top seven moments of ele7en (finally…)

so a little thing happened on my way to the internet on saturday, my wife started labor.

well, she actually went into labor on friday night, but anyways…i actually saved this post for the 31st, so that i could hopefully have an easy number one!

 

se7en | God’s very specific answer to prayers

if i included God’s biggest answer to prayer of the year this would surely be higher, but because its directly related to number one, i’ll just stick with two specific ways God answered very specific prayers. as we got nearer and nearer to the beginning of summer last year there were two very difficult challenges we were facing: we were still in need of one intern team leader and the dollar was very low and we were in danger of losing quite a bit of money for our ministry.  in desperation, i prayed very specifically that God would send a guy named Ryan out for the summer and that the dollar would rise to a very specific rate.  within a week God called Ryan (through a crazy series of circumstances) to serve for the summer and the dollar raised to the rate that we were praying for.  it was a great reminder to pray specifically for things.

 

six | heartbeat

everyone says that having a baby changes your life.  for the last nine months we’ve been experience those changes.  one of the things that changes is the way you worry for your child.  even before he was born i found myself worrying for his safety.  we are guaranteed nothing in this life and with so many friends knowing that the hard way, i found myself being very cautious about our own child’s birth.  one of the first tests of that was the doctors appointment when we heard his heartbeat for the first time.  hearing that rhythm coming from the sonogram was such a relief.  now that he’s hear i’m realizing that hearing that heartbeat was just the start of the worrying for my child.

 

five | ultrasound movements

don’t worry this isn’t the last of the baby moments that litter the top seven.  watching our little guy move on the ultrasound machine was so miraculous.  i know that people believe in evolution and that there are lots of cases for it, but seeing a human being growing inside of another with all of the development of his organs to me is proof that God creates.  i always thought that the 3D pictures of babies are kind of creepy, but when our doctor offered us to see it in 3D (4D actually, it also had movement), we agreed.  it was amazing to watch him move his arms and to even put his thumb in his mouth.

 

four | first kick

all of these moments progress more and more to the actual.  from a sound to a sight to a feeling.  emily and i were watching captain america during our intern debrief and my hand was resting on her belly and the little guy kicked.  it was amazing to feel him for the first time.  those kicks continued into thrusts and eventually into sprawling movements across emily’s belly.  we could only imagine what he looked like at that time.

 

three | berlin date

when emily and i found out that death cab for cutie was playing in berlin last summer and we were available to go, we snatched up tickets immediately.  we had our us teams arriving the following day, so we only had 24 hours to enjoy berlin, but is was a perfect way to celebrate our relationship. we spent the first evening walking around, exploring the city and eating great indian food.  the following day we rode our cruisers around the city taking in the sites, then we went to dinner at one of the best burger joints in europe and finished the evening seeing the head and the heart and death cab.  it was just the perfect day.

 

two | holding talan’s hand at the airport

in february emily and i came back for her brother, eric’s, heart surgery.  since we were already in the states we added a week in oregon to see my family.  at that point we hadn’t seen our nephew talan for almost a year and a half (since his birth) and all of our interaction with him had taken place over Skype. we were quite unsure of how he would respond to us at the initial meeting at the airport.  after about ten seconds of timidity he warmed right up to us, grabbed our hands and walked out of the airport with us.  my eyes welled up with tears as this little guy’s hand grasped ours in trust.

 

one | the birth of our first son, titus benjamin hughes

the events surrounding his birth were quite remarkable and such an amazing way to see God answer prayers.  his birth alone would have obviously been the number one event in any year, but the fact that he came in two thousand eleven makes it even more remarkable.

i’m going to write much more about his birth and my experience of that day, but for now, it should be said that there is nothing like it.  marrying emily was the best decision and the best day of my life, but having a son was the most amazing and beautiful day.  seeing new life come into the world was the most unique experience ever.  seeing his face for the first time, his cry, his smell, the way he looked at his mother for the first time…everything…it was almost indescribable.

then to top it off were the experience surrounding his birth.  just before christmas we found out that our organization decided to change insurance companies.  the change was going to come into effect january first.  the new plan is going to be much better in the long run, but the immediate changes were going to cost us upwards of $9000.  if titus was born before january first, then he’d still fall in our old insurance plan and we’d save tons of money! obviously, his and emily’s health were the most important factor and since emily was planning to deliver without epidural, we didn’t want to induce.  so instead we just called our friends, family and supporters together and prayed that God would send him to us before the first.

when emily shouted from the bathroom on december 30th, “either i pee’d myself or my water broke,” my eyes instantly welled with tears.  i knew that she would need to deliver within twenty-four hours.  God had heard our cry and answered our prayer.