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My wife Dianne and I are about to be blessed with the sight of our 8th living child, due tomorrow- the Catholic Feast of the Triumph of the Cross.  And for us this is truly a triumph of the cross.

The cross, especially for my wife, has been the loss of three successive children to miscarriage.  The loss was all the more painful since we learned of the loss of each of the three children on special days.

The first child who died Stefano Samuel Thomas– was miscarried on Dianne’s birthday five years ago.  It was sad to lose this blessing to our family on the day when gifts are normally received. 

We learned of the death of the second child we lost – Bernadette Helena Rose – on another day when gifts are received rather than taken away… our sixteenth wedding anniversary.

Likewise, we learned of the death the third child in the womb – Jessie Emmanuel Marion – on Christmas Eve when our family normally celebrates Christmas and gift-giving.  A week later on New Years Day my wife begged God that within a year she would bear another child, and that this child should live.

One year later we found ourselves hosting a New Year’s Eve party.  Six couples, some of our very closest friends were there with us to celebrate the dawn of a new year.  At that party five of the women were newly pregnant, and unbeknownst to me that was a heavy burden for my wife.

She tells me now that when she noted that fact – that most of her closest friends were expecting – she excused herself to the restroom to have a cry.  “You forgot somebody Lord!” she prayed silently through her tears.  “You’ve given the gift of life to all those beautiful daughters of yours in there but you forgot one, you forgot me.”

A few weeks later we learned that Dianne too was with child. And although we did not know it at the time she was pregnant at that very New Years Eve party.  As it turns out, God hadn’t forgotten her after all.

Having had three miscarriages in a row, we did not reveal our little secret too early, but with seven children the joy of such news cannot remain undisclosed for very long.

With some trepidation we told the children of the good news, enlisting their ardent prayers for the survival of their newest sibling.  The first ultrasound showed all was well and good. Subsequent ones were the same, one revealing that the child was a boy.

Once well beyond the first trimester the need for a name occurred to us. You see, we have five boys thus far and a family tradition of assigning three names to a child.  For some time we tossed around ideas and eventually we settled on Zachary, or if you ask my wife Zachariah.  I liked the English version Zachary, and she the Hebrew version Zachariah.  We’ve bantered that back and forth for many weeks now.

And here is where our story gets very interesting indeed.  One of Dianne’s close friends, one of the same women who was pregnant at our New Years Eve party and now has the joy of holding her newborn, called my wife to relay a strange dream she had. 

She dreamt that she caught our baby as he was flying through the air, and she explained that in her dream we were arguing about names for the child.  Although we did not tell anyone of our chosen name, her friend said John-Henry was arguing for Zachary while Dianne wanted Zachariah, but her husband suggested Jebediah.  As she laughed at the inside joke (most of our boy’s names begin with ‘J’) Dianne did not laugh but was stunned into silence.

“That’s the name!” Dianne relayed.  “Not only is it the name, that is the debate, and JH does want Zachary and I’m opting for Zachariah. Now it was her friend’s turn at stunned silence.

As Dianne and I talked over the incredible dream, we both felt it was a kind of heavenly confirmation that we’d hit upon the right name for this child, the name that God intends for him.  We’re still debating the language version we’ll use though…

With that much heavenly confirmation Dianne decided the other night to investigate the meaning of the name Zachary (or Zachariah).  As she Googled the name, tears began to stream down her face as the meaning of the name appeared on the screen…

Zachariah means “the Lord remembers.”

If you could keep Dianne, Zachary and our whole family in your prayers these next few weeks we’d sure appreciate it.  And at any time now, and without much notice I’ll be leaving my duties here at LifeSiteNews for about a week. 

Our LifeSiteNews team are already very heavily burdened and my absence will not help in that regard so your prayers for this great crew are most necessary too. 

May the God Who remembers, bless you all this night!