To My Son on His 17th Birthday

Seventeen years ago today was our first full day with you.  You had just been born the night before.  I recall being filled with joy at the thought of  spending this special first day with you.  All of the new discoveries of who you were and were going to become were before us that day.  Seventeen years later, we've had the privilege of being front row to the unfolding of your life. Here are some of the discoveries we've made about who you are, and some of the things that I most love about you:

Sylas

• You are adventurous.  You love a new challenge, especially if it involves risk and new discoveries.  Safety and security are not generally your modus operandi.  You started walking at 7 1/2 months old and by 10 months you were climbing up the steps to slides 15 times taller than you.  This summer you will travel to Africa with your dad and brother.  You are up for the adventure and challenge that that will be.
• On that note, you've always been very athletic and strong.  Whatever physical feat you put your mind to, you are able to excel at it.  
• I love how your sense of humor has developed over time... you come up with some really funny one liners that catch us by surprise and make us laugh
• From early on, you have had an appreciation for nature.  You enjoy being outside, exploring and coming up with adventurous things to do outside.  Like camping out with all of your friends in a field in spite of frigid temperatures. Or blowing up things.
• You have character and integrity, which will take you far in life.  You are respectful of others, make good choices, willing to work hard, you follow through on responsibilities, and much more.
• Even though you've faced some hard times in sports, you have not been a quitter.  You keep going, making the most of the situation and choosing to have a good attitude.
• Pushing through those kinds of situations has caused others to look up to you.  You are becoming a leader.  Your style of leadership is to influence others through your quiet strength and character.

I am confident that there is much more to come for you!  Even as you hit home runs in baseball, you are hitting home runs in life and we couldn't be more proud of you.  We will always be your biggest fans.

God is with you.

Love,

Mom

Family.

After church today, we decided to head on up to Lake Michigan for a couple of hours.  Sylas drove, Andre sat in the passenger seat and Joelle, Charles and I were in the back of our Subaru WRX.  Cozy, but that was all part of the adventure.  Whenever we do something out of the normal patterns of our life, we get a fair amount of opposition from one, or sometimes all, of the kids.  Supposedly, they had things to "do" and places to "be".  I know them well enough that that means hanging around watching TV, playing video games, or just doing nothing really.  Today was no exception... plenty of opposition to the idea. At first.

However, as usually happens, once they knew the decision was firm and wasn't open to discussion anymore, it was all good. Once there, we walked along the water, skipped stones, threw a frisbee, knocked around a volleyball and climbed the sand dunes.  The weather was nice and the best part was that there weren't the hordes of people that warmer weather and water usually brings.

At one point in the day, I began to think about how a few years ago we weren't really doing much together as a family.  We did  more when the kids were little, but somehow we began to slip out of that pattern of going to parks, beaches, or little outings to various places.  The reasons for the decline in quality family time were complex and multi-faceted at that point in our journey.  All of us being together in the same room or car was just plain hard.  In some ways, it was easier not to be together. Just as individuals, teams, and corporations can have slumps, families experience slumps. We did.  But we determined not to stay there because I know that God had, and has, more for us.

It's been a process and it didn't happen overnight, but today represented to me so much growth, hard work and maturing as a family.  We had fun together.  We laughed, we enjoyed the day and the experience.  We did life together. Yes, the kids made their verbal jabs at each other occasionally, but if that didn't happen at all it would probably be because we were all dead.

Desmond Tutu said, "You don't choose your family.  They are God's gift to you, as you are to them."  The gift is that in the midst of being family, we learn how to love, to forgive, to not always have to have our way or be right, and much more.  It takes hard work, great effort and an unwillingness to settle for status quo, but in the end its worth every ounce of effort we put into being a family.

To My Daughter on Her 12th Birthday

Joelle is 12 today!

Dear Joelle,

I don't think it's a coincidence that you were born in December, the month we celebrate Jesus's birth. Just as God picked Mary out of all of the girls in that day for a very special role, we believe that God has chosen you for special things.  He has seen you and known you, even before you were born, to be His child and to do great things that demonstrate God's love for all people!

You bring so much joy to our lives and we are immensely proud of you.  Here are some of the things that I love about you and celebrate on this day:

• You are so funny and I love how we can laugh, hard, about all kinds of crazy things!!
• I love how creative you are; you know just how to put a little extra spin on something to give it that artistic touch
• You are wise and already have alot of common sense for your age.  And because of that...
• Others your age are influenced in good ways by you.  That makes you a leader!
• I love how you enjoy traveling, and seeing the world, and imagining big possibilities
• You have big dreams for your life and aren't content to settle for little dreams.
• I appreciate how you encourage me in my big dreams, too!  That's been a real joy.
• You are smart, willing to work hard at school and sports.
• People like to be around you.
• Your red hair rocks!!  And I wish I could be as tall as you.
• Most importantly, you are wrapping your life around Jesus and the things he has for you.  

On this day, your birthday, know that your mom and dad are so proud of you and so happy that you are a part of our family.  You have made the world a better place, already.

With much love,

Mom