Monday, November 22, 2010

17



Today is Zach's 17th birthday. He was born on a Monday morning (2 weeks early) before Thanksgiving. It was a quick and easy birth. We arrived at the hospital around 7 AM and he was born around 9:30 AM. He was tiny. 6 lbs, 9 oz. and barely 18.5 inches long.

The nurse handed him to me and I was blown away by his blue eyes...not the ordinary dark blue eyes of a newborn. His eyes were a bright and clear blue. I remember thinking, "where did those come from?" Through the years I've actually asked that question, or a similar version, many times.

"Where the heck did that come from?"

"Where did he learn that?"

"Where does he get that from?"

When he was a little boy, he loved dinosaurs. Bob will tell you that Zach was not a little boy, he WAS a dinosaur. He could imitate dinosaur noises perfectly. If he wasn't pretending to be a dinosaur, he was pretending to be some type of animal. He wasn't really a truck and tractor kind of kid. He loved animals and videos of animals. His childhood hero was the Crocodile Hunter. He would put his stuffed animals in the middle of the floor and pretend he was Steve Erwin. I remember watching him "wrestle" an alligator. Fun memories.

He's my roller-coaster riding partner. He's my heart-stopping daredevil. He's the one who always got into trouble in elementary school for talking too much and not keeping his hands to himself. Now his teachers talk about how quiet he is and are shocked to hear how often he got into trouble in elementary school for talking. He's just traded talking for texting. (Remind me to tell you sometime about the cell phone bill he had in 8th grade....the one that took him a year to pay back.)

17. This is the age when you realize adulthood is just around the corner. Suddenly it is time to get serious about the future and life after high school. He's starting to think about what he'd like to do everyday for the rest of his life. He wants to play football after high school and he recently started talking about the Army. His 7th grade LARTS teacher, Mrs. Cattanach, was convinced he would grow up to be an Army Ranger like his dad. She wrote in his yearbook that she wanted an invitation to his Ranger School graduation. Who knows? If he does decide to go into the military, you can be certain Mrs. Cattanach will get an invitation!

I pray that he will follow the path God has chosen for him. I pray that he will seek God's will and be willing to accept the guidance.

I pray that I will know when to step in and help and when to step back and let him figure it out for himself.

Happy Birthday Zach....we love you!

Friday, November 5, 2010

14

Today is Adam's 14th birthday. He's smart, funny, kind, caring, easygoing.....I guess you get the point. He's a great kid.

The eternal optimist in a family that suffers from an overabundance of pessimist genes.

He goes about life at his own pace and very few things upset him.

Not a bad way to live.....

Happy Birthday Fuzzhead...love ya'