Sweet sixteen

16 years ago today I was given a new title that I wear today as a badge of honor. 16 years ago today I officially became a “daddy.” How could 16 years have gone so fast? Today our Joy turns 16. It seems like it was just yesterday that I saw her for the first time. So many memories flood my mind.

When Joy was just 6 months old she had major reconstructive surgery on her foot. She was born with a severe club foot. Aside from having two different size feet (which is a real pain in the backside when it comes to shoe shopping) you would never know it.

As a baby, we almost lost Joy one night. We put her into her crib and a couple of hours later Laura found her having a seizure. When she picked her up she turned completely blue. As Laura gave Joy CPR as instructed by the 911 operator, I ran done the street to get a friend who I knew had just taken a CPR course. The ambulance rushed her to the hospital where the doctors struggled to stabilize her. It wasn’t until a transport team from Children’s hospital in Dayton arrived that they were able to stabilize Joy. What a scare.

I remember coming home from work one day to find a driveway full of naked Barbie dolls. Joy must have had a hundred of them. She had put them all in a box with their hair wet. Laura had to wash them with bleach and then she laid each one of them out in an orderly fashion filling the whole driveway to dry in the sun. I think I was scarred for life.

You really wouldn’t know it today, but as a child Joy had the strongest will of anyone I know. Laura and I literally wore out James Dobson’s book, Parenting Isn’t for Cowards. Bedtime was the worst. We could never put her to bed together because we knew that more nights than not there would be a need for reinforcements.

Oh, the stories I could go on and on with but I will spare you anymore of my trip down memory lane. Now she’s 16. She is quite the young lady . . . smart, beautiful, fun and best of all, possessing a genuine heart for God. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for our Joy. And as fast as time seems to be flying, I probably won’t have to wait long. Right around the corner is getting a license and a summer trip on Operation Barnabas. Then I know what will happen. I will blink and it will be her High School graduation. Then it will be dropping her off at college. And one day I will find myself walking her down the aisle to give her away to a little pervert who will be standing down front.

If you know Joy, then you know that her name fits her quite well. She really is just that. She has brought a lot frustration into my life over the past 16 years, but those frustrations don’t even compare to the bundles and bundles of joy that I have experienced. As she turns 16 today and I reflect on the past and think about the future, I remind myself of the biggest truth of all. As much as I love her, she really isn’t mine. Joy belongs to God. In His grace and in His sovereignty, God chose to give her to Laura and I as stewards. Our job was never to own her, only to bring her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.