Junior has a name!

Yes, our soon-to-be son now has a name. He is ... (drum roll) ... Benjamin Moses Brown!

A little info behind the names:

Benjamin -- Bethany has liked this name for awhile, and we really like a lot of the stuff about Benjamin in the Bible. Most notably, when Moses blesses the tribes of Israel, he says about Benjamin: "Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders." Notable Benjamites include King Saul, Esther and the apostle Paul. The village of Bethany in Israel was, I think, in the tribe of Benjamin's territory. Also, there's Benjamin Franklin to commemorate our time in Philadelphia.

Moses -- It's a family name on my mom's side (the furthest back we can trace the Thompson family is to a Moses Thompson in the early 1700s, my great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, and there have been others in the direct line down to me who had the name as a first or middle name). And of course, there's the Biblical person. A few weeks ago, I had the same verse pop up twice within a couple of days (just after we had tossed "Moses" out as a possible middle name); it came up once in a book I'm reading, and then again in the sermon at church that weekend. The verse is Exodus 33:11 -- "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend." What an awesome thing to pray over our child -- that he too would know God in that manner!

We'll probably call him Ben (except when he's done something wrong and it's "Benjamin Moses Brown!!!"). So that's our son -- Ben Brown!

Bethany and Junior: Week 22

Tuesday (four days ago) Bethany hit 22 weeks along. She's definitely starting to show a bit more; the doctor this week told Bethany that she was "glad to see that she had finally gained weight." (Click here to see her at 19 weeks, just for comparison.) Meanwhile, here she is just before we went out last night.



After attending Sing last night with friends, we went to our first Baylor baseball game of 2009 today. While we froze through six innings (temperature about 55, with north winds from 20-30 mph), Junior was just fine and plenty warm for his first-ever baseball game. When we left the Bears had the lead, though the bullpen later blew it. Oh well. Here we are in the cold:





Yes, he's still Junior for now, though we may have a name to share soon. Stay tuned!

Junior is a ...

The voters were right; Junior is a boy! Had our ultrasound earlier today; he (it's nice to say "he" instead of "it") appears healthy, which is of course good. Now we have to finalize a name; I'd say we're 98% set on the first name and about 75% on a middle name, so that should be decided soon.

The voters were right, including both our moms. Bethany and I both thought Junior was a girl, so we were surprised -- but happy either way! Mostly right now, I'm glad to be able to say "he" and "him" and "his". (The english language needs some good gender-neutral pronouns.)

Here he is!