Nine

Sweet Laughter,

This might be my all time favorite photo of you.

You have morphed from a boy-child to a man-child this year.  You used to turn pot lids into shields and dress up as superheroes, but now while you still dream big you think inside the realm of reality.  I think making wings out of plastic wrap and asking to test it out from the top of the swing set is behind us.  Now you dream of being a masseuse. For now as you practice on any who are willing to pay 25 cents a minute.  You practice what you learn in Taekwondo.  You love to read, but you don't love school.  You have your own opinions and preferences now.  I can no longer assume that if I'm excited about it you will be excited about it. 

You learned to ride a bike this year.

You're growing up, becoming your own person.  This year for your birthday among other things you got books, of course, your very first professional massage, some coffee cups, a battery pack for your gadgets, and a memory foam pillow.  Not really the normal nine year old stuff, but that's you.  You blaze your own path and love what you love.

Snow themed birthday party.  Since we only had white ice outside we mini marshmallows became snowflakes, and we used toilet paper to create snowmen.  It was a fun day.

I'm thankful that you still have your child like love for people.  You still love everybody that crosses your path as if they are your best friend.  This year our family has grown and shrunk a few times.  Each time you embrace it with excitement.  In fact you are constantly trying to find ways to make room in the house for more people.  You measured the crib length and then measured the walls to see just how many cribs we could fit in our very large house.  You were disappointed when I explained the rules of how many kids we could actually take in. You would give up everything so that you could show love to somebody else.  I love this selfless compassion you have, but I hope that we can teach you to find balance as you grow.  That's my prayer for you this year that you find balance.  I hope that we can teach you to keep that endless love of yours, but also know when it's good to rest.  Not only in how you love, but also in all of life.  You tend to be an all or nothing kind of person, but life doesn't often work that way.  These are hard lessons your Dad and I have had to learn ourselves. 

I am proud of the man you are growing into.  I hope that you always say yes to loving other people, especially the hurting.  I'm glad I was chosen to be your Momma.  Here is a little interview with your nine year old self:

What's your favorite color?  Red

Shirts we made to celebrate the 100th day of school, and the 2018 winter Olympics.

What is something special to you? PJ's
What is your favorite word or saying?  Can I wear my creeper PJ's?

What is your favorite thing to do? Read

Rock wall climbing blind folded so you can use your other senses to move around the tower.

Who is your favorite super hero?  Dad

What is your favorite book or book series?  Matterhorn the Brave

Books everywhere and anywhere. 

What is your favorite memory from this year? T

What's your favorite place to eat? Nicky's Cruisin' Diner 

Apple crisp is your favorite.  We have tried all the local places and Nicky's has the best apple crisp around.

What do you want to be when you grow up? Missionary

I love you sweet boy!  Happy 9th birthday.

Eight

Sweet Little Laughter,

You're eight!  This amazes me. Every year speeds by faster then the last and this year was a blur.  It started with us looking forward and then going to Japan. Then we found ourselves with another sweet baby boy to look after.  You are an amazing big brother.  Right this minute you're doing your math work, work of a third grader.

You helped Dad cut down the Christmas tree this year.

When I think about our trip to Japan a few things stand out.  The first was how well you slept on the flight that went half way across the world.  You slept with your head in my lap for almost the whole trip.  I kept stroking your hair and thinking it was crazy that I was taking my baby on a trip like this. But then we went to the zoo and a little girl fell cutting her knee open, you watched the whole thing happen, and immediately rushed over to me quickly explaining that you needed a band-aid so you could help this hurting girl.  That's when I realized that you were growing up into a man that made me proud.  You had no fear of the language barrier or that we were in a foreign country you just wanted to make sure she was had what she needed to be okay.

Resting as we walked around Tokyo.

Now we have this baby that adores you.  He is full of joy, but for you he has his own sounds and he lights up whenever you look at him.  I'm sure it's been an adjustment going from the youngest in the house to having a baby around all the time, but you've excelled at being a big brother.  The way you play with him when it would be more fun to do something else.  The way you offer to hold the baby so I can finish a chore or run to the bathroom.  Or how disappointed you were that I wouldn't let you change his diapers.  You love him and me so well.

You're heart is beautiful.  You notice what people need and you do everything you can to give it to them.  I'm proud of you for that.  My prayer for you this year is that your heart doesn't grow tired of helping others, and that you find the right things to be passionate over and let go of the less important things.-You know like that time you refused to have an ice cream with us because I said you couldn't spend $10 on a lollipop.  That was a time when maybe it would have been better to let go of your passion.- But your love for people is amazing, never let go of that.  It's a rare gift that you have I pray you use it wisely in the years to come.

First year as a Cub Scout.

Here's an interview with your eight year old self:
What is your favorite color? Red

What is something special to you? Baby K

L: Momma can I help give the baby a bath?
Me: Sure
L: Okay I'll get in with him.
Me: You can't get in with him.
L: Okay then I'll use my hair to get him wet.
(And he dunks his head before I could stop him.)

What is your favorite word or saying? But what if...

What is your favorite thing to do? Read

I'd say you're fairly comfortable at the library-shoes off with books all around while you're imagination soars.

Who is your favorite super hero? Dad

You're favorite shield was the lid to my applesauce pan.  You have been trying to find one just like it for months.

What is your favorite book or book series? The Imagination Station series

I have a billion photos that look just like this.

What is your favorite memory from this past year? Japan.  Being with Ichan

What do you want to be when you grow up? A missionary

Love always,
Mother

Seven

Dearest Laughter,

It's Saturday morning and you're intently watching cartoons while I quietly watch you.  In just a few days it'll be seven years since you breathed your first breath.  I'm still awed by you just like I was that night I first held your purple little body.  I counted your toes and fingers while I impatiently waited to hear your first cries.  I held my breath like you only to breathe deep as you cried for the first time.

On a date, just the two of us.

That's kind of been our story you causing me to hold my breath, to pray hard, to trust more, to love with an open hand.

You started walking at 9 months.  You broke into the cleaning supplies shortly there after to enjoy a mouthful of Comet.  You were mad at me for taking it away.  You opened the piping to the water heaters releasing a few gallons of water into the dining room.  You were the first to have x-rays confirming a broken collar bone.  More then once you dived face first into a pool just out of arms reach even though I hadn't taken my eyes off of you.  As you watched a friends fish you stuck your face into the fish bowl drinking some water.  The moment was complete when you came up dripping wet with a "Yummy!".  At two you walked right out into a river so you could fish while the rest of us set up our poles.  You fell out of every single chair you sat in until you were at least five.  You love old bottles and tiny mugs, and your ukulele. You want to travel all over Asia telling people about Jesus when you grow up. You give up your most prized possessions if you think it'll make somebody else's day.

Looking at Mr. Fish.

You live life to its fullest.
You dream big.
You love unconditionally.

This next year you'll end second grade as a seven year old and you'll do it well as school is easy for you.  Most days you do more then I ask just because it's fun.  I'm sure your dreams will only grow bigger and you'll give more gifts and "super missile kisses" then the year before.  You'll continue to keep me on my toes loving deep and living wild.

This year I pray that you continue on without any broken bones.  That you keep giving all that you have, but maybe learn not to give away what isn't yours.  That you continue to see past peoples flaws to there hearts.  That you use those "missile kisses" and gift giving tendencies to comfort others.  I pray that you keep dreaming big and that your favorite book is always your Bible.  I love that you are your own person and I pray you keep blazing your own trail.

Playing the Uke with Great grandpa Emerson.

I'm proud to be your Momma. Here's an interview with your seven year old self.

What is your favorite color?  Red
What is something special to you?  Mom

What is your favorite word or saying?  Magic missile kisses.
What is your favorite thing to do?  Sword fighting, even though I haven't done that recently.

Who is your favorite superhero?  Thor
What is your favorite book? My Bible

What is your favorite memory from this past year?  Beating Val at Monopoly. 
What do you want to be when you grow up?  I will be a missionary to share God's word.

I love you sweet boy.

Six

Laughter,
It's hard to believe that just six years ago I was great with child, Actually I was huge with child.  It's hard to believe that on the 17th my labor pains began.  I sent your Daddy off to a jr. high basket ball game we had promised to go see.  I played with your brother and soaked in our last moments of just him and I.  I folded laundry, and packed his bag to go to your Nana's house for a night or two.  Less then an hour after we arrived at the hospital and only after four pushes I was holding your little blue body.

I asked the nurse if it was normal for you to be blue, she said you'd be fine.  She didn't really pay attention.  I became more worried forgetting all that was around me as you became a deeper blue, not yet having started crying or breathing for that matter.  I asked the nurse again, and this time I could hear worry in her voice as she took you from me.  Turns out you just needed a little help clearing your throat and then your beautiful cries filled the room.  After that we were inseparable, seriously you cried when anybody else held you and you refused the bottle completely.

Mile stones:
~ You learned to whistle.
~ You started first grade, and you enjoy school.
~ You learned to swim.
~ You wake up before all of us every morning and use that time to pray.  A thing we never suggested, but something you did all on your own.

An interview with six year old you:
What is your favorite color?  Red
What is something special to you?  My Momma
What is your favorite word or saying?  I love my Momma!
What is your favorite thing to do?  Learning to whistle.

Who is your favorite super hero?  Captain America
What is your favorite memory from this year?  Going to Pittsburgh and playing with Opal in the park.
What do you want to be when you grow up?  I feel like God wants me to be a missionary all through Asia.

 My prayer for you this year, is that you love Jesus more in the years to come then you do right now.  I pray that you continue talk with Him often and that as you learn to read that you fall in love with reading your Bible.  I pray for good health and another year without ER visits.  I pray that you continue to warm the hearts of everybody you meet so that they can learn to love Jesus like you so naturally do.

An addition to this post:
None of us slept well this year the night before your birthday.  You woke up struggling for air, but didn't want to wake any of the rest of us so you just laid in your bed working hard to breathe until your brother woke up from the wheezing sounds coming from the bunk below.  Your Dad and I woke to you telling Man of the woods not to wake us and him telling you to stay put while he got us.  It was the worst asthma attack you have ever had.  I don't think any of us really slept deep the rest of the night.  In the morning you staggered into our room announcing that your birthday party should be canceled and so it was.  I took you to the doctor only to find you had pneumonia.  For the next two nights you and I slept in the guest room.  Even though I had two 12 hour days ahead of me at work, I stayed up late into the night listening to you breathe and feeling your heart beat against mine.  I worried for you while soaking in the your snuggles.  Everyday you teach me to let go a little bit more allowing you to grow into your own person a little bit more.  I am so grateful to be your Mom and to grow with you.  I love you. 




PS
Last year your brother was sick so we had to cancel your birthday party and this year you could barely blow out your birthday candles let alone have a party.  If next year we have to cancel we will plan a huge birthday bash in the middle of the summer and make your half birthday amazing. ;)

My baby turns five

Well, Sweet boy, every year I go back through your years to remember you.  To remember how you've grown, the gift that you are, and to look forward to your future.  You have grown this year in ways I did expect, and I love it.  I love you.

 You couldn't wait to be in kindergarten, but we wanted you to wait a year or so as you were only 4. However we quickly realized you are ready for more then just some preschool projects, this year you're learning to read and write, along with some addition and subtraction.  I'd say you got what you wanted.

Honestly it's harder for me to let you grow up then I thought it would be.  Each day you grow I watch you become more independent.  Those hugs, kisses and snuggles that used to be daily are now a few times a week, if I'm lucky.  Sometimes when I ask for one you roll your eyes.  Soon those will be a thing of the past.  While Silas birthed me into motherhood, you are teaching me to hold my loves with an open hand allowing you to grow into the man God wants you to be.

My prayer for you last year was that you would continue to love unconditionally and hold back those punches a little bit more often.  You did.  You've learned to use your words before starting a fight while sharing your love with everybody you meet.

  Mile stones:

~ The first to break a bone, your clavicle, Easter weekend we were at a hotel, you were putting your shoes on so we could meet Uncle Jared for dinner, when you slid off the bed.

~  The first to lose a tooth, even if it had to be pulled.

I'm just going to sit here and sip my coffee.

An interview with you, my five year old:
What's your favorite color?  Pink
What is something that is very special to you?  My glow up dragon.  Wait no, it's the golden dragon.  He's my favorite because he's gone.  Just like Sopia is gone, he's gone.

What is your favorite word or saying?  Well...actually...
What is your favorite super hero?  Captian America, but you already knew that.

Look Mom I'm making a snow angel in the sand!

What is your favorite memory of this past year? Sopia 
When you're a grown up and you want to remember something special from this year what do you want it to be?  Living with the Bookers, Mom and Dad and Si.

What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to build houses and teach people how to use nunchucks.  I will live in New Hampshire and save money and then I will teach people about the Bible in Africa.

This year my prayer is this:
That you would follow your heart and desires because God gave them to you.  But also continue to learn your boundaries, what is right and what is wrong.  I pray that you keep dreaming big and loving unconditionally the way only children can.  May you never lose that part of you...Even as you enter your 5th year of life know that you are a child of God.  When you are grown and read this for the first time know it then too.  You are loved by me, your Dad and brother, but most of all the Creator of the heavens and the earth.   Love Him back.  Those wild dreams of nunchucks, New Hampshire and Africa or whatever it is you dream can easily become a reality.

Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.  Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.

~ Words of King David (The baby in the family who fought bears & lions,  killed giants when a whole army couldn't, climbed cliff sides, became king, dreamed big, loved God.)