“e. gave me this baseball,” he said.  “see those crosses?  those are for Jesus and the two other guys that died beside Him.”

     

“it’s really awesome.  i cried at one point, because i felt like i had to.  i was really happy because he gave me the baseball, and i was really sad remembering about the guy who didn’t believe Jesus.  i didn’t cry because of that, but i should’ve.”

“it was tears of joy.  he cried tears of joy because of the ball and because of Jesus.”

“we were playing softball and i knew i was gonna give him the baseball.  it came to my mind, ‘maybe i should share this with him.'”

“i took a pink marker first and wrote it but it faded, so i wrote over it.  then i went out and told him the story and he cried.  and we hugged, and then i cried.  then we both cried.”

over the years we’ve heard people ask us as a family, “are you done yet?”  i’ve heard the comment “i could never have that many kids,” more times than i can count.  and i always respond that i can’t imagine any of them being deprived the blessing of the others.  this is why.