"Don't They Know How That Happens?"

     As I'm writing this, its been almost eleven months since I experienced one of the most exhilarating days in my life and became a Father. I am glad that I wrote down all the details because so much life has happened since then that my memory is fading. But there are images that have been imprinted onto my mind that I am confident I will never forget: when the ultrasound tech told us there was twins on the screen in front of us, the sound of Steph's voice waking me when her water broke, the thrill of Jackson's emergence from the womb, the confused look in Samson's eyes as he lay under a lamp in the NICU, and how rich I felt when I first held both boys at once in my arms. I was changed eleven months ago.
         My lifestyle is very different from what it once was, a lifestyle many fathers have proudly embraced before me. It is more challenging, less efficient, unscheduled, fly by the seat of my pants, unpredictable, high stakes, and self-denying. But I have discovered I love it! Stretched thin, physically exhausted but maintaining my alertness I live my life as it comes at me. Changing accordingly when needed and abandoning whatever plans I had as they become impossible to achieve. The fuel behind my drive is the rewards I am constantly granted from those I interact with. Less money, less time, less man-toys, more responsibilities, and more sacrifice has resulted in increased happiness. God has made himself more available and interactive. I now feel like I am in line with whatever His purpose is for my life and He is the one driving. Though financially we are lacking, I truly feel rich.
      So much has happened since the boys came and to get you up to speed with all the details would be a waste of blog space. Here is the short of it: I left my teaching career, Steph is a stay at home Mom, we are in the process of moving from Indy to Bloomington/ Normal Illinois, Jackson and Samson are walking, I almost joined the military, and we are expecting a new member to our family.
    I will probably address most of those changes individually and with detail in later blogs, but the last one is the biggest news and the focus of them all.  I couldn't help but laugh when a member of my family responded with "Don't they know how that happens?" We want more kids because of how much better our lives are. However, we are a family in transition and that is not the ideal situation to begin pregnancy. Could we have waited to have another? Sure but I want more kids, my wife wants more kids, my wife is smoking hot, and if you fill in the blanks it was inevitable that we would quickly reproduce again. So we met this great news with nothing but joy. 
    We do not take it for granted that we are being given the opportunity to parent another person, many people who desire to be parents cannot. We are incredibly grateful that God has allowed us another child. He is doing something and using us in this way for a greater goal. His specific purpose for our new family member is hidden from us at the moment, but exciting to ponder none the less. Our baby currently is somewhere around 8-9 weeks along and the size of a tadpole.
     So the purpose of this new blog is to once again chronicle the events of another pregnancy (from my perspective) in order to provide a means for reflection, creative expression, and friend/family information communication. I have less time than I did before and my literary genius has no doubt suffered from my lack of sleep. But my quest is noble, I will blunder my way through it and if necessary make up the words to convey my meaning. Onward and upwards. 

"True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read."
 -Pliny the Elder