the birth of our son

• Within one minute of James being put on Sara's chest, I was intensely crying and laughing at the same time. My torso was shaking. A watered-down way to describe it is providential euphoria.
• Timeline: broken water about 10:00 pm on Father's Day; hospital admittance about 11:15 pm on Father's Day; and James was born at 3:06 am on Monday, June 22, 2009.
• The championship title in the lightweight division belongs to James Walker Thompson V, weighing in at 7 lbs, 1 oz.
• I'm more proud of my Sara than words have capacity to describe. Her slow labor was almost a week. Her intense labor was about five hours. And she went drug free. There were times when I was holding her left leg in mid-air while she was pushing and her face was purple. But she was given strength and perseverance. Thank you, Jesus.

• I got to cut the cord. That was cool/odd. It was tough. It was like cutting a pulsing, extra-rubber twizzler.
• The first show James and I watched together was The Bachlorette on Monday night. Probably not a good place to start :)
• It was a sweet blessing to have our family and friends there to celebrate with us. From his birth to our hospital departure was close to 30 hours. We had about 25 or so family and friends in during that time to rejoice, cry, and be with us.

• My mind and spirit were flooded with the faithfulness and goodness of God. Sara and I are so humbled for God to make us stewards of this boy. The Lord gives and takes away. He has given us this one who bears His image.
• Specifically, I was reminded of how we are all wired for relationship and not detached formality. James would be at peace while I was holding him. If Sara or I laid him in his bassinet, he often started to cry. But when we were near to him, he was more at peace. Lip service, legality, formality aren't wrong. They are usually just incomplete. The experience of Father's nearness is what we are eternally promised and what we can temporally participate in. I now get to do that through loving and raising my boy. I'm very happy and scared about that.