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.”

Thursday’s Child Has Far to Go…

Paula and I went to see the doctor today, and we’re going to have labor induced this Thursday.

Pretty strange to think about, that we can schedule that. There is the chance that she’ll come early, but the doctor didn’t seem to expect it.

Expect some good news and a photo soon!

Let’s just hope the poem is wrong…

Monday’s Child is fair of face
Tuesday’s Child is full of grace
Wednesday’s Child is full of woe
Thursday’s Child has far to go
Friday’s Child is loving and giving
Saturday’s Child works hard for a living
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.

Then again, I’m not sure what that means. Thursday’s Child has far to go in order to reach what destination?

Could be worse, I suppose–we could have induced on Wednesday.

On a completely unrelated note, I was very disappointed earlier today. John Ortberg is the teaching pastor at Menlo Park Presbyterian Church, which is about two blocks from my apartment. He’s also considered one of the best preachers in America.

Well, I’m always trying become a better preacher, so I emailed him and asked to interview him about the sermon preparation and delivery process (which I was planning to encode in MP3 format and upload to a website, probably Reach The U).

After a few days he emailed me back and declined, citing a busy teaching schedule. I was pretty bummed. I suppose I half expected it–for all he knows I’m some whacko–but it’s still disappointing. I consider him a professional role model, and so it would have been nice to meet him and figure out how he does what he does.

Maybe it will work out someday. I used to have a lot of success at meeting people I esteemed (or was just curious about), but my last few attempts have bombed (Doug Fields, Dan Betzer, Dan Kimball, and now John Ortberg).

Passion Pro-Semitic?

Most of the controversy about Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ was predicated on the assumption that at worst it would provoke profound anti-semitism and at the best it would leave people unswayed (as regards the culpability of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus).

Looks like everyone was wrong–just ask the San Francisco Chronicle. The film seems to have nuanced people’s views and made them less willing to assign specific blame.

See a related article in the Washington Times download dive bomber movie .

Note: the survey was pretty small. Read the Chronicle story to get the scoop on the methodology.

Wild Parrots Roam San Francisco?

No baby yet.

Oneida Shen, a Chi Alpha intern in Arizona, just spent the last few days with us checking out campuses in Nor Cal and Nevada. She’s seriously considering coming to work alongside Paula and I here at Stanford. Pretty cool.

Also, apparently one of our alumni is currently in the Miss Universe Singapore finals (according to another Singaporean alumnus). How wild is that?

And I just learned one more really strange thing about the Bay Area–there are flocks of wild parrots that roam San Francisco. Seriously–there’s even a book about it. Apparently they just fly around the city. Read the FAQ. It reminds me of a chapter in the Life of Pi.