Our family has been having to keep a big surprise secret from our youngest family member…Ethan. He has been granted a wish through Magic Moments in Birmingham, AL. The first obstacle in getting to the big reaveal of his wish was how to get him to Birmingham without him realizing something was fishy. While he has a TBI, he is still has pretty good reasoning skills.
Our family just doesn’t do quick weekend trips. That’s the life of a farm family. Ethan’s birthday was the weekend before the big reveal, so I used that to distract him.
Me: “Ethan, how about we go to the Birmingham Zoo for your birthday?!?”
Ethan: “Nah, I’d rather just have a few friends over and play.”
Me: “It would be so much fun! And Lizzie and Dac would love it. AND we could eat a Dreamland for supper.”
Ethan:**shrugging** “ok”
Women are hard wired to be skilled masters of manipulation. Sorry guys…watch out! It started in the Garden of Eden!
Several times after the decision to go to the zoo for his birthday he tried to get out of it by dropping hints of other things that would be fun for his birthday. And once he even exclaimed, “I don’t even want to go to the zoo!” Shortly after he apologized and let me know how thankful he was that we were taking him for his birthday. He has a heart to please. He was born with it.

While Ethan was not thrilled with the zoo idea, he trusted that Reed and I would make this a worthwhile birthday trip. He had no idea of how AMAZING this trip would be because he was NOT going to the zoo but rather to the airport to catch a flight out to St. Louis. His wish: throw the first pitch out at a Cardinals baseball game!

One of the hardest parts of this brain injury for me is that he probably won’t be able to play baseball competitively again…his reaction times are still to slow. And he will never be able to play football. I certainly know that these are not the most important things in life, but he watched his brothers play and dreamed of the day when it would be his turn.

Something his brothers have NEVER done…stand on the field in Busch Stadium and throw a pitch.

God is teaching me to be patient and let HIM reveal to me the desires of my heart. When I let go of control and submit to his plan, my dreams will come true.

Unlike man, God can’t be manipulated. Ladies, He’s onto us. Just because you do A, B and C does not guarantee D. One thing I have learned in my journey…”D” may not be all its cracked up to be. God knows us better than we know ourselves. He designed us!

I remember one of my kids discussing “Santa” at Christmas.
Anslie: “Mom, how does Santa know exactly what I want? I didn’t even ask for this, but it is exactly what I wanted!”

She had asked for something that I knew she really didn’t want. She had just heard someone else say they wanted it and she repeated her wish list and followed what others were wanting. I knew her better and put a word in to “Santa” for her.

I Corinthians 2:9 New King James Version (NKJV)
But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.

The lesson for myself…just Trust Him, Julie.