Fifth Child! ~An open letter to Chip and Joanna

Dear Chip and Joanna,

The news of your 5 pregnancy hit the web last night, and I think it was the fastest traveling news in internet history! Congratulations!

(source:  ALL OVER THE INTERNET!!!!)

I'd like to offer a name suggestion, and the reason why I think the name I'll suggest is perfect for your sweet Gaines child number five! Well, all this works if.......it's a GIRL!    (I'll come up with Plan B if you announce it's a boy; I realize Chip already thinks it's a boy!)

The perfect name would be Heidi.  I am hereby giving you permission to use my name. Here are the reasons:

1.  It has 5 letters.  Heidi became popular after the 1880 book, "Heidi" was written by Johanna Spyri.  (Johanna is sort of close to Joanna!) In the book, "Heidi" was the nickname her aunt gave her; her full name was Adelheid.  I'm forever thankful to to Spyri for writing this book, or my name might be Adelheid.  (Though my older brother, Mike, DID call me that growing up!)  AND...Heidi loved the goats, as all your children do (and will!).

(from http://jennifermichie.com/2010/04/heidi/)

Our daughter Jessica just gave me a vintage copy of the book, "Heidi", that she found while vacationing on the Oregon coast!

2. I am the 5th child; there are nine in our family, and I'm smack in the middle, making me a middle child.  Who knows how many you will have, maybe Heidi will be your middle child!

(Photos from oldest child, Susan;

top photo-the nine children with Daddy;

botton photo Mommie with youngest daughter, Roberta. 

As Sue said, "no selfies back then, it was Mommie taking the photos!)

(Photo from oldest brother, Mike; he must have had a camera in the 70's!

Again, Mommie was the master photographer so she's once again not in the photo!)

3. Heidi means "of noble birth"; fitting for the birth of your 5th child.

(from https://i.pinimg.com/736x/02/9b/1f/029b1f255fe097f9f1136ad7f442b821.jpg)

4. The poem, "Song of a Fifth Child" just screams for Baby "Heidi", and how I think Joanna must have said when signing off the HGTV hit "Fixer Upper": "I need to slow down and take time for my children."  Interestingly enough, this poem was written in 1958, the year I was born!  It's a great reminder for the mothers of young ones out there that cleaning CAN wait---enjoy your babies and children!

Song for a Fifth Child.

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

Poem Song for a Fifth Child by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, written in 1958 and first published in the Ladies Home Journal.   Read more: http://www.essentialkids.com.au/forums/index.php?/topic/715687-poem-song-for-a-fifth-child/#ixzz53AvCo8nS 

5. You are very aware of God's plan for your lives, and clearly live by His word.  The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet starts with "H". So your name should begin with "H".

(Google image)

6. "Heidi" is close to "Helen", which also has 5 letters, but at this point  HGTV's other much-loved-couple, Erin and Ben Napier, of "Home Town", have already selected "Helen", so Heidi is available!

(Google image)

7.  Any old folks will always tease Heidi about the "The Heidi Bowl" incident in 1968.  That's when the TV movie was scheduled to run after the Super Bowl.  The Super Bowl had a minute and 6 seconds left in a super close and exciting game when the network started the movie, on time as scheduled and left the sports fans in the dark to the game's conclusion. They were mad; as I grew up some of the old timers often reminded me how "I' ruined their
game! (It's a fun to story to go look up and read if you are a sports fan!)

(Google image)

8.  A bonus: when Chip calls out to Joanna, "give me 5!", she can hand him the baby, not slap his hand!

(Google image)

I was 51 when I began to run.  This year I turn 60 and keep saying, "as long as I can run, I WILL run!"   I try to run 3 or 4 days weekly, and I run almost exactly 4.2 miles.  BUT TODAY, in honor of the BIG NEWS of the Gaines' child number 5, I ran FIVE MILES! (Ignore my slow pace....it's faster than if I sit on the couch....as they say!)

I prayed for Baby #5 as I ran, and thought how blessed the world will be when another Gaines child is born.  May God bless you two Chip and Joanna, and give you a "sweet 2018"!

Sincerely,
Heidi Woodruff