Let freedom ring...

But not too loudly yet. Our precious bundle Amanda has joined us at home, but her sister Kaitlin remains confined to the NICU. Good news is that the nurse says Kaitlin has been eating well and is anticipated to be released on Monday. Our first night with a baby in the house was probably pretty standard for what most new parents experience. Amanda was asleep in her crib cooing quietly, and after Jamie and I stood at the crib staring at her for a couple of hours we thought we would try to get some sleep. I thought I'd never get to sleep, I must have gotten up twenty times to check to make sure she still looked comfy and was still breathing. When we finally did get to sleep it wasn't for very long, the slightest sound from that crib sparked our intense scrutiny. She decided to eat at around two and then again at around four. After the four o'clock meal our darling girl decided that she wasn't ready to go back sleep just yet and made her objections quite clear. After a while she settled down and we slept for a couple of hours. Of course in the morning after her next meal Amanda slept for almost four hours straight. I'm sure our story is typical and many of you have had the same experience. All the advice and predictions in the world would not have changed that first night. A thousand times I've heard "get your sleep now" or "your life will never be the same", some have made that second statement in an almost negative tone, I thank God that my life will never be the same.

As I sat in my office holding my daughter playing her my favorite Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (Iz) song, somewhere over the rainbow, singing the words softly to her, I finally had that moment that I was told that I would have. The moment that you really realize that you are now a father, of course I've known that since 3:54 am on 5/24/05, but it was in this moment when the lyrics in the song proclaim that "dreams really do come true" that I was overcome with emotion and began to weep with a mix of mostly joy with a little fear mixed in. That is until I realized that my bride had chosen this moment to video tape my encounter. Not to tarnish the cold, hard exterior that I have worked so hard over these many years to develop I explained that I had just been poked in the eye by my little angel. (She didn't buy it either).

I have thanked you all for the support and prayer you have so graciously showered us with, and not to be greedy but I'll ask for your continued prayer and support. But I do want to proclaim publicly that it is God that I thank the most for this blessing he has bestowed upon us all. I know that is only through his grace that this miracle has been possible.