Welcome Henry!

    We welcomed our newest nephew into the world on September 24th.  I was incredibly gifted to be able to watch his birth.  The greatest gift ever given to anyone is being able to see this in person!
     My mom and I arrived at the hospital at the same time, signed in at 12:29 p.m. and headed into the delivery room to check on Val's progress.  Mom had said she thought it'd be a few hours.  I didn't think it'd be quite that long, but we all know how quickly babies come...whenever they feel like it. Henry didn't seem to be in any hurry at any time during these last few weeks, and it didn't seem like his birthday would be any different.
     When we arrived, Val was definitely feeling the contractions and some other signs that let my experienced mom believe it was closer than we thought!  It was actually TIME!!!  Henry was born 41 minutes later at 1:11 p.m.

     Eleven minutes has big significance for me.  About a year or two after Taylor was born, I realized I would check the clock and find most often the minutes happened to be 11 past whatever hour.  I'd wake up (or be woken up) only to check the clock and it would be 2:11 a.m.  Or downstairs I'd be making breakfast at 6:11 a.m. or after dinner glance to see 8:11 p.m.  It was really weird actually!  In fact, so weird I mentioned it to my dear friend Anastasia.  She said she'd start praying for me every time she noticed 11 minutes past the hour on a clock.  Often I'd get a little text with the "Praying for you" message at 11 minutes past the hour.  It was special.  So is this verse:

Jeremiah 29:11
"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

That 11 is pretty special to me.  So is Henry, weighing in at 8 lbs...11 ounces!