2 months

  What if I told you that Rachel is 31 weeks pregnant?  Would you believe me?  (Not that it really matters.  She is.  Consider it a rhetorical question.)  It doesn't seem like it--that last month has just flown by.  Now we've got a nursery ready, and we're trying to get into the mindset that this is really going to happen in the next few months.  Tomorrow, August 3, will be two months from our due date!

  Rachel continues to grow, although she still looks great!  The heat, however, is less than enjoyable.  Every now and again she looks at me and screams "I can't believe you did this to me!!!"  (Not really.  Anybody who knows Rachel knows she doesn't yell much.  That doesn't mean she's not thinking it, though. I can't imagine what it's like to be pregnant when it's 90 degrees in the shade.  Actually, I can't imagine being pregnant at all.  That would be hard to explain to the church.  And to everyone else, I suppose.  But I digress.)

  As I draw nearer to the big 3-0, I look back on the decade behind me and wonder at all that life has seen.  Rachel and I were talking about how it seems like more changes this decade than so many of the others--when you're a kid, you pretty much know what the expected path to follow is.  At the end of your first ten years, you'll still be in school, probably moving in the 4th or 5th grade.  By the end of your next ten years, you'll probably be in college, and while you may not know where, you can make a pretty good guess as to what you'll be doing.

  But when you're 20, trying to guess what you're doing when you're 30 is next to impossible.  If you had told me that I would be a pastor in a small church in Chattanooga, having been married for five years and own a stroller with a cat inside it, I'd never have believed you.  I also would have asked you about a football game or two to wager on...

  It's been a crazy ten years, but what has happened over the past ten years has made me so excited for the future years.  I don't know what will happen, and how it will all unfold, but I am thrilled to look forward to a child growing in our home, exploring the world with wonder in his eyes and love in his heart.  I have so many dreams for this child, but mostly I just want him to know that he is deeply loved by his parents and infinitely loved by God.  Everything beyond that is a blessing.

  And I hope he never learns who the Bengals are, because I don't think he deserves to learn about life's cruelties until he's much, much older, and had the chance to develop affections for football team with any hope of ever winning a Super Bowl.