Change We Can Believe In

This Halloween, be sure to remember that the harder you trick-or-treat, the higher the chance that someone's going to take a ton of your candy and give it to a kid who stayed home and played Grand Theft Auto IV all night.

This is What I Know

This is what I know - People make mistakes. Consequences are inevitable and oftentimes they can be painful. When we mess up, we'd like nothing better than to move on, forget the past, and continue living without suffering the inevitable consequences. But that's not life.

This is what I know - My adopted son was a mistake. The day he was conceived, he became equal amounts baby and consequence. As he grew each day in his young mother's womb, the world around him was waging war -- not for land or money or power, but for the heartbeat that pounded life through his little chest.

This is what I know - Some people wanted to eliminate his life. They didn't see his existence as a choice that had already been made, instead they weighed his value in terms of a choice that was yet to be made. They didn't see a self-inflicted consequence that needed to be faced, only an unjust punishment that should be avoided at any cost.

This is what I know - Some people refuse to see beyond the immediate. To these people, the value of my son's smile, his laughter, the way he kicks excitedly when I pick him up from his naps, were once on equal footing with a girl's impulsive decision to avoid the inherent consequence of a choice she already made. Because he was of no value to them, in their eyes, he had no value at all.

This is what I know - We almost lost him. Twice. The constant drumbeat of what some call a woman's right to choose almost cost the world a beautiful child. This young mother sat in the waiting room of an abortion clinic two separate times. Each time she felt a tugging inside -- a voice almost -- that told her not to take the easy way out. We realize now with great gratitude that the tugging was done on our behalf.

This is what I know - Some people saw a promise, not a punishment. Instead of telling her the fairytale that she could make it all just go away, they encouraged this young mother to turn her mistake into someone else's blessing. They didn't remove the consequence, they taught her how to find a way to make the best out of the outcome she brought upon herself. That is what life is about. Before we were ever in the picture, these people saved the life of my unborn son.

This is what I know - In a world where hundreds of thousands of couples long to have the opportunity to adopt and make an unwanted child a part of their family, advocating abortion is possibly one of the cruelest social views one can have -- both to the child and to potential parents.

This is what I know - We may never conceive a child. Because of people who could see beyond the superficial morality of our day, and because the birth mom ultimately listened to the tugging inside her, our inability to get pregnant became a non-issue in our journey to have a child. We have been blessed by someone else's biggest mistake -- and we couldn't be happier about it.

Father & Son Time

Tonight, Harrison and I got to spend some quality "man time" together with no Heidi around. She was at a baby shower with friends and left the two of us home for the evening. I was excited to have some special bonding time with my son.

Because men like to expend energy, we started the night of bonding by participating in a number of fun, physical activities. Harrison started with about 30 minutes of jumping time in his new Johnny Jump-Up. As you can see, he loves it.



Though I enjoyed watching him and taking pictures, I quickly realized that he was doing all the exercise and my tubby self was just sitting on the floor. Bonding should never be a one-sided affair, so I decided that I would lace up my new running shoes, put Harrison in the jogger, and pound the pavement for about an hour.

I don't have any pictures of us in action, but to prove that I actually did run I took a photo of my shoes and new pedometer. In case you can't read the display, it shows 3.26 miles. It's not much, but for a budding runner who is about 50 lbs. overweight its definitely an accomplishment (especially considering that I didn't fall over dead of a heart attack).



We returned and took some time to cool down. I set him in his Bumbo and placed it right in front of me as I stretched. He had a bit of a snooze on our run and seemed to be refreshed because he was making a lot of noise and smiling as I talked to him. Our night of father/son bonding was winding to an end and I was happy with the time we'd spent together.

As I picked Harrison up to take him into his room and change into his PJs, I realized that he had one more bonding experience planned before we officially called it a night. You remember when I said earlier that men like to bond through physical activities? Well, my son reminded me that men also like to bond through the hilarity of our bodily functions. As a vivid reminder of this fact, he did this:



If you think this looks pretty benign as far a diaper blowouts go, please know that the other half of this mess was all over my hands and forearms and extended from Harrison's rear up into his hair. I tried to clean him up with baby wipes, but only succeeded in getting poop on everything within a 3-foot radius.

I quickly decided that two things needed to happen immediately. 1.) I needed to get the heck out of that room before my vomit became an added part of the mess, and 2.) I needed to get him into the tub because the only thing that would clean this kid properly was the pulsating massage setting on the shower head.

After his impromptu bath, I took my freshly-cleaned child back into the room -- which now had a foreboding green cloud billowing from the door -- to get a clean diaper, the baby lotion, and his pajamas. I snapped this photo on my way back out:



After this unplanned 30-minute interruption of frantic screaming (me), dry heaving (also me), and joyous splashing in poop-water (that would be Harrison), I finally held my son in my arms, fed him his bottle, prayed over him, kissed his sweet sleepy face, and laid him down for the night.

Sometimes the things you least expect make the best memories. I'm sure I will remember this night as long as I live.

Let Me Xplane

For those of us who don't quite understand how the economy got to where it is today:



Thanks to Jeff Schinella for pointing me to this video.