Happy Birthday, Mom!

The other night we went over to my parent's house. It's my mom's birthday tomorrow and we were too impatient to give her the present. So, sitting there at the table, she opened up her birthday card while my dad hung over her shoulder. We had looked at a lot of different birthday cards, or as many as Safeway carries at 10 o’clock at night, but finally decided on the cheesiest of them all. It had big, ugly flowers all over it. The type of flowers you might see in a mural or picture at your grandma’s house. Fittingly, the card read, "Happy Birthday Grandma!" Fireworks! Excitement! Woohoo! Hooray for life! For love! For marriage! That's right everybody. We're pregnant! And while I used to never understand why husbands would say "we're pregnant," I understand now. Because it is about us. About our family. About the beautiful union between man and wife that God intended to be the start of new life.

While Nicole and I weren't necessarily trying to start a family, secretly for the past month, we've been wanting it. Since the moment we were married I've had an insatiable desire to have a child with her. Here we are, only two and a half months into marriage, beginning a whole different journey. It’s no longer just about this marriage thing. It’s about this parent thing. This family thing. Another reason for you readers to visit our blog more frequently.

When my mom opened the card, she asked, “Is this a joke?” Then reading what we had written inside, she and my dad knew immediately. They’re going to be grandparents. They just bought this 1990 Buick that is so old school, after they opened the card I told them that they already have the car for it. The thing has grandparents written all over it. I think when they drive it I’ll refer to them as Ethel and Fred. That’ll really solidify the yes-you’re-old-get-over-it fact of the matter. My dad already knows, but my mom’s a little bit in denial. A couple months back she looked at me, straight-faced and said, “Jon, I have friends around fifty.” I didn’t hesitate to tell her that she was around fifty. Bottom line though—they’re excited. Just like the rest of our family. Screaming, one swear word, laughing and a “Whoooooops” from my brother were some of the reactions we received. My father-in-law, Bill said that he didn’t have enough Disney movies yet. Sorry, Bill. Better pick up the pace of that collection.

We both have no idea what's in store over these next eight or nine months. What kind of surprises we'll face. What kind of cravings Nicole will experience. How much vomiting will ensue. When and how greatly my sympathy pains will affect me. But these are all things we're ready to face together. With power from the Holy Spirit of course. When you think about it, please pray for us and for our infinitesimally small and growing child.

Life is good. Marriage is good. All of it's so stinking good.

I’m kind of rambling right now, but I don’t know exactly what to say. I’m missing something, but I’m sure it’ll come out later. For now, we just wanted to get the word out. I wanna shout it from the rooftops. I'm gonna be a father. I'M GONNA BE A DAD! When I emailed one of my friends the good news, he replied, "Holy crap! Congratulations!" Holy crap is right. Holy crap!

And one more thing. Thank you, Lord!