I’ve never written anything on my own birthday, as it seems somewhat pretentious to do so.  However, this year and at this moment I reflect upon all the years and moments that have brought me to this one.  The people, the joys, the trials, the friendships, the sorrows, the laughter, the tears, and the LOVE.  While I write this I am standing at my kitchen counter watching my two toddlers play ring-around-the-rosy on top of the kitchen table.  Jumping and giggling and falling down on bottoms is much more fun when it’s three feet off the ground.  That’s kind of how I feel about life at the moment – the falls hurt much worse but the fun is oh so much funner.  Yes, funner.  Before I had children I wouldn’t have left bad English in my posts.  But, I digress.

Today I count my blessings in shorthand. The LORD has been kind to me since before I can remember and that kindness has most often been showed through many of you.  So, here is my thank you to all of you who have walked with me on portion of this journey called life.  Due to the aforementioned children dancing on the table, my specific list is short and sweet.

Jason: thank you for keeping your sense of humor as well as keeping me, whether in humor or out.  You are a good strong man and you have become the sharpest iron in my life.  I am a new person in marriage, and while that feels foreign at times, I am very very blessed to be joined with you.  You’re also the most fun iron in my life.

Sophia: you are precious to me.  You are different than me in many ways and we are learning to dance a very complicated dance, you and I.  When I earn a giggle from you, it is sunshine to my soul.  I am thankful for your spirit and your stubbornness.

Augustine: you are delightful.  Though you are the most disgusting person I’ve ever seen at the supper table, your smile breaks through the smeared food and warms my heart.  I am thankful for your undaunted cheerfulness and ease with life.

Mom: I am grateful for a mother become best friend.  You have been my closest and longest advisor, admonisher, encourager, and companion.  I have no words to express the depth of gratitude I have towards God for seeing fit that you should raise me and befriend me.

The din in the background has increased and is no longer on the table but lapping at my legs.  Suffice all to say, I am blessed very blessed by God’s grace and mercy through those around me (literally and figuratively).  I pray to be as faithful to you all as you have been to me, that as I grow in age I may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Oh, my dear little Sophia.  Three years old today and I can still feel the knitting of our souls and futures over nine months and the feel of my nose on your newborn cheek.  When you were born, you became part of my salvation.  One day, when you are older, I will tell you how, in your 1-week-old form, you were the ray of Light that the Divine hand used to dispel bitterness and bestow hope to my cracked heart.  When the waters of your baptism washed your head, they poured grace upon grace upon the dry soil of my life.In those early weeks, I never could have known how you would try me, make every night sleepless, grow a stubborness greater than mine, show emotions as freely and changing as a rushing river, or cause me to weep for the days when I did not know how to shepherd your heart.  But, I also didn’t know then how your chattering little self would become my closest and dearest companion through the days, that your insistence on picking dandelions for me every day teaches me to slow down and find weeds precious, that your giggle is priceless because it is earned, that your changing clothes ten times a day would bring me joy because you love color and find my earth tones boring, and that watching you care for those around you would bring me delight.

My dear girl, in the past three years I have sat by your death-side and by your bedside.  God has given you strength and sustained you by His Power to be a mighty little thing.  I praise and give thanks for all the unforeseen that has been and is to come in your life.  How I pray that as you grow in age, you would grow in Grace and in the knowledge and Love of God.  You are part of my salvation and I pray to always be part of yours.  I love you, my pumpkin seed.