Sons and Daughters

Thanks for the photo from "Erin" on fb

I never wanted to know what the gender of our child would be before he/she was born. I have always been like that. One Christmas my brothers and I snuck out to see what presents were being wrapped – before they were wrapped. It was the worst Christmas ever. I like surprise. So when Shirley was pregnant, I didn’t need to know if it was a boy or girl (even if they could have given us certainty – which they couldn’t at that time).

We were blessed with two wonderful boys. After Stephan came, we would have welcomed, as we would have when Stephan was on his way, either a boy or a girl as our second child. It didn’t matter. Sean and Stephan are two very different young men, but they are definitely boys in so many ways. So we never had the opportunity to experience girls. Of course we have baby-sat plenty of households with girls. Our colleagues, the Verheijen’s, are a family of only girls, so they had the opposite experience to ours. And both families have always been happy.

But of course, we also know how wonderful it is to find your soul-mate, that very person who matches you, challenges you, helps you to grow in the very faith and goodness that God has placed in us in order to grow. To find someone with whom you can share the best part of life – the very Creator of life, this is joy. And it is through knowing love, as God has shown us love, that we are truly able to recognize it in the other. This is why a spouse is a gift from the Lord.

It was so exciting to hear Stephan and Natalie’s news – they will soon be one ("soon" being relative - the wedding is in December). And we will have a daughter. It is so good to see how they share the best part of life. Their faith together has grown and continues to grow. What a blessing! And it has been especially precious to us to experience the outpouring of joy that all of you have had in this choice as well. Thank you for sharing in this.

“He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.”

“Houses and wealth are inherited from parents, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.”

Proverbs 18:22; 19:14