Jeffrey Benson Rohrer 💙

I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. 1 Samuel 1:27

4.20.24 will be a day forever etched in my mind.

I tried to appear casual on the family chat when Julia asked if anybody wanted to go to the greenhouse. “I think I better skip this time and just rest.” Dodged that bullet I thought.

Deborah came next: “So what are you up to today?” Me: “Just spending the day with Ben.”

I missed a call from Father “I thought when you didn’t answer maybe it was because you were heading to the hospital.” Me: “Nope not heading to the hospital today.” (We’d arrived the day before)

Anyhow besides the frantic detective work being done behind the scenes, Ben and I and Baby R were being carried and cared for. So many people reached out to us and encouraged us by praying for us and the arrival of our little one. And we felt those prayers.

At 3:17 a new voice joined the conversation in the operating room. “It’s a boy! We have a son!” announced excited Dad. “Look at the hair!” Said everybody else and Mr Jeffrey Benson just filled his little lungs with air and wailed.

Jeffrey means “Pledge of Peace, God’s Peace.” The spiritual connotation is “Wise”.

Benson is in honor of his dad, Ben 💙

Jeffrey 4 ‘24 Grandfather Eldon 12 ‘58

We are having great fun guessing which side he favors, we all claim him. Grammy is confident he’s gonna have brown eyes. Dad is not convinced.

So we’re at home, trying to get used to our new roles. Savoring the moments. Thanking God.

We pray that your life is one of Peace, Son. That you find the Prince of Peace at an early age and serve Him faithfully your entire life.

Proverbs 3:1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,2 for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity. 3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. 5  Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding 6 in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. 8 This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

Thanking Jesus for this precious gift 💙

Kendra

Bonus Pics:

The hospital gave us a “celebratory dinner” after Jeffrey’s birth. We definitely have reason to celebrate 🥰

Jeffrey has no clue how much fun he’s gonna have with his cousins. There’s a number of boys 4 years old and younger on both sides of our families. Let the adventures begin.

I packed both a pink and a blue bag of butter mints to the hospital- not knowing which we’d need. Blue it is 💙

💙💙💙

Aunt Em makes personalized signs for each niece or nephew and she brought Jeffrey’s to the hospital 🥰 Heidi K made the lion. Mama dusted off her crochet hook for the afghan.

March Memories 🦁

To our friends scattered to and fro,

It goes without saying, but March blew by like a strong gust of wind.

Definite highlight was the 3 visitors that were here for 2 weeks 🥰

But honestly do Deborah and her children count as visitors? It been almost a year since she’d spent more than a flying weekend here- so we savored a more relaxed time. Alexander got a truck ride with Grandfather and Maria was VERY willing to get in on the experience too.

Deborah turned Mothers kitchen into a calzone factory and Mother and I both have a stash of breakfast, pizza, cheeseburger, and chicken bacon ranch calzones in the freezer. I’m trying to save some til after the baby comes- but it’s not easy 😂

Julia won Aunt of the year by bringing a large plastic watering trough into the garage and filling it with soybeans. The kids spent HOURS playing out there. Farm life at its finest.

They also put a few more miles on Grandfathers pedal tractor collection. The big boys are strong enough to drive them now. The one year olds- not so much- but that didn’t keep them from attempting to claim their spots. Some occasional refereeing was definitely needed 😅

Nate was on tour with We Care, and it was super special to have him around for one day when they stopped in Dayton for a banquet. I stole this pic of him and Maria off of their Facebook page. 🥰

I’m not sure if it was more fun listening to the twins and Zander and their innocent chatter, or trying to chase down the 1 year olds. But there was plenty of entertainment all around.

And I was glad for it. Ben had the chance to help a friend run a load to Portland, OR and so he jumped at the opportunity. They reloaded with apples in the Yakima Valley.

I attempted to keep the home fires burning and enjoyed the photo feed, but was so so thankful when he arrived home a week later. What an adventure!

Another very special event was an open house/baby shower that kind friends threw for us.

I’ve kinda been looking for anything jungle/lion/ROAR (hoping Baby Rohrer 🦁 is a tame one 🥰) and they did such a cute job including that with the shower. (Side note: Father gave the little bootie flower vase to my mother a few years ago when their oldest daughter was born 😅🥹❤️)

Sweet and Savory Crepes with so many options, yogurt parfaits, and egg and ham cups.

I looked longingly at this sugary goodness, but the low sugar muffins were a real treat too.

Bless these sweet ladies for all their hard work!

The kind ladies at church threw us a shower too and I set everything out for Ben to look at once he got home. It hit me again what a gift community is. Our baby has no idea how loved he or she is already. Such an undeserved blessing 🥹❤️

After Mr Rohrer had properly acknowledged all the gifts, we got the nursery all set up and everything more or less in its new home. Now to wait… 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

And so waiting we are.

Savoring lots of good memories in the mean time,

Kendra

Bonus Pic:

A shower is a very confusing event when you’re 3 and 4 years old. Deborah said that Alexander could not wrap his brain around what a “shower for Aunt Ken could be and why people were invited to it” 😂

Here’s a screenshot of FaceTiming the Showalter boys because they wanted to see our shower gifts. They got a pack of jungle animal masks and they were excitedly watching to see which animal gift I’d show next- they’d rush to find the appropriate mask : “A MONKEY! WAIT! DON’T MOVE!” 😂😂