Happy 6th Birthday, Grant

this blog started, long ago, as just a simple way to keep my family (read: MOM) up-to-date with family stuff.

fun family stuff like birthday parties.

and, a couple of weeks ago, we had a very special birthday party for my favorite just-turned-6-year-old.  i may be a couple weeks behind, but never late than never, right?

so, let's play a little blog-world re-wind here.

6 years ago, 

i sat in a hospital bed,

not knowing how soon grant owen's arrival would become.

in a last-night-of-no-kids,

matt and i shared a dinner of all my favorite pregnancy foods-

mexican enchiladas, 

panera's cheese danishes, 

and coldstone creamery's cheesecake icecream.

we stayed up late in the hospital room talking.

overflowing with the excitement and feelings of having a baby soon.

and then,

in a whirlwind of emergency and emotion,

grant owen entered the world.

{to my son}

grant,

you are my favorite little boy.

if i could hit pause on this journey of life,

i would have you be 6 for a long while.

every day, you become more of your daddy - 

his logic,

his dependability,

his even-keeled temper.

you are your father's son.

last week,

when the fan in your room started making noise,

you decided to open the dresser drawers to change the air flow to see if that helped the fan.

seriously.

you, my son,

discussed {air flow}.

those engineering genes of your dad's?

they run strong, apparently.

     every day,  you are your father.

i love it.

i love seeing your mind in work.

i just pray that as much as you inherit that engineering DNA,

you also have your father's love for our Abba Father.

your father's absolutely dedication to living a life worthy of the calling.

Happy birthday, Grant.
May you seek Him all the days of your life. 

Father's Day

Our 8-year-old has been taking karate lessons for the past several months.

one of my favorite lines that the instructor repeats often is this:

we only use these moves for self-defense. Never to fight, and never on siblings. ;-)

Grant's earned his way up 3 belts, and we've seen in build confidance, self-control, and coordiantion -

all good qualities for an 8-year-old-boy to improve upon. 

Last week I had a conference with one of the instructors during classtime to talk about how we've seen Grant improve, and to inform me of the future class options.  As we started the conference the Sensei asked me several questions about Grant, and then we got to this one:

What kind of man do you want Grant to grow into in the future,

 and how do you think martial arts could help that?

as I paused, I saw Grant out of the corner of my eye round-house-kicking and forward-lunging through the two-way-mirror, 

and I all-of-a-sudden bit back tears in that small, humid karate office.

for as my heart and mind flash-forwarded Grant to the man I'd like him to become,

I realized there's nothing I'd rather him be than a man like his Dad is.  

I envisioned Grant loving his wife and his family with an unswerving, unshakeable loyalty and love, just as Matt has done for us.  I envisioned Grant full of integrity...that that man that people will know the adult Grant to be will be the man that he is in private.  My heart envisioned Grant being rooted and built up in the Word of God, and fervently and steadfastly preaching and teaching that Word, proclaiming His glory for all to hear.  

I bit back my tears in that karate office, and told the Sensei I wanted Grant to love his God, his wife, and his family well, an answer I'm sure that instructor did not see coming.

But there's no other answer I'd rather have for the question of 

What kind of man do I want Grant to be?

than a man just like his daddy.

Happy Father's day to the man who points us all to Him.

we love you so much, Matt! Thanks for loving us so well.

January 10, 2007, the day that made Matt a dad.