Grady Lee: 12 Years Old

My baby boy is 12! And this baby boy is only a couple inches shy of looking me eye-to-eye. His feet are bigger than mine, his shirts are bigger than mine, and his appetite is bigger than mine. It also goes without saying that he can run faster than me, throw further than me, and lift more weight than me. But in spite of all this, he's still my baby boy. 

And He always will be.

Grady Lee, you have an enthusiastic approach to all of life. The simplest things cause your eyes to sparkle, your smile to consume your face, and your very countenance to exude joy. Eating watermelon. Catching a frog. Petting a dog. Running a race. Working outside. Using tools. Receiving a back rub. Opening a new pack of gum. Watching a football game. 

Keep it this way, Buddy. Discovering joy in the simple things is contagious to others around you, and is an important part of knowing true contentment.

Grady Lee, when you're tasked with a project that involves using yours hands to work hard and get sweaty and dirty, you are all in. There is no halfheartedness about your approach. You work with intensity, vigor, and delight. You finds satisfaction in completing hard work. 

Keep it this way, Buddy. Working with focus and giving your best effort leads to excellence - in attitude and in the finished result.

Grady Lee, you have a tender heart. Fuzzy animals melt your heart. Little babies capture your attention. Sadness or loss in a movie plot bring tears to your eyes. You seek approval and validation from Dad and I and are sensitive to words of affirmation.

Keep it this way, Buddy. This world has enough meanness and ugliness and is desperately wanting kindness and beauty. 

Happy 12th Birthday Grady Lee! Your day of cinnamon rolls, grilled burgers, fresh corn on the cob, sliced watermelon, and warm apple pie is over. We always enjoy a day to celebrate you and thank Jesus for you. You are a gift. And you are still my baby boy!

-

Psalm 119:9-16

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

With my whole heart I seek you; let me know wander from your commandments!

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!

With my lips I declare all the rules of your mouth.

In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.

I will meditate on your precepts and fix my eyes on your ways.

I will delight in your statutes; I will not forget your word.

Grady Lee Turned 11! (A month ago... oops!)

My itty-bitty baby of firstborn is now a tall-strong young man. He almost looks me in the eye. His feet are bigger than mine. His shirts fit me perfectly (and he will DIE the day he sees me wearing one of his athletic t's!). He eats way more than I do. And he is starting to care about deodorant and hair gel and clothes that match. 

Gone are the days of being my little guy. He's now my go-to for muscle power. (Wasn't I just twisting a lid on his sippy cup and cutting his grapes in half last week?!)

Grady spent his birthday weekend in Atlanta enjoying a couple of Braves baseball games - and the week after our family celebrated him with gifts and his favorite meal. 

Each of his siblings took turns visiting Five Below to purchase birthday gifts for their big brother, and each chose well based on things they knew Grady really liked. What a gift for me to watch them love him so well!

The years really do happen so fast. There have been long days, frustrating weeks, and discouraging months, but the years? They whiz by and they are filled with so many moments of laughter and joy and wonder and special moments that we've shared. I wouldn't trade the past 11 years for anything.

Sometimes when he's quiet and still I look at him and I admire his handsome face, his athletic build, his sharp mind, his caring spirit, and his hard-working effort. And I marvel that God gave him to me to love and shepherd and teach and disciple.

Me! I get a front row seat to this crazy journey he's on. What a privilege.
Grady Lee, Dad and Mom are your biggest advocates and your biggest fans. The world will surround you with people who care about you and your gifts and your abilities for the moment that suites them. Not us. We're on your team for the long road - and with great joy - because we know our great God has plans and purposes that are good.

Want to be successful? Choose Jesus. Pursue truth. Demonstrate love. Lead by serving.

We love you and are proud of you Buddy! Happy 11th Birthday.

And Just Like That He's Ten Years Old

It's a strange thing, having a 10 year old. 

Happy - and sad. 

It's about time - and slow down. 

Let's do it - and stop the clock.

Having a 10-year old, for me, is the opposites. Excited my little man is becoming a young man, and yet nervous at the pace he is growing and the shrinking time I have him still in my home.

His chiseled features show strength and muscle and fast-approaching manliness. But his emotions and communication abilities remind me he's still a young boy with plenty of manners to learn and social cues to master.

When I stop and think about how much he has learned and how much he has overcome, I am proud of his determination and thankful for God's patience. 

But, if I'm honest, when I focus on the here-and-now I'm often overwhelmed wondering if he'll ever get "it." And the "it" involves so many things. Maybe that's a parenting thing. Or just a mom thing. Or just a personal pride thing. Probably a combination of all those things.

Grady Lee is a hard worker - the more physical, the more demanding, the heavier the load, the sweatier he can get, it's all the better. 

He is a willing helper. First to carry in groceries, first to wheel out and wheel in the trash, first to run to a younger sibling when they're hurt, first to help me in the kitchen, and first to get his daily chores done. 

He has a teachable spirit. True, I say a lot of the same things again and again, but that's indicative of persistent teaching and shepherding, not an unwillingness to listen. For Grady, some things will always be a challenge that for other kids would never be an issue. He knows that, he doesn't like that, and he wants to change that. But he knows practice makes perfect and that God hasn't finished what he started in him.

My firstborn, my undeserved gift, my buddy, and my handsome young man. I love you - for always.

Moments Like These

Relaxed and quiet. Ease-into-the-day kind of mornings. Moments for you to be cozy together.

Strategy and competition. Again and again and again. Moments for you to be best friends and fierce competitors in the same breath.

  Creative and messy. Colors and textures. Moments for you to discover and enjoy.

  You and me. Card games and board games. Moments of just-because-we-want-to.

 Reading and learning. Comfy anywhere you want to be. Moments of pleasure while doing school.

 Interest and excitement. Curious and determined. Moments of impromptu discovery.

Teacher and leader. Follower and copy-cat. Moments of watching big sister love her little brother.

 Squeals and laughs. Splashes and games. Moments of me watching you be what you are: kids!

Moments like these: I cherish. I mentally file away. I linger on.

Because moments like these are fleeting and tomorrow becomes next month which becomes next year. And pretty soon I don't have moments like these anymore.

Moments like these I wouldn't trade. I'm grateful for time - open, lingering, unscheduled time - with you.

Nine Years Old Is So... So Old

Laaaadies aaaand Gentlemen.

May I present... my NINE year old!

Word has it that next year he turns 10, which means double digits, which means the onset of the preteen years, which means... a lot of things!

For now, I'm ignoring the fact his shoes fit me. That he is only a head shorter than me. That he can outrun me. And that he only has nine more years with us before he's 18 and the plans and directions in life shift drastically.

Earlier this spring, Grady told me he "didn't want a big birthday party because it embarrasses me when lots of people are looking at me." Although I was tempted to remind him this meant less birthday presents, I understood his perspective and we agreed to have just a couple of friends join him for the day.

Two hours of jumping at Sky High - actually, of nonstop dodgeball - and an evening at our house for pizza and cupcakes was just enough to make the birthday boy happy.

There's something unexplainably unique about a firstborn. Don't you agree? He holds a piece of my heart in a way the others don't. Not in a "I love you more" kind of way, but in a "discovering you were joining our family changed the trajectory of my life forever" kind of way.

Grady Lee is a hard worker. He likes getting sweaty and dirty to be a helper. Lifting, pushing, pulling, carrying - he's all physical. He is my go-to helper in so many ways and I know I can depend on his attitude to readily assist.

He's also got a tender heart for his siblings. If Annalyse falls, he's the first one to rush and help her up and give her a piggy back ride. If Jaxton is crying, he's eager to try to distract him with a toy or to pick him up and swing him around. If Micah isn't feeling well, he's quick to ask what game he wants to play or movie he wants to watch.

Year eight was a learning year in so many ways and on so many levels. Understanding behavior. Controlling emotions. Being aware of social interactions. Persisting in difficult school subjects. Responding to coaches. Trusting dad and mom. Interacting with friends. Learning who God is and why his truth matters. And on and on it goes.

Being your mom is a joyride and faith-builder like nothing else. Watching you learn and grow is simultaneously terrifying and exciting. And knowing that God chose me to raise you? Amazing and humbling.

Buddy, I'm looking forward to year nine. And 10, and 11, and every birthday after. But for now, I'm looking forward to the few remaining years when you're still my "little boy" who will rest his head on my shoulder, hug me freely, say "I love you" in front of friends, and call me pretty just cause I have earrings and a necklace on.

I love you!

My Prayers for You This Year

Dear Grady Lee, Micah, Annalyse, and Jaxton,

God, in His grace, gave us another year together. Now, as 2014 ends and 2015 begins, I want you to know I am praying specific things for each of you. Things that I can't do or make happen, but things that require God's powerful work in you. It's because I know God loves you infinitely more than I do that I want to offer your lives - your potential, your futures, your hearts - to His keeping.

Grady Lee, I pray that your understanding of who God is deepens. I know you cannot understand who God created you to be until you first understand who God is.

God created you with uniqueness and significance. You will develop genuine confidence in who God created you to be when you know, for certain, that you belong to God.

"[Grady Lee ] you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special [person], that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9

Micah, I pray that early on you will recognize, develop, and wisely use the talents and gifts God has given you.

There is only one you, and you have immeasurable value. You have unique purposes, ordained by God, that no one else can fulfill.

"As [Micah] has received a gift, minister it to one another, as [a] good steward of the manifold grace of God." 1 Peter 4:10

"For the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable." Romans 11:29

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:17

Annalyse, I pray you will grow in your desire to know and love Jesus and that you will trust God's Word and pursue an understanding of it.

God never changes. Avoid the distractions of today because you see the character of God holding true yesterday, today, and tomorrow. 

"Teach [Annalyse] Your way, O Lord; [that Annalyse] will walk in Your truth; unite [her] heart to fear Your name. [She] will praise you, O Lord [her] God, with all [her] heart, and will glorify Your name forevermore." Psalm 86:11-12

"The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death." Proverbs 14:27

Jaxton, I pray that from your youngest of days, you learn God loves you. That He treasures you, values you, delights in you, and has rescued you.

Your reason for smiling, for enjoying today, and for waking up tomorrow is because God loves you. So, so much.

"In this the love of God was manifested toward [Jax], that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that [you] might live through Him. In this is love, not that [you] loved God, but that He loved [you] and sent His Son to be the propitiation for [your] sins. [Jax], if God so loved [you], [you] also ought to love one another." 1 John 4:9-11

For all of you, I pray that you will grow in faith. Faith in who God is, faith in what His Word says, and faith in the power of prayer. 

Faith is a gift, and God promises to give it when you ask for it.

"Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6

"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." Galatians 6:9-10

Because God's love has forever changed me, and because I desire nothing more than for you to know the power and depth of His love too,

Mom