YES!

I am so very happy to tell everybody reading this that my wife, Holly, and I are going to have a baby!!!!!! We have known now for about a month that we were pregnant, however we wanted to wait until our first appointment (which was today) before telling everyone. Our happy news comes at a time when friends dear to us are hurting because of a miscarriage - and our thoughts and prayers are still with our friends. It was difficult at first because we knew that the hurt and sorrow over the loss of their child was still so fresh when we found out. I'm so glad though that our friends were so encouraging when they found out. I never wanted to keep our news from them, but how do you handle a situation like that? It's like saying I won the lottery while someone you know is going through bankruptcy (although I've never won the lottery!) Even though I know now that our friends aren't upset or hurt by our news I hesitate to post this because my wife has friends who have been trying much longer than we have... the last thing we would ever want to do would upset our friends and families.

We had our first appointment today, and it was such a surreal experience - I mean... all of the sudden there we were in the examination room -- this can't be for real! The past month has been full of dreaming and long talks about what we want our child to achieve and also what we want to achieve as parents. My wife is a fan of the tv show "Friends" and there is one episode where Rachel is having an ultrasound and she breaks down because she can't "see" her baby... she doesn't know what she's looking at ... I have to admit I thought I would have a bigger reaction at first when I saw the ultrasound, but I didn't... I was Rachel... what in the world am I looking at.. what I thought was a head wasn't... and at this point in the pregnancy the baby looks like a shrimp.. all curled up... we were able to get a better view as the ultrasound went on... all of the sudden there was a tiny swirling on the screen to which we were told that was our baby's heartbeat ----- wow, how suddenly you can feel like you get a giant slap on the back of the head as if someone was saying "DUH"..... that moment wasn't an overjoyed/crying moment like I had planned for, I felt so peaceful in knowing that our baby was just "hanging out" while i watched its heart beat... I felt proud, almost like I can start a list of accomplishments my child has made... It is truly amazing how fast you can fall in love with something or someone, All I have to look at right now is a fuzzy black and gray photograph - but everytime I look at the picture my heart becomes overjoyed and all I can say is "THANK YOU GOD!". It's amazing to be chosen by God to raise really one of his children.

Please pray for my little family - Mommy is very sick right now (which we are told is a good thing) and also pray for my baby - that he or she will continue to grow stronger each day. And I guess that Daddy needs some prayer too --- no really LOTS OF PRAYERS!! It is a huge task and privelege to be called a father - I just pray that I can live up to all the expectations that come with my new role.