On October 17th, we welcomed Samuel Francis into our family! We were overjoyed that labor and delivery went well and he was born perfectly healthy! He weighed 5 lb 13 oz and was 19 in long, which quickly earned him the nick name, little peanut :-) We chose his actual name in honor of Samuel, the Old Testament prophet who was called by God as a young boy and served Him faithfully all his life. Also his middle name is in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi and specifically Pope Francis, in hopes that their lives may be an inspiration to our young son some day.
A funny little side story to his name is that all throughout the pregnancy we were undecided for sure on his first name but knew we wanted to have his middle name be Francis in honor of the Pope. Well, Henry had heard the name Jorge (from a Clifford cartoon) early on and for some reason loved that name and so anytime someone asked him what his new brother would be called, he'd say "Jorge." It got out of control..all his school teachers, gymnastics and sports tykes teachers, church nursery ladies and many of our family friends all heard from Henry that his name would be Jorge. It was a running joke throughout the pregnancy. It wasn't until after he was born and our good friends, and Sam's godparents, gave him a book entitled "Jorge from Argentina" did we realize the amazing coincidence (or not) that of course the Pope's real name is Jorge and Henry unknowingly was also suggesting naming him after the Pope. It was meant to be!
The kids were all so excited to meet their little brother. Henry in particular was super excited to become a big brother! Kimberly's parents were able to arrive the day of his birth too! It was wonderful to have them present to meet their 7th grandchild and to help with our older kids too!
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| Ready for the ride home from the hospital |
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| Happy to be home |
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| Meeting his godparents for the first time...Meghan and Chad Boyle |
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| Dear God, Thank you for the blessing of Samuel Francis! |
