April 14, 2004

Dear Friends and Family,

Marie-Florence Johnson entered the world at 12:10 a.m. April 14, 2004, at the Barka Clinic in Niamey. She is three weeks premature and weighs 2.1 kilograms (or almost 4 2/3 lbs), but seems to be otherwise in good health, although she isn’t very strong at the moment and hasn’t quite figured out how to properly nurse. Aïchatou started her contractions at about 1:30 p.m. the day before and went to the clinic at about 10 p.m. for the delivery. She is doing well.

Marie-Florence is very small, but long, has black straight hair and we think black-blue eyes. The consensus today is that she must resemble her grandfather Johnson’s side of the family, although we can see her grandmother Maryama’s nose.

Marie was chosen because it is the French form of Mary, which in Hausa takes the form Maryama. Both Aïchatou’s mother and her father’s mother have that Hausa name. So, Marie honors them, but with a little twist. Florence is the first name of both my grandmother Johnson and Peterson. It is the tradition in Niger that a senior woman in the family give a nick-name to the baby, so she may one day be known as something else (Aïchatou is called Mallam in her immediate family).

The father thought he had plenty of time to squeeze in some meetings in Maradi, 9 hours away, and was there when the little girl arrived. I was back into Niamey by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday and have seen the little angel.

Thank you for your prayers,

Tom, Aïchatou and Marie-Florence

The 2004 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 44

P.S. We are making tentative plans to vacation at our parents’ home (Richard and Betty Johnson, 2528 Cordova Ave., Oskaloosa, IA 52577) from May 24-June 24 with the baby. If we take this vacation, we would not be available to speak or travel for our mission, but would hope to see many of you informally. Once our plans are finalized, we’ll keep you posted.