June 20,2006- The Big Day

Jordan posted this on his blog this morning and he said it all so well that I decided that it would be todays final post for our flashback to Sammy's arrival.  We would invite you to also watch the homecoming video at the bottom of this post.

it was two years ago today, heather and I were sitting in the international terminal of LAX in los angeles, anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first son. most people do this at the hospital, but that's not what God had in store for us. He had a much different plan. heather and i had spent over four years begging and pleading with God to grant us a child. at times we felt like our prayers were falling on deaf ears. we knew he was there, and we knew that he heard us, but we couldn't understand why He wouldn't grant us our desire. was it selfish to so desperately want to conceive and care for a child? friend after friend got pregnant and had babies and we just waited...and struggled. it's amazing how God works. God doesn't do ordinary. when He does something, he does it BIG. this was big. on march 12, 2005, God finally let us in on His plan, and it was a good one. heather and i went with our best friends (scottie and angela) to go see steven curtis chapman and chris tomlin in concert. during the concert, chapman spent about 20 minutes sharing about his family's call to adoption. he showed pictures of his three biological children (all teenagers) and then he showed pictures of these three beautiful little girls who they had adopted from china. he sang a song called "when love takes you in" and my heart melted. now, i've always had a hard time hearing God. not because he doesn't speak to me, but because i haven't yet learned how to listen. this night was different. God grabbed me by the shoulders, looked me right in the eyes, smiled and told me that this is what all the waiting was for. this was it. that very night i fell in love with sammy. i didn't know whether my child would be a boy or girl, and the name samuel hadn't yet been decided on, but i was in love nonetheless. and then, just over thirteen months later, there i was sitting in a busy terminal in an unfamiliar city just waiting for my world to be turned upside down. no, not waiting, longing. and as we waited, palms sweating, for our son to arrive and be placed in our arms, i thanked God for the journey. for the pain. for the struggle. for the hurt. for it all. He was faithful. He heard our prayers, and He must have been grinning as we cried in our despair. He knew what the waiting was for. it was for His glory and for our good. and even in that moment, as peace (mixed with nausea) overwhelmed me, there he was, the most perfect little boy i had ever seen, dressed in blue and yellow with a silly looking visor on his head. it was like being stuck in slow motion watching him being carried down a long corridor and into our arms. he was here. praise God, our son was finally here!

my prayer.

Father God, thank you for my son. thank you for blessing us with these last two years, and we thank you for however many days lie ahead. thank you for adopting me as your son, and for loving me as your own, even as you love your Son, Jesus. i pray that you would continue to mold me into the husband and the father that my wife and son deserve. raise up my son to be a man like noah. a man who will fly in the face of everything that this world stands for, and will stand for everything that You are. help me to raise a son who won't settle for status quo. i pray for your continued blessings on my family. i am a blessed man!