Our Story

I can still remember the day like it happened yesterday.  I had just returned from a men’s retreat with my church and when I arrived home, my wife greeted me with eager anticipation and excitement.  She’d probably been waiting all weekend to take the test, but wanted me to be preset so I could be a part of it.  Within a few minutes we knew we were about to be parents.

We were excited and happy and couldn’t wait to make the appointment with the doctor to have our initial thoughts confirmed by a professional.  Those box tests aren’t always accurate, so we wanted to be sure before we started telling our family and friends.  It was one of the longest, hardest, and difficult waits we’d ever endured.  We wanted to share our excitement with everyone else, but decided to wait until we were 100% sure.  At the time, we didn’t know this would end up being one of the many difficult times we waited for answers.

Over the next few days I’ll be sharing our story.  A story of joy, unexpected twists and turns, questioning, love, grace, anger, depression, and faith.  The road we’ve walked hasn’t been easy, it’s been very difficult, but it hasn’t been too difficult for us to endure.  This will be the story of how we’ve learned, grown, and wrestled with God.  How we’ve tried to embrace our own efforts and strength and learned that we must rely on God for his strength.  It’s a story that is incomplete and a story that’s still being written.  We don’t know the end or the in between, but we do know who holds the pen!

I don’t know what this weeks writings are going to look like.  I don’t even know what I’m going to say.  But I know that it’s a story that needs to be shared.  It’s time for me to finally put the feelings, the battles,  the regrets, and the joys on paper.  This will be more for me than anyone else, but someday my son will read these and know how much we truly love him.

King for a Day

On Monday I felt like I was King for a day.  It wasn’t because I sat at jury duty all morning, it was because of the shoes I got to deliver to some very appreciative inner city children.  It all started about a month ago, when a friend emailed me and told me his company wanted to do something for the kids at one of our schools.  I quickly emailed the counselor and asked her if it would be okay to bring around 30 pair of shoes to their kids.  She obviously said “yes!”

Eventually we received the list of 34 names, shoes sizes, teachers names, and grade.  Then my friends company went to work.  They had no problem providing us with all 34 pairs of shoes, which included all kinds of fun things stuck in wrapped boxes, like socks, gloves, and candy.  In addition to all the shoes, they also raised about $200 for our non-profit Retread.

The real fun started when all 34 pair were dropped of at our house on Saturday.  It definitely looked like Santa had arrived!  Monday after jury duty I loaded up the car and headed to the school.  When I arrived I went in search for Ms. Barbara’s cart that normally sits in her office.  We both arrived at her office at the same time.  When she told me we could probably deliver the gifts to the class room I was really excited.  I normally don’t get to see the kids, because they are in class and we don’t like to interrupt their studies.  But, this day was different.  It’s almost Christmas and counselors and teachers are often more likely to bend the rules when it’s Christmas.

I loaded up the cart and headed to the class room with all the gifts.  When I pushed the cart through the door the whole room erupted into cheers, clapping, and many thank yous!  Then there were about 12 children who spontaneously jumped from their seats and ran to give me big hugs around my waist, each saying thank you as they squeezed.  Smiles were overflowing from the faces of all the children, teachers, Ms. Barbara, and of course from me.

I certainly felt like a VIP and the kids just made my day.  I wish I could have stayed and watched them open their gifts, but they were not allowed to open them until after class.  Otherwise the teacher wouldn’t get any work out of them for the rest of the day.  My guess is she had a difficult time any way!

There’s so much joy in giving.  I wish all the world could experience my day on Monday.  I wish everyone could see the smiles, the excitement, and the wonder on the children’s faces.  I heard some of the boys say “these are new shoes” and they were still just as excited!  Children excited about shoes!  You need to stop and ponder that thought and image for a few minutes.