Tough Week

It has been a really tough week. On Wednesday, we received the news that a former student of ours, Melanie Mattingly, was killed in an automobile accident that morning. She was only 24 years old. I can honestly say that Melanie was the sweetest and most beautiful girl I ever had in class. I had just emailed her a week before, asking if she would meet us in Lexington for lunch and to meet Drew. The last email I received from her simply stated, “He is adorable.”

Melanie Mattingly made a bigger impact in our lives than she will ever know. When we first met with Adoption Assistance last August, we had the option of adopting from Korea, Taiwan, Russia, or Ethiopia. How do you make that decision? I can remember saying to Christine, “Melanie Mattingly was adopted from Korea.” It helped us make an otherwise difficult decision. We just knew it was the right decision because of her.

People always say, when something like this happens, that we should learn to live our lives as if every day is our last. To me, that never made a lot of sense. What I have learned from this, and what continues to pain me, is that you shouldn’t assume that you will have an infinite amount of time in the future to tell someone what a tremendous impact they have made in your life. Without Melanie, I don’t know if we would have Drew. I swear, I was going to tell her all of this when we met for lunch. But, I’ll never get that opportunity now. I could have easily told her these things, but I didn’t. The regret I feel inside will not go away.

Please pray for the Mattingly family. The poor father has lost both of his daughters to accidents and he lost his wife a couple years ago. It seems unbelievable that one person could or should endure such tragedy in his life. It seems absolutely unreal to me. Please pray for him.

Tomorrow morning, Drew goes in for surgery. He is having ear tubes inserted to drain the fluid buildup that has been causing him horrible ear infections. Today, we tried to make it a special day for him. We took him to the park to feed and play with the ducks, one of his favorite activities. He ran so much that we thought he would collapse. But, he didn’t. We stopped by Baskin Robbins for a treat afterwards. He, as you can see, got very messy.