just being christian

We were informed this weekend that our son is the second youngest boy in the church. It matters insomuch as the Christmas season is fast approaching, and the first youngest boy in the church will be traveling over the weeks around Christmas. Thus, Z has been drafted as baby Jesus for this year’s Christmas play.

Which means Stacy and I have also been drafted into supporting roles as Mary and Joseph.

We are in comedic territory on a number of levels here. Starting with the fact that my son’s behavior can tend to be passionate, noisy and highly erratic.  There is really no telling what that kid is going to do when the bright lights of stardom are shining down on him.  Will he have an epic meltdown because he sees some kid in the crowd eating fruit snacks?  Will he want want to get down and pet his sister, who I can only assume will be dressed as a sheep for the occasion? Will he be struck by a spirit of joy and laugh his way through his interactions with the wise men?  Will he use his go-go-gadget arms to jack the halo off an angel and try it on?
Who knows.

What I do know is that the family of Jesus is now highly interracial.  Ironic in and of itself, it’s even more ironic that my biological son is a genetic anomaly sporting blond hair and blue eyes.  So no matter how much I’ve contended over the years that Jesus is not Swedish, it’s my son that is propagating the myth of Swedish Jesus.

Best. Christmas. Program. Ever.

Renew and Restore.

When I met my wife, she wasn’t my wife.  She was an 18 year-old college freshman who had aspirations of being a doctor.  We had a public speaking class together, and the alphabetical seating chart gods smiled down on us as I had the opportunity to sit behind her for the entire semester.  As an added bonus, we ended up assigned to the same final project group. And we did the bulk of the work to make sure our group Aced the project.  That’s a lot of quality time.

We enjoyed our assigned time together so much that we started spending time together voluntarily.  Studying together, going on walks, going on dates.  Generally doing the things that young people do when they fall in love.

That young lady never lost track of her goal to be a doctor.  She worked hard all throughout college.  Really hard.  Three years into her college career, I would marry this would-be doctor.  Not because she was going to be a doctor.  Because she was amazing. The most gracious, hardworking and loving person I would ever meet. A beautiful person of high character and strong moral fortitude.

All of those characteristics would serve her well when she moved to Kansas City where she entered Medical School.  That was where the task really started to seem impossible.  The woman who had never known anything other than A’s started to struggle in classes.  The chief goal of med school seems to be to break the will of every single student, consequences be damned.  It’s no wonder so many doctors are jerks.

But my wife made it.  She handled the wringer with grace and dignity.  She kept the faith and she kept pursuing her goals.  And all the while she was supportive of my callings and my vocational journey.

After four hard years, medical school was over, though there would be no rest for the weary. Before this highly educated woman could hang her shingle and practice the medicine, she would have to go through residency.  It was like medical school, only worse.  Instead of trying to make her feel dumb, the chief end was to break her will to live by introducing torturous levels of exhaustion.  80, 90, 100 hour work weeks exhausted.  Add in the two kids we brought into our family during that time period, and you’re looking at a woman trying to set a record for the least hours of sleep recorded over a thirty six month period.

But tomorrow it all ends. In reality, it’s been winding down all week.  She delivered her last OB patient of residency Monday night. She turned her pager in on Sunday.  She’s done with clinics and rotations and only has a two day conference left.  And it will all culminate tomorrow night when she stands on stage and graduates from residency.

For the first time in the 10.5 years I’ve known her and the almost 8 years we’ve been married, this woman will not be working toward her vocational goal.  No more working to become a doctor.  I’m finally saying goodbye to the woman who is striving to achieve her long-held goal, and finally saying hello to the woman who has achieved it.

And I couldn’t be more proud of her.

Renew and Restore

Last night we went to bed at 10:30pm.  We did so knowing that Stacy had an OB patient in the hospital and another due very soon.

I slept for almost 9 hours and woke up to find I had the entire bed to myself.

My wife is incredibly kind and doesn’t wake me up when she leaves at 1am to go into the hospital.

And she also doesn’t brag when she delivers not one, but two babies in the middle of the night while I sleep.  Yeah, her night was about a million times more productive than mine.

She also doesn’t throw pity parties for herself.  She just drives 15 minutes to the other hospital she is working at and puts in a good 5 hours there before cutting out around 1pm to go home and take a nap for a couple of hours.  She probably would have worked the entire 12 hour shift, if it wasn’t for the fact she was on call Friday night and is on call again tomorrow night.

That is why my wife is awesomer than I am.

And I know that awesomer isn’t a word.  But i like how it sounds and you know what it means, so the word police can just sit on their edits, thankyouverymuch.

Renew and Restore