Update From Oxford

One of our Chi Alpha students, Andrew Wright, said this in an email about Dana: I went to Oxford today. I’m still speechless; never been more impressed in all my life. Send Dana there, but only if her beauty fades. It’s an awesome school full of ugly women and I’d hate to see all the men fighting over your daughter.

That just made me laugh.

It reminds me of a joke I’ve heard about MIT. The male/female ratio is pretty tilted there, so if you’re a gal “the odds are good, but the goods are odd.”

You Know Life is Good When…

Contemplating my newborn daughter today, I had an epiphany: you know life is good when you have people competing for the privilege of wiping your bottom…

UPDATE: while up late with Dana, I decided to put this insight into haiku form

.

Version A:
Concerning newborns
I reflect: Life is good when
people wipe your butt

Version B:
Concerning newborns:
they lie screaming as servants
vie to wipe their butts

Baby Got Back (Home, That Is)

Just a quick update–we got Dana home today in the midafternoon.

Thanks for the TON of emails–for once I had more legitimate messages than spam! It feels good to get 90 or so congratulatory missives.

Now that Dana’s home we’ll be sure to dress her up in some cute outfits and post pictures online. I’ll try and do a short little webcam movie, too.

For the baby-unitiated (i.e., all the collegians I know), I’ll be very tardy in responding to emails, phone calls, and smoke signals. I’ll post short little updates here as oft as I can, but expect them to be few and far between. If they’re more frequent, consider that lagniappe.

D‑Day (Delivery Day)

Our first child, Dana Marie Davis, arrived March 25, 2004 at 4:03pm PST. She was 6 lbs 7 oz, and 18″ long. Ten fingers, ten toes, the whole bit.

Delivery was actually very easy for Paula. From the time she started pushing until the time of delivery took less than an hour. To top it off, Paula felt relatively little pain throughout. We’re still counting our blessings and thanking everyone who prayed in that direction!

See photos of Dana in our gallery.

That’s the essential outline–if you want the blow-by-blow, read more.

I actually wrote most of the following at the hospital (yes, I brought my laptop with me–it amused the nurses, I think), so please forgive the verb tenses.
Continue reading “D‑Day (Delivery Day)”

Spring Break Filler

Hope you’re having a great spring break. Of course, if you are then you’re probably not obsessively checking this website…

Anyway, Andrew’s off to Russia and Lynette’s on her way back from Oxford. Andrew got pickpocketed in London–I hope he blogs about it.

As you’ve probably heard, alumna Adeline is a finalist in the Miss Singapore Universe competition.

Finally, if you haven’t seen the previews, there’s a new teen movie coming out called Saved that pokes fun at the Christian high school scene. Tim Bednar has an interview with the director (thanks to Andrew Careaga for the lead).

On the Verge

Paula goes in to the hospital tonight, and baby should appear sometime tomorrow afternoon (around 5pm is what the doctor estimated).

Woohoo!

By the way, a few days ago I mentioned that an alumna from our Chi Alpha group at Stanford is a finalist in the Miss Singapore Universe competition. Nathaniel Rice (one of our current students) found a blog that mentions Adeline’s involvement twice (on March 12 in a spiritual sort of context and once on March 21 in a fun friend kind of context).

an excerpt from the Friday March 12 entry: One of the girls, Adeline, left the deepest impression in my heart… [skipped some stuff] i respect her and look up to her.. she got this spark in her eyes when she was sharing her experience.. as if she was living life with such passions~! I told her i was feeling pretty nervous, and she said..“remember i said beauty is a quiet and gentle spirit?” I said “yeah” as her group’s topic was about what beauty means to them(everyone had to intro themselves with name and age, and a few words about their topic in front of the judges). Then she smiled and said to me, “You have that beauty i was talking about — a quiet and gentle spirit.”. I was pretty touched, i smiled and said Thank you and hugged her, and i was close to tears.. it’s just amazing! She wasn’t like most of the other contestants who could be pretty selfish at times, or hypocritical, or bitchy. She is so sincere.. and true.. and so positive.. and she is just a few years older than me and already living life the way she wants! She just touched my heart in a way.. =)

I’d like for Chi Alpha to take credit for Adeline, but she was already pretty mature before we even met her…

Purpose-Driven Profile

Rick Warren (pastor and author) is the subject of a very favorable article in Time.

My favorite excerpt: Remarkably, Warren has managed to spread his approach to the gospel without extensive national media coverage or a TV ministry. He turned down an invitation from Oprah to be on her show, though he says he’d like to meet her someday. “Too many ministers start out as servants and end up as celebrities,” he says. “I want to use my influence to do some good, and I can get more done out of the limelight.”