Savanna Zoe Ioanna Chapman

After much deliberation we have decided on the name! Savanna Zoe will be her first name. Yes that is correct, two first names written separately, but considered one name like Mary Beth. Her given nickname would then be Zoe. Savanna is a name Emman picked out for his daughter even before we met. We involved Caleb in the choosing process and his favorite name was Zoe. Zoe is Greek for "life". Her middle name will be Ioanna (pronounced ee-o-ahn-na). This is the Greek name that appears in Luke 8:3 and 24:10. Our English Bibles have used the Latin form of the name, being Joanna. The name is a Greek translation of the Hebrew name Yehohanan which means "God is gracious".

We feel that God has graciously blessed us with the wonderful surprise of a baby girl in addition to our first blessing of a beautiful, brilliant, bouncy, baby boy - Caleb! Ioanna was one of three women mentioned by name as following Jesus with the disciples from village to village and supporting His ministry from their own means (Luke 8). Ioanna is also one of the three women who went to the tomb with spices and were the first to hear from the angels that Jesus had risen and to report the news to the apostles (Luke 24)! What a blessing to walk with and support Jesus and then to be among the first to hear the wonderful news of Jesus' resurrection! We pray that Savanna Zoe Ioanna would learn early on of Jesus' resurrection and what that means for her and that she too would walk with and support Jesus all her life.

We are taking Bradley natural childbirth classes this pregnancy and that is going well. We were able to find an instructor in Clarksville, which was a huge blessing with gas prices on the rise. In order to better facilitate a natural birth we have decided to have Zoe at The Farm Midwifery Center in Summertown, TN. It is about 1 hour and 50 minutes from here. We are not sure yet if VA will pay for this or not. We have been waiting for an answer for almost a month now. Please pray that those who make this decision would support our choice of a midwife birth and come to this decision quickly.

Regardless, we feel that this is the best choice for our family and will have the baby there as long as no unforeseen circumstances arise preventing it. This gives us the option for a water birth and would allow Caleb to be a part of the birth as well. The midwives there are world renown and very respected in the medical community, even Vanderbilt.

Please continue to pray for a healthy pregnancy and birth. Also pray for a smooth transition for Caleb into a world no longer centered around him. So far he is very excited about baby Zoe, hopefully this will continue once she gets here! I am certain he will be a wonderful big brother, but I pray the initial shock of a new sibling will be brief.

God bless you all,
Jade