June - “Dad of the Month”
Tim McBride - Dad of the Month!
Above you see our Dad of the Month, Tim McBride, with his two sons. Tim is a devoted and committed father to his boys. As you read Tim’s story you will be encouraged that it is never to late to be a dad!
Thanks for sharing your story Tim and opening up your heart to all of us. We appreciate it!
Tim’s Story:
I’ve always been a “late bloomer” of sorts. I learned play football for the first time as a senior in high school (I made the team). I didn’t start my current career as a middle school teacher until I was 32. Got married for the first time at age 43. And until recently, I was playing guitar in a band with a bunch of much younger guys that were still trying to “make it” in the contemporary Christian rock music scene, which is something only 20-somethings should be doing, not old guys like me.
So to me at least, it is no surprise that I became a first time father at age 47.
After we were married for about a year, we started trying to have a baby. The next few years were especially hard, being surrounded by friends who seemed to be having children right and left when we weren’t. For a while it seemed that at every Bible study, or church gathering, someone was giddy with excitement to announce her next pregnancy. And while we were very happy for them, we felt a little sadder each time it wasn’t us. When we came to the point of spending our savings on either costly fertility treatments, or adoption, or just quitting altogether, we chose adoption.
In the adoption counseling we received, we were told that many who are starting the adoption process feel a sense of “loss” because they might never have a natural child, that adoption is, “second best.” But for me, it was actually the direction I had always thought my life might go. I always had this thought I would adopt at least one child if I ever had the opportunity. How great was it then when my wife told me she felt the same way. She was especially happy not having to worry about losing her figure she would joke.
Once we got into it, it moved along very quickly. In January of 2005 we brought home Jacob Timothy. His birth parents were 15 and 16 year olds, not even out of high school. His birth mother just was not able to care for him properly, and did an awesome, selfless, but an emotionally very hard thing, in placing him with us. With her we have an open adoption, and we see her about once a year.
In July of 2007 we brought home Jesse Ray. His birth mother was in even more dire straights than Jacob’s, she was homeless. Had he not been placed with us, he would have gone straight into the county foster care system. We may or may not be seeing her in the future.
When I think about what might have been had we not adopted each of these boys, I want to cry.
Every day now encompasses anything, and everything you can imagine, from the chaotic to the sublime, as every parent knows. And even though the Saturday morning family wrestling matches on our bed usually start a little too early for a weekend morning, I wouldn’t trade them for all those years I slept in, waking up to no one, when I was single. Being their daddy, and their mommy’s husband, has made me feel alive for the first time in all my years.
I’m glad I “bloomed” right when I did.
