I’m back at work today, attempting to see how a quasi-normal schedule will go. Nancy’s mom has come down to be with Nancy for the day to help with the transition a little more. I think I am still going to take a few days off, though, just to ease into things.

In other news, I think I went a whole day yesterday without taking any pictures! Silly me.

In case you were worried, Archie is starting to get used to the idea of having Elena around.

(This picture was a bit posed, but captures the essence of the situation.)

I uploaded some new photos to Flickr, get to them through my photos navigation link…

Rich Mullins is going to provide the soundtrack for Elena’s early childhood if I have anything to say about it.

I have selected a lullaby to use until I write a sufficient one for her (the only lyrics coming out of me right now are gushing sappy praise songs to God… but I’ve got a lullaby cooking…)

It’s an old hymn called “All The Way My Savior Leads Me”. The arrangement is by Rich Mullins and sounds more or less like this.

All the way my Savior leads me
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His faithful mercies?
Who through life has been my guide
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort
Ere by faith in Him to dwell
For I know whate’er fall me
Jesus doeth all things well

All of the way my Savior leads me
And He cheers each winding path I tread
Gives me strength for every trial
And He feeds me with the living bread
And though my weary steps may falter
And my soul a-thirst may be
Gushing from a rock before me
Though a spring joy I see

And all the way my Savior leads me
Oh, the fullness of His love
Perfect rest in me is promised
In my Father’s house above
When my spirit clothed immortal
Wings it’s flight through the realms of the day
This my song through endless ages
Jesus led me all the way

Also, ever since my first full day with Elena, this Mullins song has been running through my head, only replace Aiden with Elena and man with woman (which doesn’t work in the meter of the song, but you get the idea.) Hear Let Mercy Lead here.

Aidan you’re young
But Aidan you’re growing fast
Me and your mom
And all the love we have
We can only take you so far
As far as we can
But you’ll need something more to guide your heart
As you grow into a man

Let mercy lead
Let love be the strength in your legs
And in every footprint that you leave
There’ll be a drop of grace
If we can reach
Beyond the wisdom of this age
Into the foolishness of God
That foolishness will save
Those who believe
Although their foolish hearts may break
They will find peace
And I’ll meet you in that place
Where mercy leads

Aidan the day
Aidan the day will come
You’ll run the race
That takes us way beyond
All our trials and all our failures
And all the good we dream of
But you can’t see yet where it is you’re heading
But one day you’ll see the face of love

Let mercy lead
Let love be the strength in your legs
And in every footprint that you leave
There’ll be a drop of grace
If we can reach
Beyond the wisdom of this age
Into the foolishness of God
That foolishness will save
Those who believe
Although their foolish hearts may break
They will find peace
Where mercy leads

Sleep
Eat
Sleep
Eat
Change Diapers
Sleep
Eat
Sleep
Change Diapers
Eat
Sleep
Visit with friends
Eat
Sleep
BATH TIME!
Eat
Go for a walk
Sleep
Eat

(More pictures uploaded to flickr if you’re interested…)

Nancy and my name choices for our baby were a closely guarded secret up until now (though the boy name will still be kept in a sealed file for potential use at a later date.) I know you were all on the edge of your seats to find out the name, and most o f you went “oh… that’s it??” when we finally let it be known… but I suppose you are still curious about the significance of the name.

To be honest, it was “randomly” chosen during a name brainstorming session. I threw the name out there and it was a “that is it!” moment. We loved the way it sounded. Once we had decided, we realized several significances to the name (I love working backwards like that. It’s how we did (r)evolve, which by the way, is coming no later than Aug 11.)

My grandmother’s name was Lena. She passed away a number of years ago and is sorely missed by our family (especially my grandfather, my only living grandparent.) I think this is a beautiful way of honoring her. We then had to pick a middle name that fit just as well. Rose. Rose was the name of Nancy’s great-grandmother, and just flows very nicely with the name Elena.

Once we had agreed and finalized the name we wondered what in the heck it meant! A quick search revealed that “Elena” is a Russian (or possibly Spanish) rendering of Helen, that’s right, as in Helen of Troy. Some further research revealed that the Greek (that is, the original) spelling of Helen of Troy’s name transliterates to “E-L-E-N-A” (roughly) in English. In Greek if a word starts with an “E” it (usually) is pronounced with an “H”. I have caught myself pronouncing the H from time to time (Helena). Funny stuff.

Helen of Troy, the face that launched 1000 ships…

Elena: (Greek) torch, corpusant, RADIANT LIGHT, SHINING LIGHT…

Yup, that will definitely do for a name. Our hope and prayer is that some day she becomes a shining light for God. Right now, she is definitely a shining point of creation :).

Also, Nancy loves the latino culture, and perhaps some day we will end up in some sort of mission to a Latino population. Elena is certainly a latin name. It fits well.

Finally, Nancy and I (but mostly me) got a kick out of the fact that Elena Heerema looks and sounds roughly like Sindarin Elvish… (Tolkien fans rejoice).

I love you, Elena.