In case you didn’t know!

Sara and I are expecting. It really could be any day now that I’ll be holding my son in my arms! Hard to imagine I’ve grown up that much… but kind of suprising this day hadn’t come sooner. We began this journey almost two years ago as we became pregnant with our first child, which we lost only 10-12 weeks into it. About four months later the same thing happened again. Initial testing indicated that there was nothing wrong and no explainable reasons for the misscarriages. Then maybe 6 months later we are pregnant again. This time however we were ready. Sara had resigned from her job at Cook Children’s Hospital and gotten a job at the church where she could work from home. When the exact same symptoms came again around week 10, Sara went on bedrest for several weeks. Every doctor’s appointment was a mix of apprehension and hope. Fortunately weeks past and we moved into the second trimester and then the third. Now we know that children truly are a miracle from the Lord and we’re so blessed to have been blessed with a son.

We’ve named our son Titus Whitfield Conley. Yes, it is different… maybe one of the reasons we like it so much. Before I had even met Sara, I already had the names for 4 or 5 boys. It’s interesting how once reality is staring you in the face, what you liked before doesn’t really do it for you. We tossed names around for months not really knowing what we liked. Obviously we wanted a name that sounded right, but we really wanted a name where it’s meaning would fit our son. We came across several names we liked, but didn’t really care for the meainings. So, on a drive back from Colorado at Christmas, we came across the name Titus. Of course it is a Bible name, but we had never considered it as a name. According to the baby name book, it meant “Giant.” YES! Any offspring of Sara and I would definately meet this description. Sara and I are not ones to simply blend in but always hope to stand out and be noticed. We feel that our son Titus can be a giant in this world, one that makes a great impact. Oh, and Conley actually means “Hero.” Even better! Our Titus is going to be a “Giant Hero!”

Now, the middle name was even trickier. Now we had to find a name we liked and fit with both Titus and Conley. This was tough. I think we went 2 or 3 more months without a middle name. If it was completely down to meaning, Sara and I would go with Garreth, which means “gentle.” For as long as I can remember, this has been a quality I’ve always wanted to portray. Sometimes I do better than others. I guess big people sometimes have the tendency to be rough, mean or intimidating by nature… but what a refreshing suprise it is when you encounter a gentle giant. Only one problem… we were not in love with the name Garreth. A little later we came across the name Whitefield and liked the sound of it a lot. Actually we were reading about George Whitefield, a minister from the first Great Awakening. He was originally from England (like me) and had significant ministry influence in Georgia (where I grew up), so we really liked the name. We decided to chage the spelling to make it clearer in spelling and pronunciation.

So, that’s his name. I’m wondering though, since we have changed the spelling of his middlename does that mean that we can also change the meaning. If so, then Whitfield means Garreth, which means Gentle. Yes, Titus is our Gentle Giant Hero and we can’t wait to meet him!