2008...

The crazy thing about our old church newsletters is that they were written in the month prior so that they could arrive at people's homes by the beginning of the month...

What is below is what came to all of our church member's homes on October 29th 2008... the exact day that I realized the baby wasn't moving and we found out he was a boy and that he was already experiencing the glories of Heaven with his creator... I of course didn't see it until I came home from the hospital the next day.

This will give you a bit of background on how we normally did things when our little ones arrived...

NAMING RIGHTS

As of this printing, we are awaiting the arrival of our fifth child. We actually don't know whether the baby will be a boy or a girl because Sara wants it to be a surprise. I would rather know. So we made a compromise... we'll do what we did with the other four. We will wait and see who the baby is when he or she is birthed.

In case you didn't follow that, there really is no compromise:) Even though it is the same disagreement as before, I find myself getting excited because our family tradition that we have continues. When the baby is born, I get to announce who is coming into the world. I still even remember the day my oldest son was born. I excitedly shouted out, "It's Louis! It's Louis!" It was the first time we knew who he was. And it was the same for the other children as well. We made huge deals over naming our children_ we gathered names and made lists, took polls, read books on meanings of names and did then other different things.

Well, just when I think that I have the naming rights for the kids, I am humbly reminded of Who really has the naming rights. God has the rights! God knows who you are. David declares the awesome power of God in making you His precious creation. "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. Psalm 139:13-16

So be encouraged that God has created you and calls you His own. He knows your name:)

HE KNOWS YOUR NAME

I have a maker

He formed my heart

Before even time began

my life was in His hands.

He knows my name

He knows my every thought

He sees each tear that falls

And hears me when I call

I have a father

He calls me His own

He'll never leave me

No matter where I roam

He knows Your name

He knows your every thought

He sees all those tears that fall

And He'll hear you when you call.

I am still struck by the irony of that coming out the exact day that we knew Samuel would never breathe a breath on this earth in our arms. God knew the number of his days here on this earth and they had already come to pass.

We had that same song, He Knows My Name, at Samuel's memorial service just 5 days after the newsletter arrived at our house. I have always loved that song... now when I hear it... it evokes some strong emotions... still...

So that was the previous routine... things are different now... we are different, and we think about many things quite differently... So in my next post I will explain more why we are doing it differently this time around and why we are finding out as much as we can about this precious little one that is growing inside of me. :)