Josiah Roberts Coppenger!!!

Josiah made his debut at 7.1 lbs and 19 inches on a frosty, February 12, 2008 afternoon. Unmedicated, Melanie delivered him to us only 5 hours after checking into the hospital (and 5 days early)! As you can tell from the pictures, he hasn’t learned the secret to contentment yet. Fortunately, he is quickly learning how to eat. There were a few tense moments at the end of the delivery, but Melanie and Josiah (but really just Melanie) worked together to avoid a last minute emergency c-section. We think that Josiah was a little cold in the womb because when he came out he was wearing the umbilical cord around his neck. I quickly cut it, at the doctor’s forceful prompting, and secured a story about “The day I saved my son’s life…” that Josiah will hear about most likely more than once in his lifetime. The doctors, nurses, and all of our family and friends here locally and around the world have been a great source of encouragement to Melanie and me. We are so thankful to God that he brought about all of this in such a gracious way. We pray that Josiah will grow to be mighty in Christ’s kingdom. Thanks for your prayers, phone calls, text messages, and all the rest. We’re sorry for the delayed responses. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment. Lord willing, we’ll take this little man home tomorrow afternoon. We look forward to seeing many of y’all in the days ahead!