Category: family

Theo.

Loved By God.  That’s what your first name means, little guy.  Some folks are going to tell you it means “lover of God.”  And that’s a great secondary meaning.  But 1 John 4:10 says “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”  The most important fact, the fact that I pray defines your life more than your devotion to God would be your sense of His devotion to you.  In Christ, God declared not your love for him, but his love for you.  And that’s a huge deal.

Brooks, your middle name, in addition to being your mom’s maiden name, means “river of water.”  So our prayer continues that as you discover the love of God, it would literally and figuratively flow from your life to all who know you.  May your life bring life to others, as a river running through a desert.

Theodore Brooks Meredith was born at 10:25 and weighed in at 8 lbs and 12 ounces (and 20 inches long). Labor lasted about 30 hours.  Both mom and baby are doing great.  Pictures forthcoming.

I know, you want a picture.  A blog post less than 20 minutes after the birth of my child isn’t even enough for you people.  I mean, really.

So I put a picture up.  I’m working on getting some others, but he either looks like an alien, a cast member from “ConeHeads,” or a reptile.  This one captures the moment right after I cut the cord. (that thing is stout.)

Enjoy.

Yesterday’s post linking to the photo of Theodore was post number 400 here at benandjacq.com.  400 posts to get from LB’s birth to Theodore’s.  (not counting picture posts at our original site.)

God has been so faithful to us, and as we stand looking toward the next 400 posts, as a family of 4 with no discernible source of income, we can say with confidence (that some would call naivete) that God will provide.  His amazing provision has been so evident in this entire process.  Last night he even provided a near-full night’s rest for both Jacq and I.

I can’t wait to see where we are going next, what adventures and dreams we are going to live next, and how God is going to provide.

In the web coding world, a 401 redirect is something you do to permanently forward one site to another.  So, consider this post a redirect into the world of having a family of 4.  Now we get to design the new “site” for our new family.

I don’t know who Billy is, and why he is so passionate about corned beef on marbled rye, but we’ve been talking a lot about him lately.

(aside for my single male readers: bilirubin–pronounced Billy Reuben–is an indicator in the blood of babies for jaundice.  Jaundice is where your baby starts to look like Bert from Sesame Street. Google it.)

Our Theo’s bilirubin levels were increasing rapidly yesterday, but are retreating today, as we’ve been laying him in the sun and Jacqueline has been an all-he-can-eat buffet for the last 24 hours.

It’s fun to see the doctors being very gentle with us as they explain jaundice and bilirubin.  We keep asking for worst case and then sort of smiling at each other as if to say “really?  that’s it?  they sawed off the back of LB’s head one time.”

We’re loving being a family of 4, but ask us once all the family help has left us to fend for ourselves.  Who needs sleep.

In case you were unaware, there are tons of photos of our life in our Picasa Album.  Not just Theo, though I admit he is the smallest addition to the clan, and therefore getting a lot of camera time these days.

Some folks have been commenting on facebook asking for photos.  So, there’s a way to scratch that particular itch!  Enjoy.