milk's expiration date and happy dads

so.... i know i know. my wife did get the blog (or 'blawg' if you hang around with some of our peoples) started then it was suppose to be back to me... and i totally dropped the ball!!! BUT I'M BACK BABY... or, i mean, i am going to get started. (only 2 months down time) and the go time is NOW!!!

there is soooo much craziness around our world right now... GOOD CRAZINESS... but craziness all the same. we are only a few weeks from leaving to pick up our boys in Ethiopia (travel dates = July 1st - 10th) OUR BOYS!!! ASHER AND WILL!!!, school is out for Lilly, i have been working on a new project, and my wife has been busy holding our entire lives together with work, schedules, BLOOD, SWEAT, AND TEARS... (too dramatic?). but let it be known, SHE IS INCREDIBLE!!!

anyhowz... in the midst of the madness, lilly(our 8 year old daughter) and i were making a mad dash thru the local grocery store just the other day to grab some of the essentials that keep life moving around our place... like: bread, soap, diet mt. dew, toilet paper, my hair care products, pickled pigs feet, some of those sticky mouse traps, and of course the mandatory gallon of SKIM milk... (i grew up on whole milk, straight from the cow... literally, but my body type is gradually requiring less 'whole' anything, so i am trying to scale back).

back to the matter at hand though... as we approached the milk, lilly ran ahead yelling at me to hurry up that she wanted to show me something. (we are very easily entertained... i mean, what other 8 year old runs excitedly thru the dairy section longing for a moment of show and tell with her dad?) but, of course, i took 2 hard steps with my buggy and then jumped up on it and rode it like a superhero full speed in her direction.... with hair and cape flowing in the wind, muscles exploding from my shirt sleeves and a... ummm sorry, got carried away again.

HERE IS THE COOL PART THOUGH... as we both arrived out of breath in front of this 'library of lactose', with 100's of gallons of milky white... ummm ... milk, staring back at us, she made this comment with almost giggles of anticipation and excitement in her voice...

'DAD... LET ME MAKE YOU PROUD!!!' and she stood there beaming, then plunged her skinny little arm into the dark reaches of the bottom shelf of skim milk. she was bent over and almost had her whole head out of sight before the top half of her finally reappeared proudly holding a crisp cold gallon of some holstein's finest nectar.

SHE THEN PROUDLY MADE THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT...

LILLY: 'LOOK DAD. JUNE 18TH, 2010. ARE YOU PROUD?!'

this, of course, was the expiration date of the milk. I reached toward her, grabbed the milk, and then held it up in the air like the lombardi trophy for all the world to see. WAS I PROUD? WAS I PROUD? there are not even words to tell you how proud i was and excited. i announced to the world of Ingles my daughter's my recent glowing success, placed the milk in the buggy, and went straight for the high five/fist pound combo to let her know just how proud i was.

this all probably sounds crazy to you, but here is the deal. for years, i have had a habit of looking thru the gallons of milk for the one gallon whose expiration date is the farthest away. that way, it will last longer in my fridge. those gallons are usually at the back because the grocer naturally wants to sell the ones closest to expiration first. it's one of those quirky little things that some people do and i just happen to be one of those 'some' people. it is almost like a game or competition for me... 'how far ahead can i get the expiration date... 2 weeks, 3 weeks, a full lunar cycle? i love it!!! again, i know this sounds a bit odd, but this is where it gets fun... for me anyway.

you see, at some point in lilly's and my relationship, she had picked up on something that seemingly made me smile. i had not tried to show her or begged her to be a part of my silly little game, she had just observed it and decided that she wanted to play along as well... and somewhere in her 8 year old mind, she had come to a place that SHE was excited about doing something she knew made me smile. she wanted to be a part of something that she knew her DAD loved... and wanted him to be proud...

i think this would be the coolest place to live... the place where we have fallen in love with our DAD (God) knowing how much He has fallen in love with us and done for us... and where we have fallen in love with the things that He loves to do and wants to do inside this human/divine paradox of a relationship... as small, silly, or even huge and massive as these things may be... and we love being a part of His story and running to the dairy aisle yelling... HEY DAD... LET ME MAKE YOU PROUD!!! and it's NOT a performance thing... it is a love thing... that we just fall in love with doing the things He loves and has passed on for us to love too, knowing it is what our true heart desires anyway. and we stand there in the middle of a world who may not fully understand this relationship yet, and we hold our milk up in the air and excitedly announce the expiration date... and our DAD smiles... and winks... and we smile and kind of laugh... then HE gives us a little fist bump as we stroll toward 'self check'.

this is the life i want to live, and i feel like we are getting to do just that. one of the things that scripture talks about frequently is God's heart and passion for orphans. and all of us have been an orphan of some kind at some time. we have all, at the very least, been without the fatherhood of Christ at some point, and others of us even without our earthly fathers. but God has placed this same passion in our hearts to join him on this aisle in life, and reach back into some of the unseen rows of faces and now we are just a few short weeks from traveling to Ethiopia and lifting our 2 new sons (asher and will) up in our arms to hold them for the first time... and i pray that they know how much they are loved... and i can't wait to tell them about another Father that loves them even more than Diana and I.

come on for the journey. we would love for you to be a part of this story too. and, oh yeah... i will be watching for you in the milk aisle... you know you will be checking expiration dates...