The New Andrew

A few years ago my wife and I made a really big decision that has changed everything about us ever since.
His name is Andrew.
When we first met him, it was at a lunch date with our pastor and his wife. And somehow, all these kids were involved. In addition to the pastor’s daughter and son, there was the son’s then girlfriend, her sister, the daughter’s friend, another friend, another friend, and the son’s friend, Andrew. I called him ski cap because of this cap he wore, constantly. It was black with a skull in the middle. I immediately hated it.
Somehow Andrew and I were instant friends. I don’t know why. We did not have much in common at the time. The two things though, were church and wrestling. WWE, not the other kind.
So, one Saturday I invited Andrew to Taylorville to our home to stay over until church on Sunday. We attend church in Pana and lived in Taylorville, making the 18 mile trek on Sundays and Wednesdays. (How we ended up at the Pana church is a story for another blog time). Andrew came down, we watched Saturday Night’s Main Event and TNA, and a trend was started. Every weekend after that, Andrew would call, and we would head to Pana to get him. I eventually moved our guest bed up from the basement and made Andrew a room out of our office. I guess couples that do not have kids do that, make their spare bedrooms either guest rooms or offices. Ours was for Pampered Chef and AFLAC, and it held all the junk we did not want in the living room or dining room.
So Andrew becomes a part of our lives. Finally, one Friday night at the Dairy Queen in Pana I asked Andrew what he thought about us adopting him. It seemed that he was kind of an orphan (in an odd way) and we had come to love him. Plus, if you meet him, you would kind of swear that he and I are related. Well, that did not work out, his mom did not want us to adopt him, but it did work out anyway, just not the way we wanted.
We decided to move to Pana so Andrew could live with us and finish high school where he was comfortable. At the time he had long hair, plus he has gauged ears (holes, the boy has holes in his ears, he puts pencils through them, seriously) and the principal and superintendent of schools both liked him. So we put the Taylorville house up for sale (yet another story), and bought a house in Pana (even further from our jobs in Springfield).
And Andrew ended up being our son, in whatever weird way it happened. And I have watched him grow up in so many ways.
Recently though, I have seen a maturity that is truly beautiful in “the boy”. He has developed a heart for others, and instead of taking party trips on spring break or Christmas or summer breaks, he is going on missions trips. So far, he has been to Mexico, Minnesota, and wants to return to both, in addition to Kenya this summer. He wants to teach elementary school. Little kids love him, and he loves them. He worries about people, and loves unconditionally much of the time. He is reading books on his faith, and he does not like to read. And he cares deeply about his friends. He wants the best for them, and yearns to be around them so much. He is something to watch. (Straight way dude!) For a kid that just a few years ago was more worried about his ears, his hair, his tattoos, his hackysack, his music...now he is more concerned with people’s hearts. It is truly something beautiful to see happen. He is not my son, biologically, but I am a proud father anyway. He is everything I could want in a child, and I love him so much.
So the lesson from this post: Watch the people you are around, they may occasionally surprise you by becoming a whole new person while you are watching.