Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)
Hello friends! I am so excited to announce that our daughter, Lucy Ann Chun, was born on December 19 at 1:45pm, weighing 8 lbs, 6 oz and 20.25 inches long. She arrived 10 days before her due date, just in time for Christmas—our sweet Christmas miracle!
I don’t use that word lightly or as a cliche. Lucy really is our miracle. After struggling with infertility, we were completely overjoyed to find out we were pregnant—truly, through God’s goodness, a miracle. Anthony and I keep reflecting on the fact that if we had become pregnant at any other time, we wouldn’t have our sweet Lucy. Although the period of waiting was surely painful, we are so glad that it led us to her. We couldn’t imagine being parents to anyone other than this little girl, and I’m sure that feeling will only multiply as we get to know her even better throughout her lifetime.
And then, the experience of pregnancy and finally meeting Lucy—this, too, is undoubtedly a miracle. Because pregnancy and birth are so common—it’s how all of us got here—I think we overlook the absolute miraculousness of it all. But the fact that this tiny human didn’t exist 10 months ago, and started as two single cells that joined together, and over nine months grew to the little girl we see today—that is nothing short of a miracle. The birth experience itself (I will share mine in an upcoming post!)—how my body naturally knew what to do and worked perfectly with Lucy’s little body to get her out, is also incredible, beautiful, and miraculous. When I think about it all, I am truly in awe of God’s perfect design.
Our Little Lucy, Our Light
Anthony and I had waited to find out the baby’s sex until he or she was born, so we had picked out a boy and a girl name. We actually decided on both names very early in our pregnancy, and the process was incredibly easy. My high school friends can attest to the fact that I've loved the name Lucy since at least then (I'll take that as a good sign if I’ve loved her name that long!). When Anthony and I were dating, I asked him what names he liked for kids (it wasn’t that weird to ask—we were dating very seriously, okay!). Anthony, thinking that it was a bit early (stage five clinger over here) laughed and insisted we could not talk about baby names because we weren’t even engaged. Inevitably, I forced him to hear just one name I liked—Lucy. Although he laughed and wouldn’t say anything, later that day, when we had parted ways, he texted me, “I love the name Lucy :) “ (Of course, I melted.) After that, over the course of dating, engagement, and early in our marriage, Anthony and I would lovingly refer to our future/hypothetical children as “Luch” (pronounced “Looch”, as in Lucia, the Italian version of Lucy).
Fast forward to this pregnancy, when we found out we were due in late December. Lucy just seemed so fitting if it was a girl; we were due near both St. Lucy’s feast day (December 13) and the winter solstice (December 21). The name Lucy means “light” and the winter solstice is when the days begin to get lighter, after getting darker for six months. This seemed particularly appropriate, as our days of infertility had been full of darkness, and ever since her conception, our days have been full of light—she brought life and light to our world. Finally, Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12) and we hope and pray, more than anything else, that Lucy comes to know Jesus and be like Him. So, in addition to St. Lucy (a martyr for the Church!), we named Lucy—the light of our world—after Jesus, the Light of the World.
Lucy is also named after three incredible women, her grandmothers and great-grandmother. Lucy’s middle name, Ann, is the same as her grandmas’ (Anthony and my mom's’) and her great-grandma Carolyn’s middle name—all Ann as well. If Lucy emulates the life of these faith-filled, fun, hard-working, and loving women, we know she will become one as well.
Thank you to all who have shown us so much love, support, and excitement about the arrival of our beloved Lucy! We are so happy she is here.
