K Family Journal

The Lord is Gracious

Matt and Jill joyfully, gratefully announce the birth of their second son

John Timothy K.

The son whom we love who is faithful in the Lord

(I Corinthians 4:17)

His Local name:

马正辉

Pronounced Zheng-4 Hway-1: the name means "upright, marvelous light" and It sounds like "witness of the light"

The legacy of his name:

The disciple John considered himself the beloved friend of Jesus and it's our prayer that this would also be the core of how our son grows to understand hismself as well. John means "God is gracious", and clearly, He is abundantly so! We are glad that this name also links our son to a history of many great men after God's heart , several treasured friends, and to Matthew's next youngest brother, John Christian, who went to be with the Lord while he was a toddler.

Timothy was chosen because of the banner Paul wrote of another young man by this name in I Corinthians 4:17. He commended this Timothy to the church as "the son whom I love who is faithful in the Lord." This is another message we want raised high over our son's heart, mind, and life. We are also glad that this name has been carried by three men in our own lives who have impacted us greatly: T. Kuck- a spiritual father to Jill through young adult years, T. Luepke- a dear friend, a brother of the heart, and ministry partner to Matt, and T. Mitch- a dear friend and mentor to both of us whose life and family overseas has been an example to us.

The story of his coming:

Labor was pretty strange leading up to the moment of meeting our boy. There were 3 weeks of significant contractions- off and on- ahead of time, and then a break with no contractions for 5 hours after we arrived at the hospital. After this wait, Jill was moved to the delivery room around 3 am and then soon dilated to 10 cm but contractions were still considered (not by Jill) to be too slight and there was no urge to push. Matt was an outstanding labor coach and remebered well how we had learned and heard the value of breathing through contractions and letting the body work naturally.... so we did that for 2 hours and then decided to have the sac of waters broken to see if that would help get the baby out. It was ruptured at 5:12 and John was born at 5:17am. Praise the Lord! We are so glad to have our new son with us!

Big brother Isaiah and big sister Marian join us in gladly welcoming our little one!

Our sweet princess wasn't feeling too well when she came to the hospital to meet her little bro... and then the big brother came down with the same junk she had so John and I have ended up staying our full 3 days in the hospital to hopefully see the fevers end at our house before we return.

One very important part of the morning for Isaiah, was making sure that John got to see his big brother's Automan (Ultraman) stickers and he got one or two stuck on him as well... Isaiah is obssessed with them and still willing to share.... we love these THREE so much!