In 9th grade, my creative writing teacher engrained in me that I should write every day because it would make me a better writer and also serve as a journal throughout my life. So, I did. Everyday, we were forced to write for seven minutes.

Fast foward X years (who really cares how many that was now), and it’s like I’m back in the 9th grade again. At a time in my life where milestones and memories are happening literally every day, the voice of my teacher is back in my head, but turned up a few notches.

Tonight, I challenged my wife to a 30-day blogging challenge. Being that I’ve talked of this being a blog of good intentions in the past, perhaps the challenge competition with my wife will spur on new creativity and new discipline to do something that I’d really like to have in twenty years; a journal.

Don’t expect the creativity of Seth Godin, the leadership astuteness of Michael Hyatt, the frequency of Cara Davis or the spiritual depth and understanding of Boothe Farley. While I admire them all as bloggers, what you get here is likely a mix of entrepreneurism, fatherhood, husbandry, spirituality and some random adventures. If you like what you read, I welcome your comments, subscription to my RSS feed or you can follow me on Twitter. If you don’t, check out my wife’s blog. She’s much more intelligent, funny and insightful. Plus, she’s way better looking than I am.

They say, that behind every good man, is an even better woman. For as much as I strive to be the best man I can be, the truth is, I wouldn’t be half of what I am today if I didn’t have Kristy. She is my best friend, confidant, biggest fan, mother of my children and most importantly, my wife.

While today’s culture strives to find strength in the uncommitted lover, nothing will ever replace the wealth and depth of love that comes from someone whose committed to you forever; where a vow isn’t something you say today and let go of tomorrow; where you live in and out of the feelings of forevermore. It’s there that your joy is full, complete, and overflowing.

My wife is the best gift I’ve ever been given.

Her humor brings me delight. Her smile brings me joy. Her beauty draws me closer. Her heart brings inspiration. Her intelligence spurs me on to greater depths. Her perspective changes mine. Her wittiness keeps me on my toes. Her presence brings me peace. Her smell stops me in my tracks. Her touch gives me goose bumps. Her laughter begs me to laugh with her. Her desire to be the best, motivates me to go the extra mile. Her eyes lure me in. Her kiss heightens my senses. Her life is my destiny. For all of these things, any many, many more, I will be her man, her husband, her best friend, the father of her children and her sweet old lover.

I love you baby.

8:15pm: I kissed my wife goodbye as she got in the car to go home. My buddy, Jim Cowart, and I were in the middle of an interesting conversation about politics and government. I told Kristy that I’d wrap it up in 10 to 15 minutes. We were no where close to ending the topic of discussion.

9:42pm: Still talking. Jim’s wife calls. He answers—on speaker phone. All I could hear was the tone in Stephanie’s voice. It didn’t matter what she said. What mattered was, he was late getting home. I hung in suspense as I watched Jim wiggle through the call. It was clear that he made a mistake in not contacting his wife…until she said, “Kristy just called me looking for Kyle…” —oh no.

9:44pm: Whip the phone out of my back pocket like a cowboy drawing his six-shooter. I’ve missed two calls and a text message—oh no.

9:45pm: “Hi babe…” That’s all I got to say before I too, got an earful.

What proceeded to come out of my wife’s mouth for the next few minutes was motivated out of pure concern and worry. I had told her I’d be home and I wasn’t. Her frustration and worry was well deserved. However, out of the frustration came a couple of really funny comments.

Kristy: Have you solved the world’s problems yet?
Kyle: We’re about to. I think we’re getting close.
Kristy: Well good, because you’re gonna have some more to deal with when you get home!

A minute later…

Kyle: Do you want me to bring some chocolate home? Would that make you feel better?
Kristy: You better bring something good home!

If you’ve read this blog over the years, no doubt that you’ve shared the highs and low of the process that Kristy and I have gone through to start our family. After six infertility treatments (five artificial insemination and one round of IVF), two miscarriages and a whirlwind of emotions, last year on July 17, Savannah Grace was celebrated in ridiculous fashion as she made her way into the world. Needless to say, we were one of the lucky ones to have had our girl after going through so much.

You might be wondering why we had to go through all of those procedures? We were too. I’m not talking about why God made us go through all of that, rather what was going on with either of our bodies to purpose us with this process. While we never figured it out, we had always concluded that our future attempts would take the same road.

We were wrong.

March 2008, we found out that we were pregnant. Much to our surprise, we headed to the doctor to confirm what five, yes 1-2-3-4-5 pregnancy sticks had already told us. It was true, but so were the signs of miscarriage. Days later we lost our third baby.

Normally, this would have devastated us but something remarkable had happened; we got pregnant on our own. That’s never, repeat NEVER, happened before. We hesitated to claim our healing, our miracle, but we did. Remarkably, the joy of the miracle cast a shadow on our grief.

The very next month, it happened. Pregnant again!

As of today, we’re rounding the bend towards 11 weeks. The baby is healthy and growing.

Over the past five years, we celebrated, laughed, cried, been angry, demanded answers, agreed to disagree with God, and wondered if we’d ever be a family. Today, we’re a family of three with another on the way.

Miracles do happen.