John Shrader 15: Welcome to Poisonwood, Caleb

[Gobsmacked]

Rufus, can you please enable Esther's mum to visit ASAP. Esther needs someone with a smigeon of common sense with her now. Mrs Keller seems daft because of her perpetual dopey grin. However she did manage to birth, keep alive then raise umpteen kids.  John will now take to his bed for a few days due to the stress of 'having' a baby!!!!!!!

Hope all is ok with Esther and Caleb. Please Rufus, no Irish twins this year. Caleb was supposed to be the '2017 model', so there is a possibility of this happening.

[Palimpsest]

6 minutes ago, Lifesjustbeachy said:

Caleb served Moses, was faithful, rewarded with land for his descendants.  It's a biblical name. 

Yes, the boys all have Biblical names and the girls all have Greek names.  I like the girls' names.

For some reason I've always disliked Caleb as a name, but it is OK I suppose.  Better than Nehemiah anyway,

Just now, laPapessaGiovanna said:

My inner classicist shudders because the Greek pronunciation is quite different, but this is how it's pronounced in English.

Relax.  As a name it is pronounced more like Ag-a-pay.    

Thanks for changing the thread title!

[Curious]

2 minutes ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

My inner classicist shudders because the Greek pronunciation is quite different, but this is how it's pronounced in English.

oh, so it is phonetic.  Not sure what I think of it now, but I have no room to talk given my real name lol

[legalbeagle]

1 minute ago, Curious said:

oh, so it is phonetic.  Not sure what I think of it now, but I have no room to talk given my real name lol

Haha, the name is pronounced Uh-gah-pay. It's a Greek word for love. 

And I'm very relieved that the baby is here and (presumably) he and Esther are both safe and doing well. I've been following this thread closely for weeks and hoping for the best for them both.

[laPapessaGiovanna]

2 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Relax.  As a name it is pronounced more like Ag-a-pay.   

Sorry mrs P but I have no idea of how you Englishy people pronounce Ag-a-pay , it's not like how you write words is sure proof of how you read them lol. In case you can't tell I am a frequent user of the Cambridge Dictionary just to check pronunciations lol.

But I agree it's an English name of an English speaking girl so it's rightly pronounced in English. I'm just not used to it.

[Lifesjustbeachy]

Her name Agape is pronounced "Uh gah pay" for agape love,  as opposed to "uh gape" for staring in disbelief. 

[Palimpsest]

2 minutes ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

Sorry mrs P but I have no idea of how you Englishy people pronounce Ag-a-pay , it's not like how you write words is sure proof of how you read them lol. In case you can't tell I am a frequent user of the Cambridge Dictionary just to check pronunciations lol.

But I agree it's an English name of an English speaking girl so it's rightly pronounced in English. I'm just not used to it.

I think your spoken English is much better than you let on, my friend. 

Three syllables: A as in AGA (I think that is Swedish), a as in apple, and pe as in Pay - handing over money.  Not 2 syllable Agape.  As in our jaws falling wide open as we read John's lies!

Using the Greek(ish) pronunciation isn't that unusual in English.  The Methodists have Agape meals also known as Love Feasts.

[Curious]

9 minutes ago, Lifesjustbeachy said:

Her name Agape is pronounced "Uh gah pay" for agape love,  as opposed to "uh gape" for staring in disbelief. 

that was my fear, that it was pronounced like staring in belief way.  The other way isn't as bad, but I wonder how many people still call her uh gape?

[laPapessaGiovanna]

Thank you @Palimpsest and @Lifesjustbeachy, I forgot there's also the adjective. I should have read more carefully the dictionary page lol.

[anjulibai]

42 minutes ago, BabyBottlePop said:

The name surprises me. Seems very conventional considering his other kids names like Agape and Enoch.

I was thinking the same thing. Caleb is fairly trendy. 

I'm so relieved he finally came. I hope Esther recovers quickly and easily. 

Was a middle name given? I had guessed Chisobe or whatever that village he was gung-ho about was called. 

[nickelodeon]

I wonder if John and co. blame the baby's late arrival on radiation from Fukushima again.

[Palimpsest]

10 minutes ago, anjulibai said:

Was a middle name given? I had guessed Chisobe or whatever that village he was gung-ho about was called. 

No second name was mentioned.  He has promised to post pictures later.

Do we all remember that Chisobe (Chee-soh-bay) means "We are lost"?

[Gobsmacked]

1 hour ago, Palimpsest said:

No second name was mentioned.  He has promised to post pictures later.

Do we all remember that Chisobe (Chee-soh-bay) means "We are lost"?

Sadly thats an appropriate name for a Shrader baby born to a father being questioned by immigration. (Said with a perfectly straight face).

 

not.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Im glad that Caleb was born safely.

I wonder what his middle name is. As much as every baby born to the Shraders is another baby that will be exposed to John, I do like the names they give the babies. Especially the girls.

[Lifesjustbeachy]

Pics are up.  Labor was easy, delivery the hardest yet,  requiring advice from their former midwife in the states. 

Are we allowed to post pics from FB?

[laPapessaGiovanna]

1 minute ago, Lifesjustbeachy said:

Pics are up.  Labor was easy, delivery the hardest yet,  requiring advice from their former midwife in the states. 

Are we allowed to post pics from FB?

Not if it's private.

[Palimpsest]

It is a public post but I stink at posting images and there are a lot.  Perhaps someone else ...

Here's the quote:

Quote

God Is Good! H.O.T.L. #11 Is Here!
(Heritage of the Lord)

Little Caleb Shrader finally made his appearance at 5:10 pm on Tuesday, January the 2nd, Zambian time here in Sub-saharan Africa.

He weighed 8 pounds exactly, 20.5" long and is a healthy baby boy!

It was Esther's easiest labor to date, but her hardest delivery. We are so thankful for the kind assistance of our midwife Julie, who hails from Australia and lives in Lusaka. She was a real blessing and a true help, and also we thank God for our wonderful Texas midwife, Cathy, who provided wise counsel from the other side of the world! She delivered Enoch, Alatheia, Timothy, Nehemiah, and Sophia, and knows Esther well regarding her births, so she was wonderful to work together with Julie over a VOIP call.

We also want to thank each one of you that prayed for this birth, we really saw God's Hand and felt your prayers. It was such an encouragement to see your comments letting us know you were lifting us up in prayer.

We want to thank our Father in Heaven most of all, for giving us another "heritage" and "reward" to raise for His honor and glory (Psalm 127).

We're all exhausted, but the kids are very excited to have another sibling, and we are all praising God for another healthy birth and baby.

To God be the glory.

Bro. John for Esther and the 11 kiddos

 

[Lifesjustbeachy]

From the public post

Spoiler

 

 

 

[PopRox]

Awwww, he's adorable.

Too bad now he has to deal with John.

[apandaaries]

I'd post pix, but that's just really not part of my skill set.  Cutting and pasting is where I truly excel, but Palimpest beat me to it.   ETA: Not even necessary, since more skilled FJers succeeded.

 Interesting about the delivery being difficult.  I know with my labor, they broke the water, and after that was when things got really challenging and painful.  I do find it odd that he posted about her being dilated at 10, but nothing for quite some time afterwards.  Can't imagine being in transition but NOT delivering for a long time...I mean, I came pretty close and that was a special kind of excruciating torture. (Episiotomies suck horrifically, too, but at least they get that baby out.)

I'm glad Mrs. Phiri and her mister have moved away from the ego-fest that is John's mission, but it's...interesting that they had an Australian midwife. And what would have warranted a VOIP call to get more advice from another midwife? 

Since we have John as our sole narrator, we'll probably just have to keep wondering.  After all, if APGAR scores can somehow date a baby postpartum, then we clearly know much less than the great and wise Johnny boy.  Perhaps we'll get a few new good stories from Johnny. Always fun to see what he'll invent next. 

[Aine]

3 hours ago, BabyBottlePop said:

 

The name surprises me. Seems very conventional considering his other kids names like Agape and Enoch.

 

The Shraders have a mixed bag with their kids' names- they also have Timothy, Stephen, Isaiah and Sophia, which are all very mainstream. I don't mind their names or their name theme (Biblical for boys, Greek virtue names for girls).

What's the bet that they haven't announced the middle name yet because they don't have any Zambian friends left to tell them what the translation is for whatever English word they want as his middle name? Their newest Zambian son will absolutely need to have a 'Zambian' middle name *eye roll*

I will say this though- John and Esther make some cute kids. 

Good luck, little Caleb.

[Palimpsest]

Many thanks for posting the pictures @Lifesjustbeachy.

And a rather belated to Free Jinger.  How did you find us and did you lurk for long?

 

[Ozlsn]

3 hours ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

My inner classicist shudders because the Greek pronunciation is quite different, but this is how it's pronounced in English.

Admittedly the only Agape's I know are of Greek background but I've only ever heard it pronounced "Aa-Gah-Peh". Never 'agape' - although a comedy show here that had a character with that name probably helped with wider correct pronunciation in the local community!

Damn, now I'm wondering about Julie, the Australian midwife. Weirdly I think I have come across her before via non-internet circles. 

Glad everything went well and best wishes to Caleb and the other children.

[hasunah]

As long as it's not pronounced a gay pee

[Lifesjustbeachy]

33 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Many thanks for posting the pictures @Lifesjustbeachy.

And a rather belated 

<img alt=":text-welcomeconfetti:" data-emoticon="" src="http://www.freejinger.org/uploads/emoticons/default_text/welcomeconfetti.gif" title=":text-welcomeconfetti:" /> to Free Jinger.  How did you find us and did you lurk for long? <img alt=":D" data-emoticon="" height="20" src="http://www.freejinger.org/uploads/emoticons/default_biggrin.png" srcset="http://www.freejinger.org/uploads/emoticons/biggrin@2x.png 2x" title=":D" width="20" />

 

I have lurked since before the rapture,  back 2 Alecto. I haven't previously posted because it could cause trouble at church and with people discussed. 

After all these years we've pushed ourselves away some what.  It could still have consequences,  but I'm tired of some of the stuff that goes on.