HANNAH!

The name Hannah means "beauty" and "passion".

Well, for those of you who were waiting in great suspense....I present to you Hannah Jaco Justice! Yes, that is right, we are having a sweet little girl. What a blessing. Steve was able to be on speakerphone when the sonogram technician allowed me to guess the sex. It was completely obvious to me, however when I emailed Steve the picture which revealed the sex, he was a bit confused. Poor Daddy, he has a lot to learn about girls, but I know that Hannah will catch him up to speed very quickly! Despite Steve being from a family filled with boys, he is super excited about having a girl. Actually, we were both secretly hoping for one! Hopefully Hannah will want to play sports - as she might have some pretty good genes for them - but even if she wants to be a ballerina or an actress, she will always be our little princess. Steve is already calling her Daddy's little girl :-). I pity the fellow who takes Hannah out on her first date as he might face a very large and intimidating father first!

We decided on the name Hannah, for several reasons. First, we just like the name! Second, Hannah is an amazing character in the Old Testament. I encourage you to read her story in 1 Samuel Chapters 1 and 2 if you please. Hannah was the mother of the Samuel - the last of the Hebrew Judges and the first of the major prophets who began to prophesy in Israel. In short, Hannah was one of two wives of Elkanah. She was barren, but Elkanah's other wife, Peninnah, had many children. Despite Hannah's inability to conceive, her husband still favored her over Peninnah. One day after receiving continued taunts and ridicule from Peninnah, Hannah went to the temple and prayed to the Lord to grant her a child. She vowed that if the Lord answered her prayer, she would give her child back to God for the service of the Shiloh priests and remain a Nazarite his entire life. Eli, the high priest at the temple, heard her praying, and after Hannah convinced him that she was not drunk, he told her that the Lord would answer her prayer. Hannah miraculously conceived a son and named him Samuel, meaning "because I have asked him of Jehovah". Hannah fulfilled her promise to God and took Samuel to Eli immediately after he was weaned. Hannah was a woman of true faith, strength, perseverance, and humility. We pray that Hannah Justice will follow in her footsteps.

The third reason we chose Hannah was because it contains the name of one of our very best friends - Anna Lubinsky. God used Anna to bring me to Himself many years ago, and because of her obedience and faithfulness, I am a Christian today. She is my guardian angel and it is a privilege to include her name in our first child's name.

We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support throughout our pregnancy. It is such a miracle to have a sweet little girl growing inside of me! Yesterday, I think I finally came to the realization that there is a living being in my belly. When I got up from breakfast, I felt something different on my left side. When I reached down to feel what it was, I felt Hannah's foot sicking out of my side for the very first time! It was as hard as a rock! That was just surreal. Maybe we do have a little soccer player on our hands. I can't wait until Daddy gets to feel her moving around - I know she misses him just as much as I do.

On that note I will bid farewell. Steve's last UFL game is Friday night and he will come home on Saturday. Who knows how long he will be here, but the four of us are sure looking forward to his long-awaited return!