First Newsletter

February 6th 2003
Papa Keal here (of the Solomon variety). You've all heard our happy news. Here is an update on some of the info that you may not have heard.
Our new daughter's name is Thea Clarity Keal. Thea is pronounced "Thay-ah."
Thea is the from the Greek word Alethea which means "Truth." (Thea, in Greek can also mean "goddess," but our baby is named after the word that means "truth") And for the sake of clarity, Clarity is from the English word Clarity which means "Clarity." Keal is a word that means the bottom of a boat.
Tirah's name also means "truth," and her middle name is Marie which means "bitter." So here we have proof that generations improve. And to go from "bitter truth" to "clear truth" in one generation is quite the achievement!
Solomon means "peaceful," a name which I am proud to live up to, and my middle name, John, means "God is Gracious," which He certainly is for giving me such a wonderful wife and little daughter.
Just be glad, all of you, that we did not have a red-headed boy, because we would have been obliged to name him Rufus, Rusty, Rooney, Russell, Ruskin, Reed, Roth, or Ross, all of which mean "red-haired." Or, even if he did not have red hair, we could have named him Flynn, which means "son of a red-haired man" (Seriously... look it up.)
As for Thea, we are pretty sure that her hair is red, or will be red, though it is hard to tell at this point. Anyway, whoever's job it is to come up with names for babies, did all women a favor and didn't come up with girl names that mean "red-haired." Thus leaving us room to choose from more meaningful names for our daughter.
You have all heard that the baby's name while in the womb was "Turtle," and since the baby's birth, Thea has acquired the nickname (from Grandma Keal) of Turtle-Rosebud. Tirah and I often call Thea by the nickname Baby-Boo. It's amazing the transformations that both a husband and wife go through when they turn into a mama and papa. When I hold Thea and talk to her, she often scrunches up her face and looks at me in a very concerned manner as if to say, "Father, I think you would laugh at yourself if you could hear the sounds coming from your mouth when you attempt to communicate with me."
Thea is the most precious little bundle of baby I have ever seen. Every day is quite the learning experience, and we are all getting better at everything. Thea is getting more used to this world. Sometimes I think her little eyes can actually focus on things, and then she is so incredibly fascinated that it forces you to stop and smell the brand new roses with her.
Tirah is recovering nicely, and nursing gets better everyday. She is going to be a wonderful mama.
In case you hadn't heard her birth stats; Thea was 8 pounds, 11 ounces at birth, and 20 and a half inches long.
We wish to send out a big thank you to Abbey for being here with us on that first night, and to Galadriel and Steve for being with us on that other night. Last night was our first night by ourselves and it went very well... Tirah and I actually got some sleep. Thank you also to Mom for your presence over the phone during the birth. It was so nice to have you as close as possible. And congratulations to Nils for guessing the birth date!
We hope to see all of you soon so that you can see Thea! Love from the new Keal Family here in Lenhartsville (which we should re-name Kelton, which means "Town of Keals").