Tuesday, August 01, 2006

 

My God has added...

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.

Comments:
What a beautiful post! You blessed this mama’s heart today! Thank you for sharing and Happy Birthday Eli Joseph!!!

We have been thinking of using the name Eli if it is a boy, I have always loved the name :-)
 
I love your children's names sooo much. My husband, like yours, goes for meanings first.

What a sweet, tender testimony.
 
If God has blessed Job, surely He has blessed you as well. Enjoy your motherhood.
 
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