Happy Birthday Cindy

This is a significant day.

Thirty years ago I had been admitted to St. Margret's Hospital in Hammond Indiana and was spending my first day with a wee little bald headed girl that was born early that morning.

Cindy's birth and early events were a lot like her. My labor was short and intense - the child wasted no time getting here! Thirty years later no grass grows under her feet if she has somewhere to go - when it's time to go, it's time to go!

And she's still a Daddy's girl. How that screaming newborn knew everything would be all right and that she was safe the moment she touched her Daddy's arms in the delivery room amazed us both. The times she has taken comfort in her Dad's embrace in the years since is innumerable. It's been one of the greatest blessings of my life to see my daughter(s) enjoy this blessing I never had.

And she still knows her own mind about things. Her first feeding was trying. After a while the hospital staff thought it was time for her to eat. She thought otherwise. The child wasn't hungry and a staff member spent a good hour with me trying to coax this child to nurse.

Parenthood is a funny thing. When God places this tiny person into your life you really don't know who he or she is - you just know they're yours and your responsibility to raise for God. Time and time together unfold and reveal the incredible person you brought into the world. Thirty years has revealed unbelievable beauty in so may ways that I never in my fondest dreams imagined possible for one young woman to posses. I find myself humbled that God trusted me to parent this child.

So today I celebrate in my heart. I celebrate God's love an mercy. I celebrate the life of my daughter who has become one of my heroes. And I look forward to our family celebration this weekend when we'll break out the cake and ice cream just like we did when she was a little kid. I don't expect her to put her hand in the cake like she did when she was little, but then, who knows? Maybe I should make two, just in case of a cake fight.

I love you Baby, and I'm so proud of you.

Memories of Northland

I’ve been sitting here listing the December transactions in our accounting records most of the day. For the most part it’s tedious work, but once in a while something interesting comes up.

It’s cold outside. For south Alabama its been very cold.. Most years we get one or two days of freezing or below freezing temps. We’ve had a lot of it this year with no expected end in sight, at least that I know of. It’s hard on us southerners who for the most part don’t have clothing designed for sustained low temperatures, enough blankets, or any idea how to maintain life below 40 degrees.

So for me, it was a flashback to come to a single odd entry . . $2.71 spent at 200 Sunset Ave Unit 2 in Coleman, Wisconsin.

For just a second it all came back – Norman and I were in a dinky cheapo rental car and had been driving for hours in the worst conditions we’d seen in years. From the time we landed in Milwaukee all we saw was snow, snow, and more snow, and we had to drive. We were headed to NI to surprise Becky had had been pushing north several hours when hunger and fatigue took over. After eating at a seafood restaurant (that turned out to be a bar to our chagrin, but no other restaurants in town), we stopped at a Shell station for coffee for the last leg of the trip. That’s where we made the purchase. It was very dark, the temperature was about 6 below zero, and we were quite anxious about what lay ahead.

“Are the directions to the college right?
Are the roads ahead ok?
Will we make it safe?
Have they got our room ready?
How will we find where to go once we get there?

Will she be glad to see us?”

I don’t know how it happened but I left my red scarf at the station. No idea what happened, but it was missing after that stop. The coffee was good and much appreciated. We made it back to the main road and continued to push north in the dark for about another hour. After that we drove for miles on side roads to get to the college which, true to everything we were told, really was out in the middle of nowhere in the woods.

Everything worked out fine. We watched our daughter practice for a concert maybe half an hour before we were finally able to see her. Fluke that it was, God worked it out for us to have a little time alone there at the beginning as we held her and talked, and laughed and cried, and talked and laughed and cried some more. It was dream come true for all of us.

The rest of the visit consisted of going to classes, attending her concert, meeting friends, meeting staff, seeing the campus, visiting a nearby town, going to church, etc. We had serious life talks about serious life issues. She had finals the following week for which we stayed out of the way as much as possible. Being at NI allowed us a first hand glimpse of who God is shaping her into, and challenged us in our own walk with Christ. In the end, the cold wasn’t a big deal.

The accounting entries are done now. I think I’ll make a cup of good coffee, sit a spell, reflect on the majesty of God, pray, and cherish the cold. It’s only a temperature.