The Last Three Months...

Now you know all the secrets we've been keeping for months.

We won the big deal worth over $24,000.

We are having a baby in May.

We turned down a job in a top 20 television market.

We turned down the big deal worth over $24,000.

We are excited, scared, thrilled, nervous, and happy to welcome a new addition into our family.

Sometimes don't you think God has a great sense of humor?  I do. 

Here's why.

For the past year or so, Erica and I had talked about having a baby.  

We decided to wait until after we visited my mission in Australia and, more importantly, hold off until I got a job in a bigger TV market.  

We also wanted her to make sure the stupid tumor in her back wouldn't create a problem when she became pregnant.

We went to Duke.  Doctors said she needs to have another procedure so we scheduled it.

We went to Australia.  Had an incredible time (obviously!).

A few weeks later I'm at work covering a murder late at night.  Gotta love Richmond.

Erica calls me and frantically says, "COME HOME.  NOW!"

I arrive and see the pregnancy test. 

POSITIVE.

I think it's wrong.

The next day we go to the doctor.

It's right.

We cancel the Duke procedure.

FIVE DAYS LATER I get a random email from a news director in a top 20 market.

He tells me to call him.  He likes my work.  

For three weeks we email or talk on the phone every day.

He offers me a job.  It pays $15,000 more than I'm making now.

Wow. 

Perfect timing for a new baby that's on the way.

God is blessing us.

We decide we'll likely take the job.

So we think about it.  We pray about it.  We try to convince ourselves that it's right.

It's not.

We turn it down.  

Crazy?  Yes.  More like insane.  

It's rare, rare, RARE that a top 20 news director calls you out of the blue and offers you a job.

But it wasn't right.

A few days later "Let's Make a Deal" runs.  

We win big.

Then we get a letter from the CBS accountants saying we owe lots of money in taxes.

We debate whether to take the trips.

We decide to go on one but, when we call to book it, find out the black-out dates are December through May!

Yes.  Six months of black-out dates.

May won't work because little peanut will be joining is.

We turn down the trips. 

We get nothing.  Not one thing.  

Our friend who won $200 at the end of the show walked away with more than we did.  And we won the big deal!

So here we are.

No big deal.  

No new job.

BUT...a baby.

Erica will be a mom.

The best mom.

I will be a dad.

Yep, God is funny.

A baby.

OUR baby.

Joining OUR little family.

Better than a new job.

Better than trips worth $24,000.

Better than THE BIG DEAL.

A baby.