Happy 6th Birthday!

Dear Luke,

Yesterday we celebrated your 6th birthday! I heard you and Nora playing upstairs in your room around 6 in the morning, so Daddy and I came upstairs to sing Happy Birthday to you. You wanted to wear your new tshirt that says, "Mommy loves me to the moon and back," so of course I said you could! Nora had helped pick out some new train track accessories, so you opened your gift from her before school. Then we brought you McDonald's for lunch. You took mini cookies & cream cupcakes to celebrate with your friends at school. After Daddy got home from work, you opened the rest of your gifts, followed by dinner for Spirit Night at Spring Creek BBQ. You loved seeing some friends and Mrs. Moyer at the restaurant!

This is the first birthday that you are in full-time school, that we are in our new house, and that your baby book doesn't have a page for me to fill out! So, a blog post will have to do.

At 6 years old, you are learning to do so many things for yourself. When you're in the right mood, you can prepare breakfast for you and Nora, fold and put away your laundry, help unload the dishwasher, etc. You love to run around, be silly, and play PJ Masks or trains. You have been placed in the Gifted and Talented program at school (not surprisingly), are a capable reader, and love to do math problems with Grandpa. You can be very sweet and I love when your soft side shows. I told you that you made me a Mommy 6 years ago, and I'm glad you did! What a rich 6 years they've been.

Love,
Mommy

Our Final Walk-Through

Dear Luke & Nora,

Last Thursday we took our final walk-through of our first home on Parkman Grove Drive. When Daddy and I moved in 7 years ago, there were only 2 of us, and of course we are now a family of 4! You both had a lot of fun running through the empty house and saying, "where's my bed?" "where's our kitchen table?" We snapped a picture of each of you in your rooms, and Daddy and me in ours, before getting one of the 4 of us together where our table used to be.

I walked through by myself that morning after getting both of you to school, and it was interesting to consider the memories that rose to the surface. Of course the most significant treasures that came to be in that house are the 2 of you. I remember exactly where I told Daddy I was pregnant with each of you. Daddy and I talked about the countless ordinary meals our family of 4 shared around our table and the multiple baths you took in the upstairs bathroom.

The third most potent memory was Daddy's and my first conversation about starting a church, which of course is now Real Hope Community Church. Nora, you were just 1 week old, and we had just put both of you down for a nap after your newborn photography shoot that morning. I think of the years of preparation along with the growing desire to do something of eternal significance with our lives, and marvel that God had this plan all along that we get to participate in.

The word "growth" comes to mind, seeing the size of our tree in the front yard, knowing you both have grown significantly in that house, along with our church. In a less quantifiable way, Daddy and I have grown as well. We hadn't been married quite 6 years when we moved in and now we are almost to 13, acquiring a lot of lessons along the way. As I walked around the empty rooms of our home, the refrain I kept repeating was Psalm 126:3, "The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy."

When we got in the car to go, you started to cry pretty hard, Luke. Daddy took you in for another look around and you were surprised to see him get teary, too. It makes me emotional, too, but I also am so thankful for God's goodness to us in that house and for the opportunity that moving has provided for us to reflect on that. 

Love,

Mommy