2006.

For the next few paragraphs, I'm going to attempt to capture as many of my feelings about 2006 as I can.

2006:
The year I grew up.
The year of joy.
The year of sorrow.
The year of melancholy.
The year of expectation.


It seems at times like only yesterday that we confided in our family and close friends that it was our desire to have a child, but God was somehow not listening, and we needed extra people to offer up their hopes, possibly to change His mind. But it wasn't yesterday. It was Christmas 2005. Because you see, the seeds for 2006 were planted long before 2006 ever took a tick of a clock. To accurately understand 2006, we need to rewind back to 2004.

From the beginning, we had said that we wanted to wait a while before having children. After all, once you have kids, they're always there. It will never be just the two of us again. So we prayed, and decided that five years was long enough to just enjoy each other's company. So around the fifth year of marriage, we began to pray for children, taking the necessary steps to make them possible. But we were not blessed with any impending bundles of joy. The sixth year of marriage rolled around, and we thought maybe we might need some medical help. So we sought out counsel and pharmaceutical jumpstarts that might multiply our family. No dice, as they say.
Having chosen not to air our laundry out for all to see, it was outwardly exciting to see others being blessed with children, while inwardly heartbreaking upon hearing any expectant news.
So after prayer between us, we decided to expand our circle a little bit, inviting our family and friends over Christmas to intercede on our behalf, with the hopes of having a blessing of our own.
God heard. And God blessed.
Just after Valentine's Day, we got the news in a random testing done upstairs of the 4102. We'd tested many times before only to end up a little more depressed. But this time Kim's tone was different. So different that we sat at the top of the stairs for at least 2 hours in disbelief. Is this how Mary felt when Gabe dropped the news on her?
After a couple of apprehensive weeks and our first doctor's appt, we let our close family in on the news.
Overjoyed! Ecstatic! Exhuberant! And all the other adjectives to describe how happy we were!

Then came March. My dad had long lamented that Virginia was the only state in the south (confederacy) that he had never been to. I wanted Dad to see Washington D.C., a place I have grown to love over the years. We finally worked it out for a Spring Break vacation to visit our nation's capital, with a bonus stop at Gettysburg on the way. But whoa. Kim was barely 2 months pregnant. Dad was advanced, and needed assistance at walking distances, and Mom, well, she was Mom.
But God provided. A wonderful trip. Good weather. Good company. Good attitudes. I pushed Dad all over Washington, Baltimore, and parts of Arlington in a borrowed wheelchair. We rode the subway and the bus. We parked at the US Capitol in the House Bulding parking, where I actually parked in the wrong spot and might have gotten towed if it weren't for Dad's disabled plates! :)
A wonderful vacation. Probably the best ever, aside from a slight scare Kim had on the way home which prompted us to drive all the way from Mt. Vernon back to Cincinnati in one day. We even celebrated Dad's 80th birthday with a burger at Red Robin again! Yeehaw!
Then came May! Hooray for my nephew's graduation! My entire family, together again. Mother, father, sister, brother, nieces, nephew, wife and unborn child. Kim's weekend/birthday, not so good as she contracted strep. Not good when you're 5 months pregnant. Nevertheless, we hightailed it back to Ohio for a Memorial Day party.
June 1 was the day to find out whether we were about to have a boy or a girl. Pink or blue. Dad was convinced we were having a boy, even so far as to always remind Kim to take care of "Junior." But as he said when I told him we were having a girl, "Well, I guess I was wrong."

Summer had arrived, which means TJ=busy. One final time to Centri-Kid at Georgetown College, the greatest campus to ever host a camp.
The phone call no one wants to hear.

My dad was no longer here with us, but in heaven with Jesus.

The night before, I'd talked to him. I told him I loved him. He told me he was tired. I told him he would be ok. He was ok. But I was not.
Father's Day. My first as a father, I said goodbye to my own.
Losing your dad is the ultimate flurry of emotions. You're happy because he was Christ's, but you're empty because he's gone. You're comforted because you mourn, but you're reluctant to let go.
Who knew how things would turn out when we learned of our impending arrival, took a grand vacay, and celebrated a graduation with all the family happy and together?
The rest of June and July were times of just going through the motions, or in my case, emotions. In July, after a quick trip to Arkansas to help Mom with some stuff, we headed to St. Louis for my cousin's wedding, hopefully donning a tux as a groomsdude for the final time. Spent a good deal of time with my cousin Jimmy, who then in August lost decades long battle with kidney disease, leaving behind a wife and 2 sons to grieve. Also we moved in July. Our moms packed and unpacked us. Much to our delight. Expanding the household means expanding your square footage. And with numerous gifts arriving by the truckload for our bundle, we needed the room. After 6+ years in the 4102, we moved across the parking lot to the 4064.
Also in August, Mt. Carmel ordained me to the ministry. A very emotional night, with powerful prayers and whispered thoughts of love. Honored. Humbled.

October 8th fast approaching.
But what's this? Labor pains on the evening of the 3rd? But no! Our girl was headed this way.
After a night without sleep. Pain for mother and child, Lydia Evangeline Johnston entered the world at 2 PM on October 4th, 2006, stealing her grandmother's birthday away, and stealing my heart with the first sight of her.

Visits from family and friends highlghted the next few weeks.
Then Thanksgiving. Our first road trip with Baby Girl.
Then Christmas.
A cavalcade of emotions.
I am now a father.
I am now fatherless (earthly).

God is good.
All the time.

And now we're right back where we started.
Plus one.
:)