Luke Steven Patty

Luke Steven Patty was born June 30 at 6:14am! And just like his brother and sisters before him; he gave us quite a story to tell!

You know from the start when we discovered that we were actually going to add number four to our happy home we’ve marveled (read shaken our heads!) at the timing! For starters his due date was smack in the center of camp season. And having a 10 year old, almost 9 year old and 6 year old preparing to start 1st grade this fall I thought we were moving to the next phase. Although I must say that Josh has been nothing but thrilled from the get go!

In June, teams started arriving to be involved in the 7 different camps we are hosting around Slovenia this summer. Right now we are just finishing up camp number five and we are so thrilled with the work God is doing and the prayer, commitment and demonstrative love we have seen from those who have worked alongside the Lord in the past few weeks.

Josh has had one hand involved in camps while the other hand has been holding his mobile telephone waiting for his very pregnant wife to call and say it was finally time! At 2:00am my water broke but with no painful contractions. This particular week Josh had been to Austria and back twice, cleaned up the basement that flooded after a rainstorm, spoke for one of the English camps, taken the children swimming (while I lay on the couch under the fan), and participated in another English camp’s version of the Great Race.

Because all of our teammates were out at camps ministering we called a lady from our church to come and stay with the children. She was wonderful and drove over right away despite the hour!

The nurses at the hospital were delightful and took us to their hearts almost immediately. And I was thrilled that for the most part my Slovene was intact. I had expected to be unable to translate for myself but there were only a few times when Josh had to help me understand what they wanted from me.

At 4am Josh and I were in the pregnancy ward. They told us that 11 other women were having babies on that night. I was glad we were on number 4 because the room we were in doubled as a store room!

After an hour of real labor we were once again overwhelmed by the feeling that even after nine months of preparations we were experiencing the rush of emotion at seeing our little boy and falling in love with him! He weighed 8350 grams (8.5 pounds) and was 53cms (21 inches)long.

Here in Slovenia if you have no complications you are allowed to go home from the hospital on the fourth day. My mom was on her way from the US so I was anxious to get home. We had hoped she would be here when I went into labor but instead Josh and the kids picked her up from the airport and then picked up Luke and I from the hospital! An hour or so after we arrived home students began arriving for the camp reunion that was scheduled to take place at our home! We welcomed Luke to missionary family life immediately along with the 60 students who gathered here that night!

Already in these early days he just blends so well into our family and has a contented nature. He’s easily comforted and doesn’t fuss at all the little hands that want to hold the baby. Luke means bringer of light and we love the strong sound of it. Steven means crowned one. We pray that he will not only bring The Light to others but will also know who he is in the Lord as one who is crowned as a son of The King.

Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us during this adventure and we count on your prayers for us as we parent this boy who will one day grow to a man!