the Evans' family adventures: Our son, Salem

Wow...the past 4 and 1/2 weeks have flown by and are somewhat of a blur, but it is amazing to say that- "our son"! Joe and I (while missing good nights of sleep) are so loving being parents and are sooo thankful to God for our beautiful, healthy, precious baby boy. And he is 100% BOY- you should hear the way he grunts and burps! Since I haven't blogged at all since Salem was born, I'll try to catch up here with a few pictures and thoughts...maybe in a few posts as I think of things!

Salem Joseph Evans
born 5:45 am, 2/8/09
8 lb 1 oz, 20.5''

While it seems hard to believe Salem is almost 5 weeks old, on the other hand when I think that just a month and a half ago I was still working full-time at my old job in Sausalito, that kind of seems like a life time ago- being a mother has become my new identity.

Well first a little about his name. Salem means "peace" and is from the same Hebrew root as "shalom". It is found in the Bible in Genesis and Hebrews- Melchizedek the King of Salem who Abraham meets with and is a type of Christ in the OT, a priest without beginning or end of days. When it says he was the king of Salem (peace) it is referring to a city- probably the name for Jerusalem (the city of peace) before it was called by that name. Any way we both really liked this name from the beginning and although we considered a lot of names, this was the one we always kept coming back to and finally decided on. Besides the personal meaning the name has for us which I'll share below, I think that peace is such a huge part of the meaning of the gospel- Rom. 5:1, Eph. 2:14-15& 17, Col. 1:20.The name Joseph (besides being daddy's namesake and great biblical characters) means "He shall add" and God has blessed us with (added) peace in so many ways throughout the last year leading up to Salem's birth. About this time last year we had a miscarriage, and although the pregnancy was a surprise to us, it was a very difficult time to walk through. God, however, was with us and brought healing, strengthened our faith, taught us a lot, and gave us the desire to start a family. And now, less than a year later we have a sweet 1- month old baby boy in our arms. I was blessed with a great pregnancy (kinda crazy, but sometimes I miss being pregnant!) and although the labor was not how we prayed it would be (short and easy) God showed his grace in other ways (great doctor and hospital staff, healthy baby, good recovery for me, etc.) in denying that request. I labored at the hospital for over 20 hours and pushed for 4 hours, then in the end had a C-section. Not what we had planned, but God gave us peace and we had complete confidence in my doctor's decision (he said using forceps to pull him out was an option, but advised against it) and skill. Although I was disappointed, I realized that God was in control and he knew (even before time) the exact moment and manner that Salem would enter this world. Praise God! We are in awe of how he works and his grace in our lives and can't wait to see the plans he has in store for our son and our family.

Well here are a few more pictures (from the first few weeks...I need to keep snapping them and upload some new ones soon- he's really growing fast- weighed in at 10 lb. 13 oz. at his 1-month appointment on Tuesday!)... more thoughts on mothering in the days to come!