LIttle Man, Big Boy.....

Three years ago today I was me, myself and I, wife to Kevin, preschool teacher. Three years ago I was celebrating Kristen's birthday with a trip to NYC. Three years ago I was sitting in Martha Stewart's presence, standing so close I could have yanked one of her hairs to keep for prosperity, and maybe sell on Ebay someday. (I didn't!)

Was I out getting last minute things for a nursery? Pac

king a diaper bag? Waiting anxiously for news? Nope. I was getting bumped off my scheduled flight, getting food vouchers which didn't seem to work anywhere, eating pretzels for dinner and staying at a less than stellar hotel, but at least I was with Kristen!

Had I not gotten bumped, had I not gotten home a day later, I would have been back in SC with Kevin. The next day I would have probably been out with Kevin walking through Lowe's, or out with Kevin for a lunch date, or even out with Kevin at the beach. Had I not gotten bumped, Kevin wouldn't have been sitting at home waiting for me, and that very special phone call that came would have been missed. A life changing event could have been missed.

Three years ago today there was a twinkle in my eye that I didn't even know was there. There was a woman crying for th

e pain she endured, crying for the decision she faced. And there was a swaddled bundle crying for his first meal, being held by a woman I have never met but to whom I am so grateful, and being fed by nurses I'll never know.

What would happen over the next two days would raise our hopes, rattle our nerves, and fill our longing hearts. But I'll never forget the moment Kevin called me after getting the call, out of the blue, from a friend I had met three years prior but hadn't seen since then. A friend that had known of our desire for children, of our struggle, and who had kept that knowledge in the back of her mind all that time, along with our phone number. And when that friend's friend, the wife of the lawyer working on the case, passed on the information to my friend as well as others, it wasn't long before the woman, crying in the hospital, would have not one but three families to choose from. And so we would wait, agreeing not to share our hopes with friends just yet, but would ask our family to please pray, for us, for the woman, for the swaddled bundle. But I knew, I had known from the moment Kevin had called me with the possibility, that this was dif

ferent somehow from the other offers that had come up before. I had felt at that moment the Spirit move

within me, like something inside me jumped, and remember turning to Kristen and saying "I really

think this is it!" And suddenly I understood the vision our friend Joe had shared with us, of Kevin and I holding a baby boy, standing before Mary. I knew, and I had peace, and that night I surprisingly had one of the best nights of sleep in my life. It would be my last for a while.....

By 10 am the next morning we still had not heard from the lawyer so Kevin decided to head out for a run, and wo

uldn't you know, that's when our phone rang and I pounced. "I have some good news and some bad news for you" the lawyer was telling me, and of course I wanted the bad news first. "She chose a different family" were his words that pierced through me, quickly followed by "but they decided they aren't ready at this time. So what do you want to name your baby boy?" What a blessing it was to be sitting next to a chair as I sure needed it at this moment. And I needed Kevin, who finally walked though the door as I was naming our son, giving him his Grandpap's name, the only name that came to my mind.

The next few hours found us scrambling to get things out of boxes, things we didn't think we needed for several more mo

nths at least. And, I might add, things that we had assumed we'd be using for a girl. Thankfully Kristen was around to help us install the carseat, and after taking a quick look through the soon-to-be nursery that was full of an unassembled crib and some household projects, I dec

ided we could worry about where he would sleep, what he would wear, later, and we headed off to meet the lawyer, a few hours away. When we finally got to the hospital and a little bundle was held up to the glass for our first gaze at each other I was simultaneously shaking and calm, if that's possible. Here was this little bundle, with his little yellow pacifie

r and his little white t-shirt, and his scrunchy eyes and little face, and he was ours.

Fast forward three years and you'll see a highly inquisitive, talkative, extremely active three year old who lights up every day, just being himself. The saying "the days are long but the years fly by" is so very true. A little more than three years ago I never imagined my days would be filled with "Mommy, you're the favorite mommy in the whole world", "Daddy, I wuv you sooooooo much!" and "To infinewy, and Deyond!" (Buzz Lightyear). I am in awe at how much he's changed this last year. He uses scissors now, can build very tall towers and notices details all around us that I am too distracted to notice myself. I'm so thankful he's here to make me slow down and watch a butterfly in action, or catch a praying mantis, or to watch him carefully paint a dinosaur. Watching a little person learn about themselves and the world around them reminds us to appreciate all we can do that we probably take for granted. I may teach him a few things, but he teaches me more. Three years ago I never imagined my heart could swell so big with one hug. And now that those hugs have doubled with a growing family, well that's another story....

Happy Birthday Little Man!! We all love you!