When I casually mentioned to my wife that I had decided to dedicate this book to our daughter, she said, “So I get nothing?”
So, first of all, I would like to thank my wife, April, for her companionship. I lost track of how many times she rearranged her schedule so I could write while she watched the kids. She listened to me talk about writing and publishing on countless date nights. She read drafts and made edits on her days off. And, she still thought this book was worth writing.
Thanks to Kim Boer, Marlies De Jeu, Bridget De Yager, Katrina Geertsma, Lindsay Hilkert, Julie Lemley, Kim Ray, and Gwyneth Box for their edits.
Thanks to my friends at the Madrid Writers Critique Group, especially Sue Burke, Sean McLachlan and Lance Tooks.
Thanks to family and friends for providing me with healthy examples of family, in particular my parents, Steve and Pat, who always made time for me, my sister Monica and her husband Jeff who let me live with them during the pregnancy and birth of my niece Josie, Byron and Lisa Borden for their wisdom, and Dan and Diane Ridderhoff for letting me live with them one summer in high school. I had honestly never considered the possibility of a stay-at-home dad until I met Dan.
Thanks to my mother-in-law, Rachel, my sister-in-law, Heidi, Laurie Schmitt, the Cadys, Bowles, and Repettos, Kelly Jennemann, Shani Kilasi, Amy Swacina, our midwife Carmen, Damián and Encarna, Jitu Dongardive, and Adriana Cardona, who shaped this story. Thanks to God for the gift of new life and trusting me to care for a few of his little ones.