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| The Hammonds: Trish, Maddie, Levi, & Matt (Coach) |
What is your favorite thing to do with Levi?
Our living room looks like a Toy 'R Us store. We've just basically set up a barrier all around (with couches and furniture) , and inside that area is his playpen, except it's huge. I love sitting right in the middle of the floor with him running all over and throwing things at me. He ran up to me yesterday and charged into me like he was a fullback trying to clear the hole out, bounced off of me and fell, and just started laughing.When we put him to bed every night, for whatever reason, I started flipping the ceiling fan with my hand and it will spin a little bit. So every time before we put him down, he will reach up go, "Ugghhh!!!" and try to grab that ceiling fan. He's just funny. He has started to take on our personalities, good or bad.
He's so cool. He's so awesome. We're so blessed.
Is anything different because Levi is adopted?
He's MY son -- 100%. Maddie loves him to death, and he's 100% her little brother. He is 100% Trish's little boy. He favors us. People say he looks just like us, and they have no idea he's adopted. He's Matt Hammond's kid.What about Levi's birth mother?
Stephanie* has sent him a birthday card, sent him a Christmas card. We haven't gotten too close, but we're not going to hide her (from Levi).We feel like what she did was very courageous, very selfless. To carry a child for nine months and have that be a part of you and give him up because you can't give him the life that a child deserves is a very courageous act.
We're very grateful for Stephanie. We don't judge her in the least. We don't know what she's involved in now, we don't know what she was involved in before. All we know is that she made a very courageous decision to allow us to adopt Levi, and we will never forget that, and we'll never stop being appreciative for that.
Levi's got a story. Hopefully at some point, he'll be proud of that story and be able to encourage other people that are in similar situations, whether it be a couple that's looking to adopt and don't know where to turn or a young lady that's kind of hit some trouble and maybe made some choices that weren't the greatest, but there is a way out that doesn't had to end bad. I hope that's the case for him.
*Not her real name.
What did the heartache of the two miscarriages and the ultimate adoption of Levi teach you about the heart of God?
He knows what He's doing. As a follower of Christ, there is going to be purpose and there is going to be meaning and God is going to receive glory out of your life, even in the darkest of moments. We could have never envisioned that day (the day of the first miscarriage)-- it was dreary, it was rainy, it was a perfect day to receive horrible news, and we walked out of that hospital, and were both just devastated. We could have never envisioned less than a year later holding a new baby in our arms and calling him "my son" and filled with such joy and happiness . . . to know that that day we walked out of the hospital on that rainy, cold February day -- as devastated as we were -- that my God was in heaven saying, "Yeah, you're upset now, but I'm going to take care of you; I'm going to handle it. I'm in charge, and I know what's best for you, and I know what's best for your wife and what's best for your daughter." And I couldn't imagine my life without Levi; I just couldn't.If there is a definition of God's hand moving pieces, it was certainly our adoption of Levi.
We never set out on this journey thinking it's our responsibility to God to adopt a kid or it's our civic duty to take care of the less fortunate. That never entered into our minds. It was just wanting to have another kid, and this opportunity presented itself. Looking at it now, it was obvious God had a plan, and God had something in mind for our lives, whether it was that first thought in my brain or Trish's brain that, hey, you need to adopt, and then us finally saying okay, let's do it. Every door that had to open, opened perfectly. That was obviously God's hand in it.
Thanks, Coach
Many thanks to Coach Hammond for so eloquently telling Levi's story -- his family's story. As the Lewisburg High School baseball team starts playoff action this week in their quest for the school's first state title (after coming up just one game short last season), check out the guy driving the bus, dragging the infield, throwing batting practice, keeping stats on the iPad. That's Levi's dad.Thanks for reading.
4theVoiceless,
Al
May 29, 2013 Update
Part 1 of this story talked about the many hats of Coach Hammond. As of last Saturday, you can add another hat, that of state champion. Congratulations, Coach!
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| Lewisburg Patriots: 2013 4A State Champions |
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