Worth The Wait

After our first two children came early (Nate) and on-time (Carrie), I thought the timing would be great to save the 1000th post on this blog for the announcement of the birth of our third child. When I published post #999 on February 26 and Laurie went into labor two days later, I was sure of it!

That was the time we began to fully appreciate this child’s penchant for the dramatic.

With her two previous pregnancies, Laurie had a very predictable pattern of labor. Both times we were able to spend much of the early labor walking our neighborhood, heading to the hospital as things intensified. We spent only a few hours in the delivery room before Nate was born, and even less for Carrie. Not so this time!

Laurie’s “labor” on February 28 ended up being a very convincing fraud. Heading home from the hospital still pregnant was disappointing, but not overly so. We weren’t due until March 8. If the baby wanted to gestate a little longer, who were we to argue?

As the baby’s due date approached, we began to think that we may get ourselves a very nice Anniversary gift. Sadly, March 8 came and passed without a special delivery. Getting to celebrate five amazing years with a night of dancing and dining (and trumpet playing) was a pretty fabulous silver lining, though! I was able to take Laurie with me to a swing dance where I was playing on our Anniversary, and we snuck in a few dances (though not much swinging) between contractions.

Still smiling five years after I put a ring on it on March 8, 2007

By last Friday, we were 41 weeks pregnant and starting to be REALLY anxious to get this delivery over with. We’d tried nearly every home “remedy” folks had suggested, to no avail. The following day we were certain the contractions Laurie was experiencing were the real deal. We waited until they were lasting a full minute and coming every 2-3 minutes before going back to the hospital. Sadly, we were turned away a second time; despite having been dilated to 4cm for over two weeks, the contractions had all been unproductive. Tricked again!

On Monday, Laurie’s doctor told her the baby was still too high to deliver, but that it wouldn’t take much to trigger real labor. She wasn’t kidding!

Laurie woke up with strong contractions early Tuesday morning, but for once didn’t think these contractions were doing anything. When they didn’t gain in strength or frequency after a morning walk, she decided to take a shower, and I was heading out the door to go to a staff meeting at church. Just to be safe, I texted one of the ladies from our Lifegroup to be on standby to come keep the older kids if we needed to go to the hospital.

We’re so thankful she was able to come quickly, because after just a few minutes Laurie came out of the shower saying we needed to go to the hospital NOW! Twelve minutes later we gave a woefully insufficient “thank you” as we hustled out to the car when Miss Debbie arrived.

It was 8:50 when we left our house. A few minutes before nine, Laurie walked into the labor & delivery ward telling the nurses she was in transition. They didn’t believe her at first, and said they’d be back to check on her in a little while after she got changed into a hospital gown. As Laurie was changing, I went back to the nurses’ station to persuade them that this was urgent, but I think they were convinced less by my entreaties as by the blood-curdling scream of “THIS BABY IS COMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (Edit: Laurie insists it was more a “yell” than a “scream”) that came from the open door.

I’m still amazed how fast those nurses can move in an emergency! Within seconds, despite two other babies being born at the same time, we had everything we needed. Laurie’s doctor was already in the building for a surgery, but was able to sprint to the delivery room just in time to catch the kid. Laurie pushed once, the water broke, and out came our beautiful Eleanor! It was 9:11; Laurie delivered this baby faster than Dominos will deliver your pizza.

We went to the hospital with two girl names, figuring we’d decide what she looked like if the baby was a girl. I think both of us expected to go with the other name, but as soon as we saw her, we knew she was a Nora Jane.

Nate and Carrie were able to be Eleanor’s first visitors, which was what we’d hoped. Like us, they are both very much in love!

Mommy and baby are both doing great. Nate and Carrie are hanging out with some friends for a few days. I’m sitting here in the hospital room losing count of my many blessings, and looking forward to getting back home where our whole family can start our new life together!

Sure, Laurie was pregnant almost a full month longer with Nora than she was with Nate. Sure, it took me three weeks to get to my 1000th blog post. I think both were very much worth the wait!

Front Page News for All the Wrong Reasons

Less than three years after nearly getting creamed by a guy texting while driving on the Interstate, I was involved in another traffic accident. This time, thankfully, I was in the car alone, without my kids or my pregnant wife. And once again, the Lord protected me from what easily could have been serious injury.

Unfortunately, the driver of the other vehicle was injured. I don’t know the severity of her injuries, but it looked bad as they pulled her from the vehicle. And at age 91, her injuries aren’t likely to heal quickly. It has really shaken me up. The accident was no fault of mine, but I still feel terrible that it happened. I’ve been praying for her all day.

The accident occurred at the corner of Willow Avenue and Stevens Street, an intersection which seems to feature fender benders on a weekly basis. After crossing it multiple times every day for the last 5+ years, I guess I was due.

For those who’ve asked what happened, here’s the story:

I was sitting at the red light next to the Sakura Japanese restaurant, heading in to work at the church. A truck was in the left turn lane, blocking my view of northbound traffic on Willow. When the light turned green, both of us starting pulling forward into the intersection. The driver of the truck was able to see that an oncoming car was not going to stop; I could not see it. The driver of the truck stopped suddenly, and the next thing I knew, a streak of color flashed across my windshield, and I saw a car spinning through the intersection and off the road into the deep drainage ditch that runs along the side of Willow in front of Sakura and El Tapatio.

The light had been changed for quite some time; long enough for me to have gotten up the hill and out into Willow. While I don’t know for certain what happened, I suspect that the driver of the Impala probably inadvertently hit the gas pedal instead of her brake (which is the same thing that happened recently when another elderly driver parked her vehicle in the O’Charley’s waiting area). Nonagenarians aren’t known for speeding, and judging by the distance she skidded while spinning, it seemed she was going faster than the legal limit.

Once I got over the initial shock, my first thought was that the car had flipped over going into the ditch, or had slammed into the culvert. It’s been raining, and the water level was high. Had the car flipped, the driver and her husband would likely have drowned. Thankfully, they landed right-side-up. I snapped a few pictures, after watching our local emergency crews perform an amazing rescue:

View from the restaurant side of the ditch. The car had spun completely around, and is facing the direction from which it had been coming.

View from the Willow Avenue side of the ditch.

Photo by Buddy Pearson of the Herald-Citizen

As you can see, this wasn’t exactly the typical fender bender! It even merited prominent display on the front page, sharing the space with a beer thief and a guy who threatened to kill some school kids. You can read the Herald-Citizen write-up about the accident here.

Not exactly the notoriety I was hoping to achieve.

Just as in our previous accident (see above link for that story), God’s hand was evident in many ways during this ordeal. Were I to believe in coincidences, it would have been quite the “coincidence” that a man who was stopped at the red light “just happened” to be a first responder. By the time I pulled my car out of the intersection and ran to check on the other driver, he was already down in the ditch with his kit, pounding on the window and telling the driver and her husband not to move.

And he wasn’t even the first person down there. Within moments of the accident, at least a half-dozen bystanders had climbed down the embankment to see if they could offer any assistance to the elderly couple trapped in the vehicle. It was inspiring to see so many people so concerned for the welfare of their fellow man!

The fire fighters and paramedics (including a few SSBC members and School of Performing Arts parents) who responded were also amazing. They made the extraction of an injured woman from a car filling up with nasty water look easy, and had her safely up the steep ascent in no time. I hope to never require similar assistance, but am glad to know that we have such professionals serving our community.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing of all was the number of people who knelt to pray for the other driver, and who asked to pray with me. Cookeville has its faults, for sure, but on the whole, this is a pretty incredible place to live.

Miraculously, the driver’s husband walked away without a scratch. As the newspaper said, it was a wild ride!

Next to injuries to people, the damage to vehicles seems unimportant. Yet I am thankful that, while my car suffered some damage and will have to spend some time in the shop, it is still drivable and will allow me to go to work without leaving my fit-to-burst wife stranded at home without a vehicle.

Thanks to all who have checked in on me in the last couple days. I appreciate your concern, and love you all! Please join me in praising God for his glorious providence, and forgive me if I’ve seemed distracted the last couple days!

Family Advent Reading

When my wife and I were little, both of our families had a tradition of reading an Advent story one line at a time during each night of December leading up to Christmas. We’re continuing this tradition with our children! Here’s Nate finally reaching the end of the story this evening:

Merry Christmas!

Field Trip!

My excitement may perhaps be premature, but I’m really looking forward to a field trip that I just officially booked today for students of the School of Performing Arts! On May 2, a group of 45 students and parents (plus a few SPA teacher/chaperones) will be heading to the Nashville Symphony. With very few exceptions, this will be the first ever professional orchestra concert for nearly all of them. I don’t know that there’s much I enjoy more than watching the reaction of young music students hearing a live symphony for the first time!

The highlight of the concert will be Brahms’ 4th Symphony. What a great piece! I just spent the last 45 minutes reminding myself how much I love it.

The rest of the program isn’t too shabby, either. Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes will open the concert, followed by a recently composed piano concert by James MacMillan called “The Mysteries of Light“. I’m not familiar with the piece, but the composer’s description is pretty interesting. Here’s a decent recording of the Debussy piece:

Many thanks go to the fine folks at the Nashville Symphony Orchestra for accommodating such a large group of students, and for giving us a tremendous discount! Too bad it’s still five months away…

First Semester in the Books

Long time no blog! Besides a brief holiday hiatus and a serious bout of respiratory infection that kept me bedridden for several days, I’ve been spending much of the last two weeks reading, studying, and taking final exams for my first semester of classes at the Nashville Campus of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. My last two exams were completed this afternoon, officially bring the semester to a close!

All in all, it was a great semester. I love being a student again and having some direction for my reading/studying. I’ve also really enjoyed the opportunity to interact with other students, and with some outstanding professors. I won’t have grades back for a little while, but I feel like I did pretty well in that area!

The blog has been sorely lacking in book reviews lately, as much of my reading these last few months has been textbooks that aren’t likely to interest many readers who don’t plan to attend seminary. There are a few books that I read during these classes that I’d like to highlight briefly here, as I think they’ll have a bit more common appeal.

The first is Christianity Through the Centuries: A History of the Christian Church by Earle E. Cairns. This was the primary textbook for my courses in Church History. While it’s certainly not as in-depth as many books on Christian history, it’s a very good overview that balances details with readability. It never felt like reading a textbook; I thoroughly enjoyed all 560 pages! In scope, it covers everything from Pentecost to some of the biggest theological controversies of the late 20th century. The author writes from a Protestant viewpoint, which is reflected to some extent in his focus on events following the Reformation, though I felt he was fair in his assessment of some of the major events within the Roman church (the Counter-Reformation, Vatican II, etc).

If you’re looking for a good introduction to church history that’s a little more substantial than Christian History Made Easy (my review), look into this one! Buy it here.

Other books used in this class: Our Legacy: The History of Christian Doctrine by John Hannah; a few volumes from the Kregel Pictorial Guide to Church History series; and How Christianity Changed the World by Alvin Schmidt.

Another book I’d have greatly enjoyed whether it was assigned or not was Graeme Goldsworthy’s According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible. We read this in my Biblical Hermeneutics class, and I found it very helpful. Here Goldsworthy introduces the concept of “biblical theology”, which is the study of redemptive history. The purpose of the book is to help Christians to read Scripture as one large (true!) story with one consistent message. I felt the mixture of theological concepts and practical application was just right for a book of this style, and reading it has certainly made me a better student of the Bible.

If you’ve ever wondered how the Old and New Testaments fit together, or how to understand the meaning of a given passage or book of Scripture in the context of the entire Bible, then biblical theology is the way to do it, and this book is a good place to start. Buy it here.

Another book assigned for Hermeneutics was 40 Questions About Interpreting the Bible by Robert L. Plummer. As the title suggests, this book aims to answer forty of the most common questions Christians and non-Christians have about interpreting Scripture. While it was certainly helpful to read the book in its entirety, the real value here is as a reference book for times when I have questions, or am seeking to help answer the questions of others. Each of the forty chapters is broken down into a short, easy-to-grasp format that gets straight to the point. Chapter outlines, illustrations, and summaries put the information you need where you can find it right away, with further details in the chapter text if you require further study.

If you’ve ever had questions about interpreting the Bible (and if you haven’t, it’s probably because you’ve never read the Bible!), this book will likely address them. It may not answer every question as thoroughly as possible, but it will get you started, and point you in the direction of other resources if you want to dig deeper. Buy it here. I’m also looking forward to collecting some of the other books in this series!

Other books used in this class: Getting the Message: A Plan for Interpreting and Applying the Bible by Daniel Doriani; and Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity by Craig Ott and Harold Netland.

I managed to squeeze in some other reading in the last few months, but haven’t had any time available to write book reviews. With the semester at a close, here are a few of the highlights from my “outside” reading, which I hope to review soon:

• The Hole in Our Holiness: Filling the Gap Between Gospel Passion and the Pursuit of Godliness by Kevin DeYoung
  
• Out of Our Minds: Learning to Be Creative by Sir Ken Robinson
• The Conviction to Lead: 25 Principles for Leadership that Matters by Albert Mohler
• Guitar Zero: The New Musician and the Science of Learning by Gary Marcus
• Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith by Michael Reeves