WELCOME BENJAMIN ROBERT JULIAN!

"And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes..." (from Luke 2:7)

Mary Ann and I are first time grandparents, and what a wonderful feeling it is!

Our daughter Amy gave birth to Benjamin Robert Julian today at around 1 a.m. Central Time.

Amy kept the name totally secret until after the birth.

Our daughter Rachel had predicted for awhile that the baby would be named Benjamin and would be born on Boston Marathon Day. So even though he's an "Ozarkian" he's got that definite Boston connection, too. And the fact that his other grandfather, Mark Julian, is a huge Boston Celtics fan helps, too!

Ironically, I arrived in Springfield, Missouri sight unseen to attend Central Bible College in January of 1977. There I was at the airport hailing a taxi and riding through a city and to a school I'd never seen. Two years later, my friend James Rayburn's wife Debbie gave birth prematurely to twins at the old Cox Medical Center. I remember many a visit to the hallway outside the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

Had someone told me that thirty-two years later I'd have a daughter who worked as a nurse at the new Cox South Hospital (including sometimes in the NICU) and that I'd have a grandson born there, that would have sounded unbelievable.

Mary Ann and our good friend Suzanne Fay are out there now. I hope to see the baby "in person" before 2011 ends.

To God be the glory, Great things He hath done!