Powerful patrons

Birth announcement: John Maximilian!

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A mama I did a private consultation for has let me know her baby has arrived — a little boy with the amazing name … John Maximilian!!

She writes,

“Just wanted to let you know we had a healthy baby boy March 5th! Thank God for all His blessings! John Maximilian! 8lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long! Born at 9:36 am!

The relics of St Maximilian Kolbe just so happened to be traveling in our area (Raleigh, NC) when he was born. When my husband & I were trying to figure out his middle name (we were considering Max but hadn’t decided for sure) a friend texted congrats & said she was praying in front of Max Kolbe’s relics while I was giving birth! So we felt that was confirmation enough so we went with that middle name. (It’s also my dads name).”

How awesome is that?? The story about St. Max’s relics is fantastic enough, but to have Maximilian be the grandpa’s name as well is just perfect!

John Maximilian joins big sibs:

Nicholas Michael
Paulina Marie
Gabrielle Anne
Levi Joseph

What a beautifully named family! Congratulations to them all, and happy birthday Baby John Maximilian!!

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John Maximilian

 

Birth announcement: Adelaide Elizabeth!

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I know I said I’d be off the blog — and I am! But birth announcements are too celebratory not to post!

I did a private consultation for a mama a while ago, and she’s let me know her baby has arrived — a little girl named … Adelaide Elizabeth!!

She writes,

“I just wanted to update you that our baby was born on the 14th … Her name is Adelaide Elizabeth. Adelaide we settled on early, and the middle name Elizabeth was not one of my first ideas and isn’t as strong a family name as her older two siblings (with their parents’ first names as middle) but I did have a great-grandmother Elizabeth and it’s been a middle name for various family members on both sides. I’m undecided as Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist, or Elizabeth Seton as a patron…so maybe both?

She’s a darling baby and we’re so thrilled!“

How wonderful!! I LOVE the name Adelaide! And of course Elizabeth, I mean, come on. What a great combo. Her big sibs are:

Penelope Theresa
Leo Elliot

Love love love. A little offbeat but totally classic at the same time. Beautiful job, Mom and Dad!

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Adelaide!!

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Adelaide Elizabeth

Birth announcement: Woodrow Ignatius!

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I posted a consultation for Emily and her husband last summer, and she’s let me know her baby has arrived — a baby boy given the killer combo … Woodrow Ignatius!

Emily writes,

“Woodrow Ignatius Floyd was born on October 23, 2015.

Oddly enough we did not know St Ignatius of Loyola was also born on Oct 23, but divine providence proves itself once again. We had no middle name for him as I felt like God and the saints would point in the right direction on his birthday. I had really thought I would have him on Oct 22 (his due date was the 31), because it’s the feast of St Pope John Paul II, to whom I have a strong devotion. But even though my water broke on the 22, and it seems St Ignatius wanted him for his own. 🙂 … Woodrow was a name my husband brought up and was a front runner while we were still deciding. We will not be using a nickname, though “Row” or “W” would be what we would use.

Both my husband and I love history, as I think I said before, so we were really drawn to names with historical reference or legend, etc. “

I’m really excited because one of the names I’d suggested had been Fitzwilliam (after Mr. Darcy), and Woodrow is so similar because it’s a last name used as a first name by a famous man (one fictional, one real). I even wrote, “I was trying to think of names that will always be somewhat unique/unpopular, no matter the changing tide of societal taste, and I thought surnames are one of those that may tend to fit that category.” So I feel like I was circling the right area! And I LOVE Woodrow with Ignatius — so heavy hitting! So faithy! So perfectly fitting what Emily and her husband were looking for! The story of how Ignatius is came to be his name is so.fantastic.

Congratulations to the proud Mom and Dad and big sibs Gwenevere Marie, Avalene Ruth, and Gideon Elias, and happy birthday Baby Woodrow!!

Birth announcement: Helen Margaret!

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Yes, if you’ve been following my recent posts about Dwija and her baby, you’ll likely recognize the name in the title of this post: Dwija’s baby girl was born via emergency c-section on Sunday! I would have posted the news when I read it, except I read it as I was on my way into a meeting at church Sunday evening, and I got home too late, and then yesterday was consultation day and I really try to keep the whole day devoted to the family in the post to maximize their exposure. I’m sorry to be so late with this!

That link above is to the birth story, and I’m still amazed at the fact that she was born on 3/13 and weighed 3lbs 13 oz. The best news: she’s “very healthy and happy and safe.”

Also be sure to check out Dwija’s Instagram feed, as there are lots of sweet pictures of that teeny tiny girl! St. Helena, St. Margaret, St. Roderick (on whose feast day she was born), pray for this baby and her mama and her whole family.

Congratulations to the whole Borobia Family, and happy birthday Baby Helen!!

Name announcement: Baby Hahn!

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Until yesterday I’d never had a pre-birth “name announcement” post — and here’s the second one in a row!

I posted the consultation for Ana from Time Flies When You’re Having Babies back in January, and while the name they’ve chosen and announced for their baby isn’t one of the ones I’d suggested, it’s totally in keeping with their style thus far and I’m just dying over it because it’s so darn cute and handsome and sort of crotchety (in the best way possible — kind of like the comments I got that one of my boys’ names is better suited to a “grown man with a cigar hanging out of his mouth … like a stevedore down on the docks!” — I LOVE that! 😀 ).

Little Mister’s name is: Fred Bernard, “likely to be called “Freddie”, named for Mike’s grandfather and Bernard of Clairvaux.” Congrats to the Hahns, and continued prayers for the rest of the pregnancy and labor+delivery!

Name announcement: Baby Borobia!

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As I posted the other day, Dwija’s water broke the other day at 32 weeks, but as she blogged yesterday, the baby’s fine and still in utero, and Dwija’s in the hospital for the next two to three weeks (at least?) to give her baby more time. Thank God!

It was also important to Dwija that everyone be able to pray for the baby by name, and so they’ve announced: Helen Margaret! Or rather, “Miss Helen Margaret Borobia (nicknames Nellie, Kitty, Flufferbutt. When you have 6 older siblings, you get nicknames FAST).” 😀

Please continue to pray for Mama Dwija and the beautifully named Baby Helen!

Birth announcement: Sullivan James Pasquale!

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A mama I did a private consultation for has let me know she had her baby boy, and given him the meaningful name of … Sullivan James Pasquale!

He joins big sibs:

Bodhi Mira
Kodo Ze’ev
Ossian Alexander

And his mama writes,

“I wanted to share with you that our sweet baby boy was born on January 21st at 4:45 am. He was 8 lbs, 4oz. We decided to name him Sullivan James Pasquale Knox, which wasn’t even on our radar initially, but unfortunately we unexpectedly lost a dear family member just a week before he was born and made our choice based on that. Thank you so much for helping me on such short notice! Sorry again for taking so long to get back to you. We’ve been busy getting ready to enter the church on Easter! I can’t wait!“

Don’t you love her enthusiasm about entering the Church! I get goosebumps over every single conversion story, I just love them. And I love little Sullivan’s name — Sullivan’s one of my favorite last names to use as a first name, James is so saintly, and Pasquale is perfect for a baby born right before Easter to a mama who’s entering the Church at Easter! I love too how she was able to use a somewhat uncommon name along the lines of her older kiddos’ names while still bringing in her newfound faith.

Congratulations to the whole family, and happy birthday Baby Sullivan!!

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Sullivan James Pasquale

Three things to pray for

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You guys, our dear Dwija’s in the hospital as her water broke yesterday at 32 weeks. Please pray for her and her wee little girl! And the rest of the family!

Secondly, I know you’ve all heard about the sweet, brave Missionaries of Charity who were handcuffed and shot in Yemen. Stories and pictures about them were being tagged yesterday on FB and Twitter and IG with #TheseSistersHaveNames, which is so appropriate — we know the power of names and their humanizing effect. Knowing their names helps us never forget them. Sr. Anselm, Sr. Reginette, Sr. Marguerite/Margherite (I’ve seen both), and Sr. Judith (a new and wonderful patron for any Judiths!), please pray for us and for the whole world. ❤

This is the prayer the Missionaries of Charity pray “after their morning Mass and before breakfast, the prayer is one of the last that the sisters would have prayed before being killed”:

“Lord, teach me to be generous. Teach me to serve you as you deserve; to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and not to seek for rest, to labor and not to ask for reward.”

A friend sent this prayer to me yesterday as appropriate for my third intention: though it certainly pales in comparison to the kinds of suffering the Missionaries of Charity see and tend to, and to actual martyrdom for one’s faith, there’s a stomach bug that won’t leave my house, and I know a lot of you are dealing with it too (I hope you’re all feeling better Jen!). My #4, who I thought was on the upswing after spending the entire day throwing up two days ago did so again last night. It’s everywhere. My task for this morning is to clean it up (I was too tired last night). Please pray for my little boys (four out of the six have now had it … I’m waiting for the other two, and please God not myself [my husband doesn’t get stomach bugs, such a weirdo]) and for me and for all the parents and little ones dealing with the the stomach bug right now. I seriously think someone needs to start an Order of Sisters whose mission is to care for families with the stomach bug. Great personal risk? Check. Ostracization? Check. Suffering and sickness? Check, check, checkity check. If anyone has any daughters who want to start a new Order when they grow up, maybe whisper this idea in their ears. (I truly hope this doesn’t come across as insensitive in the face of the lost Sisters of Yemen. It’s because of their wonderful work and love and care that I immediately thought of Sisters when I was in the throes of cleaning and disinfecting our house over the last few days — they do such wonderful, important work, in big ways and small. Thank God for Sisters.)

Birth announcement: Mathilda!

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I posted a consultation for Sabrina from Austria at the beginning of February, and she’s let me know her baby has arrived — the beautifully named Mathilda!

Sabrina writes,

“Just wanted to let you know that our little girl was born this morning – we ended up naming her Mathilda. However we only decided upon that name two days ago, before that it was Alma, another beautiful name I found on my researches. As you see, the name ride was a wild one, right when she had arrived I could not remember the name at all 😀 Thanks for your help“

I love hearing the process parents go through to finally decide on a name! And Mathilda is just wonderful, I love it. Interestingly, Sabrina gave this update:

“So our plan [was] to have Mathilda baptized on the day of St. Mathilde on March 14th, but it turned out both our Priests are unavailable at that day. 😦 Now we’ll aim at a Marian feast day and give her the second name Maria“

Sabrina probably thought I was so dense as I wondered if I should then announce her name as Mathilda Maria — I hope she corrects me if I’m wrong, but from our conversation I gather that her given name is Mathilda, and her baptismal name, which is not a legal part of her name, may be Maria if she’s able to be baptized on a Marian feast day. Whew! I love learning about naming practices in different parts of the world!

Congratulations to Sabrina and her husband and big siblings Parsifal and Aurelia, and happy birthday Baby Mathilda!!

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Mathilda

Birth announcement: Bennett Michael!

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One of my dearest friends (bridesmaid-in-my-wedding kind of friend) and her husband have welcomed their second baby on earth, and have given him the amazingly handsome name of … Bennett Michael!

One of the most fun parts of his naming is that she and her husband keep their name choices secret until the birth, but she revealed to me not too long ago that they’d actually first heard the name they’d chosen for a boy from one of you readers! So I was a little obsessive about going through old posts and trying to figure out what I thought the name could be, and I totally called it — I even told my husband, just so I’d have a witness! Haha!

So when she texted me the wonderful news about my wonderful newest pseudo-nephew, I was dancing for joy for all sorts of reasons. 😀 ❤ ❤ ❤

Bennett joins big brother Luke Francis, and I don’t yet know if they’re going to call him Ben or Benny but I love every single aspect of brothers Luke and Bennett. Fantastic taste you guys!! Lots of love and congratulations again, and happy birthday Baby Bennett!!

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Bennett Michael

(Fun fact: Bennett’s mama is one of several really close friends of mine from college, and between the five of us we have three girls and lots of boys — Bennett is boy #16!!!)

(Now to go obsessively try to figure out their girl name, which is a totally futile attempt because I know she won’t tell me. 😛 )