Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been around for a number of days. I have been busy giving birth to my second child, L.K., and adjusting to the craziness that is wrangling multiple children. The vitals for that birthday on the 12th were 8 lbs, 3 ounces (the exact birth weight of her mama) and 19 inches long. The baptism will be this Sunday, Pentecost, at our church. Everything is going well although I've already realized that every child is different. I was pretty confident that no child could be as easy as my first was, so it's not too much of a surprise. Anyway, big sister E.P. is doing great and has been enjoying the new baby. Hopefully that will continue!

There were quite a few stories I wanted to comment on in the last week and a half but I'll have to wait a while before I can be fully engaged. Lack of sleep and powerful medication do not make for enlightening commentary (I'm sure some people are asking what the difference is between that and my normal posts . . .). Still, I hope to ease back in to my work here at GetReligion, even if it takes me a bit longer than normal to weigh in.

In the meantime, please pass along any tips you have for how to adjust to more than one child.

Also, Tom S., one of our faithful readers, and his wife welcomed new daughter Rebekah Lusa to their family the day after my L.K. was born. Rebekah was born with a heart condition requiring surgery and she'll undergo her open heart bypass surgery today. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

My husband sent out a birth announcement with this passage that we both enjoy and have found comforting:

"You showed Your mercy before I could perceive it. You came to me with Your Kindness before I could long for it. Your generosity encompassed me before I could offer thanks for it. You not only marvelously formed me in my mother's womb, but also drew me out from the womb. You have been my hope since I was at my mother's breast. I was cast on you from birth. From my mother's womb you have been my God."

-- Johann Gerhard, "Thanksgiving for Life and Birth," Meditations on Divine Mercy