Zachary

My wonderful friend, Jenn, is full of fun ideas, great advice, and lots of laughs. She texted me Sunday to suggest a pee-on test that predicts the gender of your baby (supposedly with 90% accuracy...it worked for her!). So of course Jake and I bought the test, but it said to wait for your first morning pee. Monday morning I wake up to go to work and Jake insisted on getting up with me to see the results with me. 5am, people....my husband is NOT a morning guy. But he was bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready for the results! After 10 minutes of waiting, we looked at the bottle......BOY. Boy???? I was SO sure it was a girl - probably because I've been dreaming of a girl since I found out I was pregnant. Jake looked at Max (the boy cat) and said, "We're gonna out number the girls, Max!! It's a boy!!"

For those of you that know me, you know that I'm kind of a girlie-girl. Granted, Julianna and I could sling mud with the best of 'em when we were little, but we also liked our dolls. And to this day, I can throw my hair up in a pony and work up a good sweat at the gym, but I like to have my hair and makeup done and look like I'm somewhat up with today's fashion. My initial reaction, which I said outloud, was, "I don't know a darn thing about raising a boy! You have to teach them how to throw a ball, how/were to pee without making a mess, how to be the Godly leader of the house, how to treat women kindly and with respect!"

So friends, I'm trying soooooo hard here to switch gears. In place of all the pink, frilly bows and flowered clothes I was looking at, I'm trying to switch my thoughts to baseball, football, ball of any kind, cute boy sweaters, shirts that say "Mama's boy"....something, ANYTHING of that nature. Don't get me wrong ...I am thrilled at the thought of a boy, it just isn't what I had expected. And we do still have the ultrasound in November (11th to be exact) to confirm those results so lets not jump to conclusions....riiiiight....

I called my Mom later to tell her and of course she was excited. I got the sweetest, most wonderful e-mail from her and asked her if I could share it with you. This letter is one I'll hold close to my heart, but I had secretly thought that she wanted a little girl too to dress up in bows and dresses. But interestingly enough, looks like God had prepared her heart in a different way:

"I have to tell you … you both called me this morning to tell me the news! I loved the excitement in your voice so much, Jake, that I didn’t have the heart to tell you Christy had already called. But I loved those phone calls! I think I told you both that my computer required a new password this morning, and I put in my nickname for the baby (before I talked to either one of you!). And I picked a boy name! Zachary! I don’t know why, and I still don’t know why, but I just now decided to look up the meaning, and it means “The Lord remembers.” How neat. The Lord remembers your faithfulness. The Lord remembers how much your dad and I struggled with infertility and He wanted to spare you that pain. The Lord remembers your commitment to serve him and bring up your children to love and serve him. The Lord remembers all your strengths and your shortcomings and He will provide you with the gifts you will need to raise this special little baby…boy or girl! The Lord remembers the faithfulness of so many generations of believers in our family, who have prayed for future generations…for your baby…before even you were born! How awesome is that! I know you will have a special name for this baby, so until we know the real name (or until you pick out your own favorite nickname…Jakester??), my own private little nickname will be Zachary. The Lord remembers. Love, Mom"