In baseball they say, “Let’s play two.” A movie theatre
calls it a “double feature.” In the Shafer home we say, “Reade is going to be a
brother.”
And because the Shafer home has been busy rearing aforementioned
Reade, it’s been remiss in announcing this wonderful news.
In fact, the due date is August 3, as in this August 3, as in less than two
months, as in Reade and his sister
(yes, it’s a girl!) will be 14 months apart.
Jessica and I have been thinking all along that if we’re
going to have one child, we should go for two. We both have siblings and we are
pro sibling. Jessica has seven half siblings, I have one full sibling (Beck!).
While Jessica enjoyed “only child” status until 11 years of age, I am only 17
months older than Beck. My goal is to train Reade to be a better big brother
than I was; this is actually setting the bar pretty low. I was not a good big
brother.
In my last post I wrote about how it’s only through God’s
mercy that I have been able to love at all. I wrote of how I can now love with
abandon, without fear of losing love…that I have been able to grow new roots
for love, not only for Jessica, but also for Reade. I called it “doubling down”
on love. Now make that “tripling.” God continues to show the depth of His
tender mercies.
While this news did not come as a complete surprise to
us, it did come a little sooner than we expected. This way, though, it feels both
our babies are both from the same batch, and it seems that has its advantages,
namely that we have not moved into a different era of baby gear technology.
We’re excited in every sense of that word—eager and anxious.
The “crazy” in our lives will be ramped up a few notches, but so will be the
awe and wonder.
A few days before Jessica and I met, four years ago this month in June 2011, we had exchanged emails and text messages in setting up a plan to meet and possibly grab supper. After finalizing a pick-up time and place, Jessica’s email ended with the phrase “…and we’ll be off on our adventurous way.”
We had no idea…
Much love and gratitude,
Barry
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