“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16
So I’ve been at this blogging thing for about a year now. Since, well you know, that day…you know, the one in the doctor’s office? The day we got the news of…yeah, that day…that news. I’m sure your memory bank is like mine and just about everyone else’s here on this beautiful planet of ours – some things come and go fast, barely disturbing the dust on the floor in its haste to exit stage right. Others are there to stay, in vivid detail, its impact on our world, our todays, and on our tomorrows altogether incontestable.
The excitement, the anticipation, and the ultimate shock of that day, that moment, are one of those memories that have taken up permanent residence in the annals of our life. The doctor’s demeanor, the laughter, the tears, and the utter bewilderment we experienced, and of course, the final head count – or rather, life count – Baby A, Baby B, Baby C, Baby D, Baby E, and for that day only, Baby F…these are details that will be there on the day I die, as if they had just happened the day before, no matter how many days, weeks, months, and years I have ahead of me.
Our quintuplets, The Austin Fab Five, were born January 16, 2009 after 29 weeks and 6 days of cooking in Casey’s belly. Over the course of three minutes – from 12:35 pm to 12:37 pm – we nearly tripled the size of our formerly-family-of-three when Brooklyn Faith, Britton Grace, Jack William, Lila Addison, and Ryan Elizabeth were welcomed into the world by me (Ethan), Casey, then-four-year-old Eliot McKenna, and as we would later become aware, seemingly all of Austin and a smattering of people across further reaches of the globe. As you might imagine, superlatives will never do an event like this justice leaving me with nothing more to do than to state the obvious: our lives have been a roller coaster ride ever since!
There are times in life (too many to count, actually) when we wonder if God is really there and if he really listens. There are times when I question whether I am undertaking His will for my life. When you view the world through the spectrum of faith that Casey and I do, you know that this day, along with that fateful day of shock and awe, written and directed by our Father in Heaven, narrated and choreographed by our fertility doctor, was not one of those days. No, those are the days when you know, rather you have no choice but to believe, that God is carefully charting the course.
On that day, the one in our doctor’s office I mean, and for all days going forward, Casey and I made a decision for our family. Believing that our responsibility as faithful followers of Christ is to do as the verse above directs us to do – to let your light so shine before men – we decided to go public, to let the world in, to tell our story, put ourselves out there…to let our light shine, no matter how dimly lit or brightly it so shines at any given moment.
Joy, sorrow, victory, defeat, stress, and sometimes relief…they all come and go so often these days that it can be tough to keep up. But when it happens, you’ll find it here. Pictures, videos, and probably more cuteness than you can handle…you’ll find it here as well. So follow along and see how a family of three becomes a family of eight and experience how a change of this magnitude impacts the life, love, and laughter of a family founded on faith.
