The Story of the birth of a Prophetess (Luke 2:21-40): From Daddy's Perspective (Part 2 of 3)

“The Pregnancy”
And then there was the near-death experience that the new Dad-to-be would have in his car on his way back from work one day just a couple of weeks later, checking a text message from his wife...with a picture of a Positive Pregnancy Test! It wasn't necessarily the picture that caused a near-death experience, just the need to break due to the traffic and the fast approaching car in front of me. Luckily, I figured that one out just in time. I can just see it now... “Father receives news of first born, but died reading the picture text message.” And so Kelli was pregnant. Just as quickly as we decided to start trying, she was immediately pregnant.

Kelli's pregnancy continued with precise timing and flawless execution – just like Kelli. She was a champ through her whole pregnancy, never complaining and working at her job till the very end...but more on that later. On December 20th, Kelli felt Anna kick for the first time. Then, on the 22nd, the first time I put my hands on Kelli's stomach to feel for the baby's kick, and as soon as I did (literally less than 1 second) she kicked the hardest she had up until that point. It was like she was leaping in her Mama's womb in response to the touch of her Poppa. It was like she knew it was me. What a precious memory that will be for me.

“The Name”
As far as names go, there were only ever two names we really seriously considered naming Anna: Anna and Haven. Kelli and I talked about this a lot, and then we'd leave the subject alone...and then we'd come back to it. I liked the name Anna because it referred to the prophetess in Luke Chapter 2, who prophesied over Jesus when he was a baby. She liked Haven because of its quiet and serene meaning and uniqueness. So one night as we laid in bed after we had been talking about it, I put my hand on Kelli's stomach and I said... “Little baby, what is your name going to be? Is it...Haven....or Anna....or Abria....or Brianna....or Tiffany? Our little Anna gave a big kick on the second name and on no other – her name would be Anna!

“The Secret”
Around this time, we found out a little secret my Mother had been keeping from us for awhile. Now, we were always very happy with her because she never once bugged us to get pregnant. She was very good – not pushing us or making any comments at all. As it turns out, she wasn't bugging us because she was bugging God! Talk about going over somebody's head! Forget bugging us when you can bug the One who will make it happen in the end anyways! I can't deny it...I had mixed emotions when I found out she was praying for us to have a baby before we had made any indication to her that we were even thinking about having a baby! :) So, to clarify, before we went to Uganda, she had been praying that we would have a baby soon. From what I now know, she apparently prayed non-stop for this. She believed God would answer her prayer, and she even started worrying about the fact that she had some summer trips planned that might keep her from seeing the baby when she was born.

To Be Continued...