Introducing Josiah William

At 3:30 a.m., it began.

At 4:00, Jed was awakened.

At 5:30, we waited.

At 6:00, the bags were checked one last time.

At 6:30, the journey began.

At 7:00, we arrived at the hospital.

At 9:00, the waters gushed forth.

At 11:00 Jed took off his wedding ring because Anna hurt his hand from squeezing.

At 1:30 p.m., Anna did not know if she could take the pain any longer.

At 1:50, the pushing began.

At 2:00, Josiah began to peek.

At 2:07, Josiah emerged into the world, all 21 inches and 10 pounds of him. Here's what he looked like:
At 3:30, Sy had calmed down. Here's what he looked like then:


At 6:46, Ali met her baby brother Sy for the first time. Here's how they look together.


At 6:51, we took the first picture of the rest of our life. Here's our family:


Thanks to all of you for your prayers! We especially thank God for a healthy delivery for both mother and child.

Pumpkins and Pictures

Yesterday Ali and I went on a trip to the Pumpkin patch. Ali picked out her own pumpkin and even carried it around a bit. I'm glad that she's not like me...when I was in kindergarten I went to the pumpkin patch and picked out a pumpkin so big I couldn't pick it up and so I had to roll it, which doesn't work so well when you have to get it back to your kindergarten classroom, which is downstairs. It's a miracle that the pumpkin survived that journey.

So when we were at the pumpkin patch, we did other things than get pumpkins. I talked to the other dads who were there with their preschoolers, and we gloated in the fact that we beat all the moms there. Ali sang some songs like "Old MacDonald" and "If You're Happy and You Know It" with some guy who played the banjo, and we saw some pigs, turkeys, peacocks, chickens, and roosters. There was also a hay maze.

Hey Gramma, here's a picture of Ali on her new trike. Notice that there is no fence or anything in the background.
Ali was walking around today putting herself in time-out. "I love time out," she said. Apparently we need a new form of punishment. I've heard that bamboo shoots under the fingernails is effective.

Speaking of torture, Anna is ready to have a baby. Really, really ready. Never mind that the due date was Sunday. We'll just keep waiting...and waiting...and waiting...

And besides field trips, I'm staying busy with work stuff including hiring a music director and planning a memorial service and stewardship program and the holiday schedule. I'm happy to not be preaching for the next couple of weeks, though. I took the time off so that I could be around when the baby came...and now I'm waiting and blogging. Well, if Sy turns out to be anywhere near as cute as Ali is, we'll be just fine. We'll be in trouble, but it'll be good.

Here's one more picture illustrating how cute Ali is.

Place your guesses...

Because I need to have some fun while waiting for Josiah (or else I might go crazy), I've decided to make it a game. I've set it up so anyone can leave a comment, even if you could not before. Guess the birthday, weight and length of this little boy. We'll see who comes closest. Maybe I'll even come up with a prize; we'll just have to see.

To put everyone on equal ground, his "official" due date is October 5th, but at one point I was also told October 9th.

Guess away!