It's a she.

I just checked my com box below and I'm in awe at the kind responses and promises of prayer -- so beautiful, you all have no idea. (Or maybe you have.) Wow. Thank you so very much.

We just got back from the geneticist doctor who gave us a run-down of what we might expect based on the amnio results. The visible chromosomal information seems to indicate a very rare condition that doesn't even have a name. It's a partial trisomy 9q with a parial monosomy 9p. In plain English, there is a small extra portion of chromosomal material on the ninth pair (q stands for longer arm of the chromosome) and some missing material on the shorter arm (p stands for petit, or small.) There are some physical and mental characteristics associated with this, but none of them are *always* present and too little is known about accurate percentages.

Doctors, of course, have no choice but to talk in terms of risks and chances, but I have to say it annoys me. Most doctors, including specialist, are not evil or deceptive. They do their best with what they know. But they are fallible. As in, being virtually certain yet incorrect that a baby has, say, deadly trisomy 18.

How "very rare" is this condition? Since this oddball scenario was identified in 1973 there have only been a few hundred cases. There is no known documentation that tracks how these little persons make out after infancy.

Truly, we're entering no man's land. Otherwise known as God's land. And in the field of medicine and healing, the God factor is a powerfulthing, as many of you know personally.

Big news: The sex was confirmed this morning. Normally we don't like to know until D-Day but we made an exception here. It's a girl. Her name is Naomi Rose Coffin.

We're just going to keep on keeping on with the daily prayers, giving this little girl over to the only infallible Physician, Jesus Christ, who loves her so much more than my wife and I do. Plus, I'd like to think that His vicar, John Paul the Great, is now in a good position to help us also in the work of intercession.

I'll be giving periodic updates. And I'll be blogging more frequently (not good news for some of my readers)! Thanks for being patient. Above all, I want you to know how precious your prayers are.