DOWN HOME: Sonogram says: Things are changin’

down home

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It’s a boy! Lindsay and Aaron even have the “pictures” to prove it.

At least that’s what Lindsay, our older daughter, told me. She called from the doctor’s office to report the news about the baby she’s carrying.

“We’re having a boy,” she said when I asked the question we’d all been wondering.

This is a first for our family. I’m married to Joanna, as you probably know. Lindsay, obviously, is a girl. And so is her sister, Molly. So was Betsy, the dog who helped Lindsay and Molly grow up. And so is Topanga, the dog who has kept me company most of the time since L&M flew the ol’ coop.

So, for awhile there, we were on a girl-girl-girl-girl-girl roll. Along the way, we added a couple of guys—Aaron for Lindsay and David for Molly. Now we’re launching the next generation with a boy.

This should be interesting. Not only will Jo and I figure out how to be grandparents. But we’ll also figure out how to relate to a little manchild.

After almost 27 years of experience, we’ve got girls down pat. Along the way, I learned how to tie bows in the backs of Sunday dresses, brush hair, assess the merits of all manner of dolls, crack jokes to take the sting out of verbal evisceration and sing along to the lyrics of more Hollywood musicals than you could imagine.

Now, it’s going to be about balls and trucks and bicycles and wrestling and fishing poles and video games. I can hardly wait. Although I may be a bit rusty, I figure that, with the guidance of this little boy, I’ll get the hang of it soon enough. (Well, maybe not video games, but bring on the rest … .)

Lindsay announced on—where else?—Facebook they’re naming their son Ezra. They didn’t ask my opinion, but I like their choice. A lot.


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The original Ezra is known in the Old Testament as a priest and scribe. He led about 5,000 Hebrews from captivity in Babylon back to their ancestral home in Jerusalem. Ezra was a superb scholar of the Torah—what we know as the first five books of the Bible and also call the Law. Under his leadership, the people renewed their devotion to the Scripture—God’s word to them—and in so doing, they reformed and reclaimed their faith.

So, Ezra served as a double guide for his people. He guided them back home to the land promised to them through their ancestors. And he guided them back to the God of their fathers and mothers. Both that land and that God also happened to be theirs, which they discovered through the leadership and example of Ezra.

Our little Ezra will have big sandals to fill as he lives out his name. I won’t be around to see the end of it, but I’ll pray for him to dwell in the spiritual home of his ancestors, his family.

Meanwhile, I plan on countless games of catch, bountiful bowls of ice cream, and a jillion corny jokes. That’s the part of grandparenting I’ve already figured out.

 

 


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