Putting a Dramatic End to the Susanka Streak

From my wife, shortly after 8:30PM last night:

For unto us a child is born; unto us a …

…wait. What?

Yep, that’s right. Something fundamentally new and different has happened. Happily (if tiredly), I introduce the newest member of the Susanka family, Phoebe Lenor.

Notice that I say her presence is different, not that it’s surprising. Not exactly, anyway. The miracles of modern science being what they are, we had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen. In fact, the ultrasound tech was so excited to see evidence of Phoebe’s femininity on the monitor after hearing that Sarah was the mother of seven boys that she burst into tears. (Note to Future Techs: If you burst into tears while looking at an ultrasound, you’re going to have to explain yourself. Few mothers, no matter how experienced, will be willing to let that one slide)

Upon being told some months ago that his next sibling was quite possibly a girl, Dominic (Son the First) responded with a shake of his head and a mild “Nah. No way.” (In fairness, I don’t think he considered us dishonest; just delusional.) Now that he’s been proven wrong, though, he couldn’t be happier. Nor could the rest of us. In fact, Cormac — Son Six — has been tearing around the house all day, yelling “Phoebe! Phoebe! Phoebe!” at the top of his lungs. They’re all smitten, and they haven’t even met her in person yet.

An interesting note on the selection of her name. For years — literally — we’ve had a girl’s name picked out and ready to go. And since we were never called upon to use it, it just “rolled over” from child to child. About two weeks ago, though, for no (apparent) reason, we were drawn to Phoebe. She’s the woman referenced by St. Paul in the sixteenth chapter of his Epistle to the Romans: “AND I commend to you Phoebe, our sister, who is in the ministry of the church, that is in Cenchrae: That you receive her in the Lord as becometh saints; and that you assist her in whatsoever business she shall have need of you. For she also hath assisted many, and myself also.”

Aware of the New Testament reference (and also of the Greek mythological connotations), we were well-pleased and proceeded accordingly. This morning, however, while doing a bit more research on our daughter’s — Wait. Did I just say that? “Our daughter?” Wow! — namesake, Sarah discovered something incredibly cool (and even mildly disconcerting, in a “Wait. Somebody’s setting us up. And I wonder what His expectations are going to be?” sort-of-way):

St. Phoebe’s feastday is September 3rd.

…

Wait…

…!!!

Attribution(s): I made this. Well, I helped, at least.