Evan starts third grade tomorrow. I cannot believe that the little burping package that, as new parents, we brought home from the hospital just over eight years ago and didn’t know what to do with is now going into third grade. Things haven’t changed all that much though. He still burps and we still don’t know what to do with him.

I am praying that he has a good year at school this year. The last three years have gone well. I am a little nervous about this year though. But, rather than dwell on that thought, I will be trusting God and praying for him … always.

I pray that Evan will grow up in an ever-increasing relationship with God. I pray that he will escape the materialism and other worldly things that attract so many of us in our teens and twenties. I pray that, whenever Evan is faced with tough decisions that have long-term effects, God will place someone there with him to help guide him in the right way. I pray that he will lead a happy life because he knows that he is following God’s direction for his life. I pray that he will have a heart of compassion and love for others and that he will dream of helping the world. I pray that he will not grow up with a dependence on approval from others but instead that he will know the only One whose approval we must seek.

Lisa and I feel so blessed by our son. In many ways, he’s a unique kid with special needs and perhaps I will write more about that some other time. But, for now, I am just thanking God for the burping baby boy, quickly becoming a young man, with whom He blessed us. And I am taking pride in the fact that he is our son.

Thinking of this reminds me of something I wrote last year about my favorite Christmas memory. I will share it below.


Favorite Christmas Memory

My favorite Christmas memory is Christmas 1997. Lisa and I had been experiencing fertility problems for about seven years at that point. Numerous doctor appointments and treatments had resulted in ongoing frustration and disappointment with no solid explanation as to what was going on. We had started to make adoption plans when, a few weeks before Christmas, we turned out to be expecting – a happy surprise for us.

For Christmas that year, we decided to announce our expected arrival to our parents in a unique way. This was to be the first grandchild for my parents and, while the fourth grandchild for Lisa’s parents, this would be the first local grandchild who her parents would get to spend a lot of time with. To announce this, Lisa carefully prepared two special gifts for our moms. For her mom, she wrapped up a pair of baby booties and, for my mom, she wrapped up a “Grandma’s Brag Book” photo album.

When they unwrapped their gifts at our respective family gatherings, there was initial confusion. My mom thought maybe the photo album was for pictures of our dogs. Lisa’s mom didn’t understand the baby booties at all. But, once the explanation was in place, there were shouts and tears of joy and thanksgiving. I will never forget Lisa’s dad saying “Our prayers have been answered.” Truly, prayers were answered that Christmas of 1997 and we have thoroughly loved every second of parenthood ever since our son, Evan, arrived the following summer.

Fast forward to just recently … we were in a store with Evan when he saw a sign and read it to us: “If you ever want to make God laugh, just tell him what your plans for the future are.” Evan was chuckling a bit at this when I asked him if he knew what the sign really meant. His reply was “Sure, it means that God’s plans are always better than our plans.” Wow – our seven year old is reminding us that God’s plan is always perfect, just as we discovered during that Christmas of 1997.