July 19. Just another Thursday for most of the population. Of course there were personal tragedies and victories scattered throughout, but one imagines few reached the level of these guys.

Our story isn't nearly as dramatic as that, (as witnessed by the fact that it didn't make the news), but this is a very big day for us...

The obvious, first reason for this is because it's our anniversary. Yep - 9 years ago today The Wif assumed the title. It's been a great ride and if I have any regret it's just that I didn't come to my senses earlier. Except that's not quite the case.

See, I was ready to get married; it took some convincing and patience to get HER to that point. But - obviously - I wore her down and we were wed on a very hot summer's day all those years ago.

So how to celebrate? Well, I picked up the kids before she was scheduled to get there and left a note for her with D-Man's teacher. The note read: "Meet us... Somewhere... HOT!" The first two lines were in green and the "HOT!" was in red. I thought the meaning was obvious. I was wrong.

Somehow, we all ended up at the new Chili's and enjoyed a rare dinner out, (some of us more than others, natch). During a rare, quiet moment at the table, The Wif pointed out that it was exactly one year ago tonight that we received "the call." Ahh, yes; the next reason this day means so much to us.

The Call: On the evening of July 19th, 2006 The Wif and I discovered that our county caseworker had left the following message on our home phone, my cell phone and each of our office numbers: "Hi - this is Bonnie. I was just wondering if one of you could give me a call sometime tomorrow? Thanks."

'Oh, crud. We'd forgotten to sign some form or turn in some piece of paper or respond to some survey or something. Correcting this could cost us hours out of our day tomorrow, and who knows how much further this would delay getting kids placed with us?'

Little did we suspect that when I returned the call I would hear, "we've got a sibling set of 3 kids who need an immediate, permanent placement. The oldest is a four year old girl and the boys are 20 months and 7 months old. Are you interested?"

You know our answer now, but imagine the impact that question has imprinted on this day. It was really something beyond description.

And it seems to continue: this morning I told my broker that we wanted to submit a contract on a home. The story is too long to be told here and now, but it feels like a really good place to be.

Especially considering the date...

Chris Stone is a slightly different - hopefully better - Father and man than he was yesterday