Grace and I would like to announce the birth of our daughter, Ella Rose. She was born this morning (Sunday, October 26th) at 12:39 AM, at a weight of 7 pounds, 7 ounces. Grace and Ella are still at the hospital, where Grace is recuperating from the delivery, catching up on her sleep, and regaining her strength. She did…she did excellently, I have to say.

She’s doing very well, but please do offer your prayers for her healing, that it may be expedient and complete.

Also, please feel free to use the contact form to send congratulatory or encouraging notes to Grace, who — next to God — deserves all the credit and recognition for this event. She has approached this whole experience with courage, determination, and boundless love.

I’ve got a few pictures of both Mom and baby, and I’ll be posting them soon-ish. For now, though, we’re just going to take some time to welcome Ella into the world, and will get around to pictures, and introductions to friends and family, in due time. So if you’ve called, emailed, or otherwise sent in a word to see how things are going…thank you for your care, and we will get back to you in a bit. But please just give us some time to ourselves, that we might rest and that Grace might heal.

Oh, yeah: for those family members who registered a guess in the baby pool, we would just like to say that nobody won, in that nobody actually guessed the correct date. Guesses ranged from about the 17th to the 31st, and covered almost every day in between…but nobody picked the 26th. A couple people did guess the exact birth weight, however.