As I sort through my contacts, it is hard to know who to send our message to, so please excuse me for perhaps over publicizing!
A dear little baby boy, Kenji Willis Ito, was born by c-section today (June 14, 2012) at 14:52. He weighs 3060g(6lbs12oz) and height 50cm(19.7 inches) . His name is pronounced like the American name Benji, but with a "k". There are two Japanese characters (kanji) that make up the name. The first, "Ken" 賢 is "kashikoi" meaning wisdom (a different kanji, from Tomoki's Tomo, but also in the Bible). The "Ji" kanji is "naoru" 治 which means "healing". We hope and pray that little Kenji can be blessed with the wisdom of the Lord and that his presence in the world will be a healing one--not necessarily that he would enter the medical field:), but that 1) others can see in him the spiritual healing that only comes through knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and 2) he can lead others to spiritual healing in Jesus Christ. His middle name is that of two special people, Willis Ehnle and Wills Sauder. As many of you know, Willis Ehnle started our church here in Japan and lives a zealous life for the Lord. Willis Sauder, was my grandfather and he was also a godly man whose motto (even in his old age) was often said to be "you gotta cut new ruts!"--meaning not always take the same road, but learn new and different ways. God alone knows the future for little Kenji and we trust him to Him!
Tomoki has quickly become Tomo-kun as is the Japanese tradition to shorten the name and add "kun" for boys. Personally, though, I like Kenji-kun the best, but if it must be shortened, I guess I like Ken-chan better than Ken-kun. (Chan can be added to Japanese names for children--both boys and girls).
A special thank you to those who lifted us up in prayer!
Carrie and Akihiro
