Mrs. Wilkerson, that is. For the longest time when I would hear that title, I would look around, expecting to see my mother-in-law. When I got married at the tender age of 21 (22 the next month), the only time I expected to call myself "Mrs. Wilkerson" was when I signed our checks.

Well, times have changed. Small children, young children, teenagers, and even (gulp) young adults now call me Mrs. Wilkerson. Our pastor's two oldest children have graduated from high school and I so want to ask them to call me by my first name (No my first name ain't Baby- sorry, quick throwback to the 80s). But I know they won't.

And now, because of some changes in our lives, I am "Mrs. Wilkerson" from 8:00am to 2:30pm Monday-Friday, except on holidays and weekends! How's that? I am teaching school. Color me surprised when my husband encouraged me to think about the opportunity!! That's mostly because I had sworn off teaching (for pay) forever and ever amen due to time served in the public school system before I had children.

*Please do not flame me with pro-public school sentiments. This is not a debate over the rightness or wrongness of public schools. I just personally had a terrible experience which included violence directed toward me by an 18 year-old male and a failure of the administration to back me up*

SO. This is a new phase in our lives, where all our children are school-aged. The school is a classical Christian school and is located less than a mile from our home (so I should never be late, right?) All of our children attend there as well, and I like the feeling of having all my "chicks" under one roof, even when they are at school.

We have looked at this as a means of grace (not in the sense of a sacrament, calm down) to help us get out of debt. We have been diligent on this track for over a year now, and this job will help us meet that goal sooner.

So please pray for us as we adjust to this new phase of life. And you can call me "Sherri" or "Mrs." when you pray- I'm pretty sure our Father knows me by both names!!

God's sovereignty. For an incredible story of Providence and sovereignty go here and look under "The Lord Opens Wombs." Our dear friends have been blessed of God in a most tangible way. Enjoy and rejoice with them.

a suburban housewife? Rest assured, I am alive and well. The Lord has graciously brought about many new changes in our little corner of the world. Details to follow...

That is the name for our third son, Eli Joseph. Today he is 8 years old. If you look at our family and don't know the history of our loss of Owen, then you might think Eli is our second child. But he is so much more than that.

When I visited my midwife for the 6-week post-partum checkup after Owen died, she gave me and Rob the bright green light go-ahead to try to conceive again. I left that visit with a little confusion. "If I had walked into that checkup nursing a newborn baby she would have told me that nursing alone is not reliable birth control. Then she would have given me tons of literature on preventing conception within the next year." This is what I told Rob and frankly, I was scared to death to think of becoming pregnant right then. I know Rob sensed that and we agreed to just "see what happens."

Well, what happened was that 4 months later I was pregnant- joyfully so. But weren't you scared during the pregnancy? Not really, because my actual pregnancy with Owen was great. It was only the last day when things went badly.

God had answered our prayers and blessed us with another pregnancy. We were so full of faith that God would give us another son that we never even considered girl names! But we wanted a special name that would convey the importance of this baby's arrival. What does the birth of this baby mean for our family? When we focused on that question, then finding a name was easy. Well, relatively so. If you know Rob then you know he loves language, especially Greek and Hebrew. He explained- many times- that in Bible times people didn't choose names for what they sounded like or what was trendy for the time, but chose names because of their meaning. And actually we have done this with all our children- chosen a meaning and then the names for the meaning. So My God has added was the meaning we wanted to express, and "Eli Joseph" is the Hebrew name for that meaning.

You are so special to us, Eli. How we anticipated your arrival. You surprised us by coming at 37 weeks. You were a tiny 6 lb. 2 oz. baby only 19 inches long. And at 6 weeks old you weighed 14 pounds. Yes, folks, that is correct. You were our "Buddha baby" with lots of pudgy rolls to hug and kiss!

*You have been tenderhearted from the beginning.

*You have always been in awe of your "Bubba" Harrison.

*You learned to ride a scooter at just 2 years old and we would watch you, diaper-clad, zooming down our driveway at 7:00 in the morning!!

*When Sophia was born, you were 2 and 1/2 years old. You would wake up during the night while I was nursing her and say, "I just want to sit in here with you, Momma."

*You cried, EVERY DAY, when Harrison started school.

*You have grown into a boy who pursues Christ with a passion.

*You seek ways to serve others.

I see God drawing you, watch you responding to that, and it just takes my breath away sometimes. I see you throw yourself wholeheartedly into worship and I can hardly sing past the tears of joy. Run hard after Christ, sweet son.