There's no place like home

Hospitals are boring. So for fun, whenever we find ourselves stuck in one with a newborn, we like to play a little game of Let's Get Outta Here. Turns out fourth time's a charm for us. We beat our personal best by 9 hours with little Levi, and managed to get ourselves discharged from the hospital when he was only 26 hours old.

So what if it was 10:30 at night in the middle of a torrential downpour? If we're going to not be getting any sleep, at least now we'll be home and not-sleeping in our own bed.

After much deliberation (and after thoroughly discarding Caleb's suggestion that we name his new brother Sharky) we chose the name Levi Dixon for our little boy. Levi comes from a Hebrew word meaning "joined" and it is our prayer that our son will indeed be joined to the Lord by grace through faith and that he will grow into a man who loves and serves his God with gladness. Of the priestly tribe of Levi, the Bible tells us "...the Lord God of Israel is their inheritance, just as he promised them" (Joshua 13:33). We pray confidently that our heavenly Father will indeed be the inheritance our Levi will enjoy as he grows in wisdom and stature. Dixon is a middle name that Levi will share with Justin's grandfather, in keeping with our tradition of passing down a family member's name to our little ones.

We're loving life with our third son and are looking forward to watching his personality emerge as we enjoy being home and getting back into the swing of things. He's a popular little fellow, particularly with his Granddaddy, with whom our Levi has the honor of sharing a birthday. (I worked for nine months on this birthday present...I'm glad he turned out so well.)

He has a flock of blonde hair that likes to stick straight up on top, and a ruddy complexion that gets redder when he's angry or well fed. He's sleeping like a baby, which is to say he's sleeping all the time, and eating about every 2.5 hours. When Levi's awake, he has the same steel blue eyes that my first two have, and when he's asleep he makes some of the most hysterical faces I've ever seen. He's still all scrunched up and has yet to fully unfold from all his time in the womb. And only time will tell, but so far we're all in agreement that he is the spitting image of the newborn version of his older sister, right down to his adorable little button nose.

To say I'm smitten wouldn't begin to describe it. After four babies, I'm still amazed each time at how my heart swells to love another so much, and so immediately. I praise God for each little life He's entrusted to our care, and am looking forward to caring for this new little one He's brought into our family.

Welcome home, little Levi!