Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

It was 4 years ago today. Almost to the hour. Cindy and I had ordered a pizza and finished watching "the Pretender" movie we had taped. Her due date was Jan 11, so we talked about seeing the first "Lord of the Rings" movie the next morning. Slumber soon followed.

Around 1:00-ish a.m., Cindy got up to go to the bathroom. On the way she felt her water break. So she took a shower, got on the computer and wrote out our birth plan (1 epideral, hold the circumcision, etc...), so there would be no mix-ups at the hospital, and finally around 4:00 woke me up. An hour later we left for the hospital, bringing what seemed like half of our belongings with us. Our mothers joined us soon after. Finally, at 8:20am Ethan Joseph was born, all 6lbs 3oz of him.

My first memories of him are a bit hazy. I remember him being put right into Cindy's arms after he was born. I cut the cord, then came up to see Cindy and him. We both just kind of looked at him in awe. The nurses then took him to clean him up, a process he did not seem to care for. When they did, my instinct was to check up on Cindy because not 15 minutes prior, she was making sounds that she had never made before. After observing that she was as good as she could be at that point, I made my way over to my newly diapered son. He was sooo tiny. Also very wrinkled and hairy. I remember looking at him for a good 10 minutes or so before I realized that I could pick him up. I didn't even have to for permission from anyone. He was mine. His eyes were shut and his head was shaped kind of funny, but he was mine!

He came home the next day and as Cindy and I looked at him, we both wondered how we could love someone we just met so much. Less than 48 hours after he was born, we couldn't fathom life without him. Why did we wait so long to have a kid?

Four years later, so much in our lives has changed. Especially in the last few months. But I still have a sense of wonder about my little boy. Admittedly, sometimes that wonder is not initially a positive thing ("You just went to the bathroom 2 min and 32 seconds ago, how could you possibly have to go again?!?"). Still, on his worst days and on my better days he helps keep me humble before God, seeking the answers that are so far beyond me. Which is exactly where I need to be.

Right to the point

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. --John 1:14

Here's to hoping the Los Garcias see more of Christ's glory in the next few weeks.