We're Welcoming Michael (Mikey) Robert Zientara IV!
We sat at dinner table on an average Tuesday night discussing what Annie wanted to do for maternity leave once Mikey was born. How long, and how would we manage the length. Before we knew it, it was time to head to two separate meetings: Annie to a Moms class and Mike to a session meeting at church. Annie decided to go to the bathroom before she left, and suddenly our world changed! When she stood up her water broke, just like in the movies! And just like in the movies, we hadn’t packed a bag for the hospital and so Mike started running around quickly gathering the things needed for the hospital. We left dinner sitting on the table, and a little over six hours later at 12:31am on 10/5/16 we welcomed our son into the world. He weighed 5lbs 13oz and was 18.75 inches long. Mikey decided to join us a little over 4 weeks early, apparently he got the memo that to Zientara’s being early is on time. Or he just wanted to watch the Cubs postseason run with his Daddy. Either way, we’re grateful to God that despite coming early, both he and Annie are doing exceptionally well.
In the last few weeks we have been struck again by how lucky we are to have you all as family, friends, and partners in mission. We’ve been so grateful for the gifts, cards, meals, and visits we’ve received from many of you. We’re particularly grateful for both of our Moms who have each spent a week with us to help us get settled into our new season. We firmly believe in the “it takes a village” mentality to raising kids, and we have been reminded again that Mikey is blessed with quite the village to help raise him. Even as we were in the hospital we were struck by how many of you said you were praying for us as we started this new season in life. Thank you so much for being a way that God has revealed his love to us.
We’re excited as we start this season as a family of three! In the immediate, Mike has pryed himself away from Mikey long enough to get to back to work. Annie will be on maternity leave until the new year, and will return to work part-time at that point. Please pray for us as we continue to figure out our new patterns of life and sleep [or lack of sleep more accurately].
One quick story that has stood out to Mike in the midst of the last few weeks. On the first night at the hospital that Mikey was in the room with us, there was point where Mikey was fussing. Mike went over and picked him up, rocked with him, walked around the room, and nothing was calming him down. Then Mike said, “Hey buddy, can I tell you a story about our friend Jesus?” and as soon as he said Jesus Mikey stopped fussing. Then it was Mike’s turn to cry as he told Mikey the story of Jesus turning the water into wine. What a powerful reminder of the power of the name of Jesus. As Mikey continues to get his days and nights backwards, both Annie and Mike have spent time telling Mikey stories about Jesus, reading scripture, singing to him and praying together. We can only hope that Mikey will know Jesus as his friend early in his life. As we both think about how much we love Mikey we can’t fathom the love that our Heavenly Father has for us.
In the last few weeks we have been struck again by how lucky we are to have you all as family, friends, and partners in mission. We’ve been so grateful for the gifts, cards, meals, and visits we’ve received from many of you. We’re particularly grateful for both of our Moms who have each spent a week with us to help us get settled into our new season. We firmly believe in the “it takes a village” mentality to raising kids, and we have been reminded again that Mikey is blessed with quite the village to help raise him. Even as we were in the hospital we were struck by how many of you said you were praying for us as we started this new season in life. Thank you so much for being a way that God has revealed his love to us.
We’re excited as we start this season as a family of three! In the immediate, Mike has pryed himself away from Mikey long enough to get to back to work. Annie will be on maternity leave until the new year, and will return to work part-time at that point. Please pray for us as we continue to figure out our new patterns of life and sleep [or lack of sleep more accurately].
One quick story that has stood out to Mike in the midst of the last few weeks. On the first night at the hospital that Mikey was in the room with us, there was point where Mikey was fussing. Mike went over and picked him up, rocked with him, walked around the room, and nothing was calming him down. Then Mike said, “Hey buddy, can I tell you a story about our friend Jesus?” and as soon as he said Jesus Mikey stopped fussing. Then it was Mike’s turn to cry as he told Mikey the story of Jesus turning the water into wine. What a powerful reminder of the power of the name of Jesus. As Mikey continues to get his days and nights backwards, both Annie and Mike have spent time telling Mikey stories about Jesus, reading scripture, singing to him and praying together. We can only hope that Mikey will know Jesus as his friend early in his life. As we both think about how much we love Mikey we can’t fathom the love that our Heavenly Father has for us.