Musings from Uncle Al

The last year has had it's share of uncertainties and confusions in the Briggs family. Most directly and deeply I think of JR and Megan, my brother and sister-in-law, dealing with the pothole in the road of not being able to have children. I'm not sure if that was harder for them or harder for me to watch them navigate through it. Just after the new year they volunteered to have a much deeper view of our loving God. They adopted a child from birth. This has been an amazing process to follow and has ripped open a new understanding of God to JR, Megan, and those around them. God cares, enough in fact that he will not abandon us, leave us alone, or watch his children tread in the barrel of our own despair. He has adopted us as sons and daughters just as my bro and sis-in-law took in little Carter. The little guy is named Carter Nathaniel, because Nathaniel means gift of God. I made the trek to Pennsylvania a few weeks back to meet Carter. It felt like a blind date with someone I already knew. He cried a lot and slept more than I do on vacation as he bobbled his head trying to keep it up on this little neck. It was an amazing time to celebrate with JR and Meg, to look at a little life and truly be amazed. Is he gonna be a baseball player? a rockstar? a professor? a father of 5? a committed follower of Christ? a ladies man? a pastor? a rock climber? We have no idea, but what an exciting ride it will be. If you want to email JR and share your excitement with him it is jrbriggsis@gmail.com . Praise God for his care and his desires that are strange and creative enough that we might never guess them 126 years.