As the title indicates, Deborah and I had another milestone today on our journey to the birth of our baby.

We had an appointment at the doctor. After going through our medical histories and the usual discussions, the RN assistant brought out the device to listen to the baby's heart-beat. It has a good speaker. The heart-beat filled the room. Deborah broke into a grin, and I probably didn't look all that miserable myself.

The doctor said Deborah's stomach looked about right for her stage of pregnancy. She reassured Deborah that the baby won't start kicking for a while.

In three weeks we'll go in for an ultrasound. At that point, we should be able to determine whether we're looking forward to a boy or girl. As it is, Deborah's well into her second trimester, and it's full speed ahead.

I've been sharing two prayer requests at church: 1) that we would have a healthy baby and 2) that our child would accept the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior at an early age. It is our responsibility as Christian parents to train our child up in the way he should go, so when he is old, he will not depart from it.

Like the Philippian jailor, we would like to have our entire family know our blessed Savior as their Redeemer: ³⁰Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household." ³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.-- Acts 16:30-32, ESV, www.biblegateway.com

We know the Lord chooses whomever He wills. His elect He has called from the foundation of the world, Ephesians says. God chose Jeremiah, for example, before he was born: ⁴Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,and before you were born I consecrated you;I appointed you a prophet to the nations." -- Jeremiah 1:4-5 ESV (from www.biblegateway.com)

Well, that's it for now.

God bless.