January 31st 2010

31 Jan January 31st 2010

There are many reasons why I love going to Church every Sunday. It’s a time for reflection, a time for prayer, and a time to grow in your journey with God. Today’s message was perfect for Tiffany and I, it was all about joy.

Joy is not a word that would commonly be associated with is over the last four weeks. The idea behind today’s sermon was speaking to the fact that God wants you to be happy. God chose suffering so that we can choose joy. That is such a profound statment for us right now.

As difficult as this entire process is on us both emotionally and physically, we still have so much joy in our lives. There is so much to be thankful for and we have been blessed in so many ways. Even though it is difficult for us to find joy at this moment, we know God wants us to be happy.

For those of you who know me, I’m a bit of a goofball. I love to laugh and crack jokes, generally I just enjoy “have a good time”. It’s amazing what a good laugh can do to lift your spirits. Heck, there are some people who think that laughter can cure some common ailments. It’s important for us to remember that we to need have joy and laughter in our lives, even in the most difficult times.

As for the difficult times, they’re getting a little better everday. We had a really sweet lady named Beth who sat next to us in church today and had remembered Tiff was pregnant.  Towards the end of the service, she leaned over and asked how the baby was. Tiffany started to tell her, but she still has a difficult time talking about it and began to cry. I took over and finished the story with tears in our eyes, but it was a really nice moment and we both appreciated her reaching out.

After church was finished, we went up for a little extra prayer with pastor Jim. He has a daughter with special needs and was very empathetic to our situation and assured Tiffany that all of her feelings that she’s having are quite normal. I mentioned how great the sermon was and that we need joy in our lives. He was quick to strike back and say, “yes, but not all the time, Tiffany is allowed to grieve.”

As for Makoa, he’s a champ. The little man is really starting to get the whole feeding thing down. Our continued prayers for progress in the feeding department are starting to be answered. The doctors have bumped-up his bottle feeding schedule to five times-a-day. We still need to hit that magic number of eight and gain weight, but it’s now a goal that seems well within his reach.

Tomorrow will mark the fourth week since Makoa was born. Were all ready to take him home and begin the next chapter. I think with the latest batch of clothes I brought to Grammy and Papa’s house, I now have more clothes there than in my own home. Once again though, I wouldn’t change anything about this experience for the world. I know with all of my heart that we are the perfect parents for Makoa and whatever challenges lie ahead, we will meet them head-on with joy.