justus and his name

The name Justus means just, righteous, fair. These are values that have always meant a lot to us. As we have gotten more use to saying it these last few days it has taken on more meaning.

It's a humbling concept. It is speaks about how God satisfies his own justice by sending His son to die for us. Every time we say his name we are reminded how God used this sacrifice to cover over the many ways we have wronged him. We love the mere mentioning of his name brings to mind a cornerstone of the Gospel.

We have chosen Micah 6:8 as the scripture to pray/sing over him at bed times.

"He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?"

His middle name is Beric; like Eric with a B. This name commemorates our family's love for the works of G. A. Henty. One of our favorites (so far) which we were listening to while choosing baby names is titled, "Beric the Briton." Henty has written about 100 books, all historical fiction written about the start of the 20th century. Henty possessed a deep faith as well as a heart to teach boys how to be men of courage and integrity. In every one of his stories, a young boy grows from youth to maturity and becomes a hero of his people. Set during the Roman Invasion, Beric becomes a leader of the Britons. Henty has already had a profound impact on our homeschooling and our family. This name honors both the works he left and the idea that boys need to be taught principles of courage and integrity.

It is also really fun for us all to give Justus a name from something we all enjoyed so much as a family and when he is a little older it will be neat for him to read Beric the Briton.

*Thanks to Christina for designing/making the adorable onesie; perfect for this post.

5

The day began at 5:30. Amy woke up and called the hospital to see if there was room. They said to be there at 6. We left the house at about 6:15.

Don't worry though. We got to the hospital just in time to wait.








But at least the food was distractingly scrumptious. Amy had been looking forward to it.







About 12 hours after we got there, the epidural man was given the okay to help Amy out w/ what had finally become painful contractions. A normal epidural takes about 10 minutes. We've had 3 of those. I wouldn't say this guy is the biggest failure we've experienced but he comes pretty close. He burned through three of the "epidural kits" and finally got through on the third hole. And it still didn't work out all that well. Not as bad as with Nora Fine who did the epidural with Luke. She was so bad I remember her name to this day. Coincidentally, Nora did the epidural for this anesthesiologist's birth and messed it up for him too. That made for some pleasant camaraderie but didn't help Amy's pain much.







So to help Amy deal with these contractions, I reminded her that I had already done all the hard work about 9 months ago. She found that even less funny in her altered state.





Fortunately, delivering a baby does a lot to lift ones spirits.






We had the audacity to weigh him. 8 lbs. 12 oz. He was not impressed. That was about the only time we were able to get him to cry. He is a very content baby thus far.









But he really enjoyed his first bath.







I took a turn with my little guy.







While momma took a well-deserved rest.







The rest was also well-timed. There were a few folks who were a little bit excited about seeing their new little brother.
































Justus Beric
b. June 18, 2009 8:51 PM
8 lbs 12 oz.

not the baby anymore

Two more nights and, Lord willing, we will begin the process of what the boys call "getting the baby out". Everyone is excited.

I think Ava is ready to not be the baby anymore.

Amy liked the combination of this dress, this chair and the pink barrette.

I like the light that streams through our 4 big windows. Some of you have probably thought, "why does he always pick the same lame backgrounds?" What... walls and bookcases, along with the occasion blurred vision of a messy office area isn't attractive?

I can't help it. That's where the light in our house is. I'll have to buy a nice backdrop some day.

Maybe I'll spring for a cool seamless backdrop for a "new baby" photoshoot.

I really should take more pictures of the other kids.

But they don't wear cute little dresses.

And if they did, I certainly wouldn't post pictures of it.

Oh who am I kidding... of course I'd post those pictures. I mean... come on...

I think she's going to enjoy having a larger audience.

what a pretty picture!

What do I think of when I see this picture?


Man, I really need to mow my field.


Blogging frequency will pick up once I get some outdoor stuff done.

Amy goes to work with Mike... in Hawaii

I travel a lot for my job. Rarely do I travel to exotic locales though. Rarely is not never though.


I cashed in some frequent flier miles and Amy and I travelled first class to a conference at the Fairmount Orchid on the big island of Hawaii.


And of course I took some pictures. If I don't photoblog it, it might as well not have happened.


The flight took about six hours. Amy went to the bathroom about 11,748 times. Good thing first class has its own bathroom.




After landing, we encountered a particularly amazing naturally occurring phenomenon in the rock.








We smiled a bit bigger as we drove toward our hotel.




Once we got there, we spent some time at the pool.

Later that evening we had a our first reception. The host of the convention flew in Kenny Rogers to play traditional Hawaiian music.

Okay, that wasn't Kenny Rogers. But whoever that was performed on a very cool grass stage.




There would be many more receptions. I think that these "meet n' greets" filled with people she didn't know had to be Amy's favorite part. Especially the cool name tag she got to wear.

Not being able to take advantage of the hosted bar probably grated on her a bit.

Actually her being there was very strategic from a business perspective. People tend to like Amy. Since my job is essentially to get people to like me and thus want to do business with me, having her there is like an unspoken endorsement. People get to know her and figure that if I was able to get her to like me enough to be carrying my fifth child, I can't be all that bad.

The hotel also had this amazing naturally occurring waterfall.

Okay, not naturally occurring, but nice backdrops nonetheless.

The second to last day we took a Catamaran trip out into the ocean to snorkel with sea turtles, fish, hermit crabs and other things. Snorkeling is great, especially if you are trying to give your skin a nice, red hue.

My favorite part of the trip had to be the scenery. There was beauty everywhere I looked.

Oh, and there were a lot of pretty flowers too.

The last night we attended the "Meeting of Kings". It was a beautiful show that traced the history of all the islands of the South Pacific.

Amy impressed me by knowing a lot of this stuff already. Leave it to the homeschooling mom to have a handle on the obscure details.

The highlight of the show for me was the "fire knife" dance. First, because it's cool and dangerous, but also because I thought it would provide an opportunity to play with my camera.

The dance did not disappoint. Can't say the same thing about my camera skills. Taking pictures in low light is hard. Taking pictures in rapidly changing light is even harder. Especially when the autofocus keeps hunting. I took over a hundred shots and got very few keepers.

But I lucked out and got a couple really nice ones just as he was getting ready to eat the fire.

First he just tried a taste.

(I love this picture. They should put it on their brochure.)

That little taste must have suited him well because he went for a much bigger bite after that.

Sadly, our 5 days in paradise came to a close. It's okay though. By this time we were really missing our kids. We knew they were in good hands, but we still were imagining them with us while we considered which activities they would like best.

But it was nice to spend time with just the two of us.

Even so; next time, we bring the kids.

Here are the pics I didn't post...

Just more of our friends. They said it was okay.

some pictures from the park

I'm still going through the pictures from the Hawaii trip, so y'all are just gonna have to wait for that.

But here are some pictures from our time in the park with some friends. It was really sunny but we got a few nice shots. Some really good ones of some other people's kids but Amy thinks that we shouldn't put other folks' kids on the internet without their permission. Which is a shame cause they were great pictures.