Day to day I wait. Eight more months! Who can wait that long? For me, it’ll just be eight month to fester worry. Do you ever wonder why we worry? I saw the first picture of my child yesterday, and a flood of worries came over me. My concerns were not for myself, but for my wife and the young child growing inside her. What will happen in the next eight months of pregnancy? What will our children be like? As I stared at the sonogram for the first time I was filled with joy, but later I looked at the picture, and I was anxious about everything.I wonder how the Father looked at his children during the creation? Did he worry about anything? Did he worry about a creation that would not trust him, but betray him? Did he worry for his Son while he was in this world--his Son who would bear the pain of the world? Did he worry about everything, or did he worry about nothing? Did he worry about the loneliness that his son would feel in the final hours when no one would stand by him?
I’m sure I will learn more from my children than I will ever be able to teach them. I’ve already learned more about prayer in the first six weeks of pregnancy than I have in the past ten years, and it is my petition that I would never stop learning about the Father with my family. The greatest gift my children will ever give me is the fact that I will understand the Father better by being a father. As Thanksgiving approaches, this is why I am grateful.
I present my life and my family as an offering, servants to be used for Your requests, and my worry is replaced by Your peace. So day to day I wait. It will be another eight months, but I can’t wait to know Him more, and I can’t wait to meet my child.
Why we are grateful this week:
1) We had a great time celebrating Jess Shamblee’s Birthday last week! We had dinner at Jade Harbor (the Rainforest Restaurant), then went to KTV, and then we came back home for cherry cheesecake and gifts.
2) English club went well on Monday night. We sang songs, played silly games, and Shannon gave a great talk. I’m hoping to post a video of club by next weekend, after our trip to the western campus.
3) I had fun sharing some of my favorite movies with our neighbor Joseph this week, and Jessie helped her student Sally to prepare for an upcoming job interview.
4) Jessie and I went to Beijing yesterday for our first checkup on the baby. The hospital was great, and after filling out the paperwork we had our first sonogram. It was an amazing feeling to see a small child growing inside my wife. The doctors told us everything looks great, and we are scheduled for another checkup in five weeks.
Please continue to “think” about us:
1) We are counting down the days until November 15 when the heat will be turned on!
2) The semester is rapidly coming to a close. Most of our final exams are conducted like interviews during our class time. That means we only have about one month before our regular classes are complete. We do not want to allow this time to slip away from us; we want to make the most of every opportunity we have with our students.
3) Next Friday night we will be heading to the western campus for English Club! It will be the same club that we just organized for the main campus, but there will be many more students.
All in His name,
Brad
