That’s right folks. My service project has been an ongoing service project my whole Sabbatical so far. That service project being changing diapers! In all honesty, I feel like I’ve never been more blessed than right now.
I’ve really been able to focus on spending good, quality time with my family and that’s all a brand new father could ask for. This Sabbatical has been exactly what I needed in this time of my life.
As far as what has been happening since my last post, well, not a whole lot. Christina and I have been just trying to get the hang of this “parenting” thing. I’ve heard it’s a work in progress. We’ve been trying to get out of the house at least once a day, though, to make sure the sun is still shining and what not. The good news is that Duke absolutely loves car rides!
This last week we went over to Christina’s parents house for Cinco de Mayo and that was a blast! It’s always fun to get together with family and drink margaritas! Don’t worry, we didn’t drink too many because, well, we have a baby to take home with us at night now. Over the next few days we spent time over at my parents’ house and also went to see my sister’s and brother-in-law’s new house too! My older sister, Amanda, has a two year old and he was finally able to meet Duke and they hit it off great! I mean Graham talked to Duke and Duke just sat there but I could definitely feel the love between those two cousins!
As much as I love talking about my son, I wanted to share with you all another interesting event that happened this week. Over the last few months, I have been training an 8th grade girl in track. She has been a lot of fun to coach and we are hopefully just starting our coach/athlete relationship. The reason I tell you this, is because last week, her dad called me and told me that last weekend, his step-dad passed away unexpectedly at the age of 64. He said they had no idea what to do after he passed and didn’t realize that there was so much that had to happen when someone passed away. How many times have we heard this in our profession?! So, he started asking me questions and wanting to know how to get his own plans in order. He and his wife are in their early 40’s but because of this traumatic experience, he wanted to get his plans in order so that his kids wouldn’t have to worry about doing the things he was having to do over the last few weeks for his step-dad.
It’s amazing how God works you guys. I started a relationship with this family a couple of months ago and because of the profession that I am in and since I have a license to sell preneed in the state of Texas, I was able to sit down and meet with them and share with them the importance of pre-planning. It all made sense to them once we had finished our conversation. He said, “Man, I wish I would’ve met with you about 3 weeks ago!” I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard of families having to go through a traumatic experience before they realize they need us and the funeral home. As sad as all of the traumatic experiences are, this is why I love being a part of this company and this industry. You see, we are able to impact so many lives with the work that we do every day. Regardless of what department you are in, you ALL play a role in helping families get through one of the worst days of their lives.
Anyways, I think my service project kind of changed after I started thinking about it. It went from dirty diapers to being able to serve this family with two priceless gifts that their family won’t hopefully be opening until many many years down the road. But one thing is for certain, when the family does have to open those two gifts, FDLIC and the funeral home will be able to give them peace of mind knowing that all their parents’ plans have already been taking care of because of a decision they made 40 years ago to prearrange and prefund their funerals with a preneed insurance policy through FDLIC.
God is awesome and I can’t thank Him enough for all the many blessings he has given my family and I.
Until next time FD family!
P.S. here are some more pictures to help you get through the Monday woes next week!
