Ilo Welcomes Joel Murphy

Since emailing many of our good friends to inform them of the arrival of our second child; Joel John Murphy (to be called Joel and certainly not JJ!) on Sunday morning at 10.40am Peru time we have recieved numerous emails telling us of the desire to see some photos. It had always been our intention to put some photos on our blog and so we have made sure that there are enough to satisfy your interest and enable you all to determine who he looks like, Mum, Dad or grandparents!We do write this post aware that God really has been good to us by giving us Joel. We decided to call him Joel because it means "The Lord is God" however it is easy to confuse it to mean "The Lord is good" either way both are equally true and one is synomous with the other. John is a very special name and although it may not sit so well right after Joel it has great significance. My (Dave's) grandfather who passed away a few weeks ago was called John and my father and I both have John as a middle name. Incidentally, John means "God is gracious." Finally we did not have too much choice in the Murphy part of the name but since I am the only Murphy boy of my generation Joel also becomes the only Murphy boy and has the opportunity to carry on the name.
I don't want to write outside my remit but the labour itself was a much better labour than her labour with Sarah, only keeping us waiting for 8 hours compared to 42 the last time! Joel was born at 10.40am, and and declared healthy and normal. Initially we were of the belief that he weighed in just under 10lbs but after recieving the official papers and doing the caculations from Kilos to Pounds we discovered that he was indeed a very big boy; 4.695Kg or roughly 10lbs 5oz!
Since everything was normal and Joel was born before midday on Sunday he and Alicia were allowed home by 10am the next morning.

Sarah seems to have really taken to Joel and was so excited that she was going to visit him in hospital that she was virtually speechless. Since he has been home Sarah has been watching his every move and never wants to go out of his sight in case she misses something. One thing she told her dad was that she is looking forward to playing football with Joel, although she is more of the belief that that will be sooner rather than later. On the note of football I can confirm that Joel knows his football and is already a staunch Liverpool FC supporter, please don't try to lead him astray with any poor imatations from London or Manchester!On a more serious note we are indeed grateful to God that he has been gracious to us and given us this wonderful child. We have really appreciated your prayers throughout his development in the womb but please continue to pray for him as he develops and for us as parents as we try to be godly parents who will be able to show him that he name is much more than a name but that there is truth to be found in it. We trust and pray for both Joel and Sarah that at a young age they will come to know Christ as their Saviour. We feel called to Peru to share Christ here but pray that we will also be faithful in sharing Him in our own home.