everything you ever wanted to know about haven~

My good friend, Lori, (who, by the way I am so enjoying getting to know better this last year or so), said I should do the 8 interesting things about my other sweeties. I'll go ahead and do Haven, as he's pretty easy, and I'll get around to the others in the near future...

Haven~

1. Is the rolling champ! Forget crawling...he'll just roll. (Why do all my children reach every milestone late and completely out of order??? Not that I mind, I'll take a 16month walker over an 8 month walker any day!!)

2. Has his own look now, but looked exactly like Noah for months. I'll have to post a couple of pictures sometime when I have time to compare them on my computer. I have some that were they not labeled, I wouldn't be able to tell you who was who...seriously.)

3. Was my most eventful birth ever (still need to post that birth story!) Suffice it to say that he literally fell out, snapped the umbilical cord, and was born in his water bag.

4. His full name is Haven Asher Rivers... He weighed 9lbs 8oz at birth and was 20 inches long. His name, as with all our children, has a very strong mantle of blessing, calling, and destiny. I still can't get my brain all the way around it, but it needed to be Haven Asher (all our boys' middle names are Rivers, as is Glen's). It has something to do with his calling as a Haven for his family, as a father and husband, as well as a depth that I can sense but don't fully grasp. Asher at its most basic meaning is "happy and blessed" but after learning a little about Hebrew from Jared Black at church, have had a new facet of that opened up. Asher literally means "fire on the head". So something about being a haven, a refuge, bringing fire of blessing and happiness to others as well as having a fire of blessing and happiness on him as a head and refuge for his family..., and I just can't really explain it. I didn't really understand why he was to have both names and I am excited to watch him grow into who he is.

5. Is drinking from a cup!! Thank you, Jesus, I get to go on the women's retreat and sleep!!!

6. Is completely in love with his brothers and sisters and thinks Anna is his second mommy.

7. Has the most ridiculous "mommy alarm" I have ever encountered. No joke. Next sentence to be taken in the most literal sense possible. Every single night, regardless of when I lay down to go to bed, regardless of how long I lay there before I begin to drift off, as soon as I begin to drift off, he wakes up to be fed. No joke. Every night. This hasn't been going on since birth, but has been going on currently for months. And the kid still gets me up almost every two hours during the night to eat (he looks hungry in the previous pictures, don't you think? Like he needs to eat, you can tell I hardly ever feed him...whatever! Mr. Head-In-The-95th-Percentile).

8. Is a joy and absolute delight that I still kiss every time I pick up and thank God for every single day. I am floored that the Father would give me such an amazing gift, far above all I could ever ask or imagine. I have the privilege of being called mommy.

bonus #9. Has that same scruffy voice all of my boys have that I absolutely love.

Okay, Lori, let's hear 8 fun things about Judah and Miriam! (Or James, if you want to consider him...a kid...just kidding :o) I am totally kidding!