Dear Luke,
You have officially entered your teenage years! We celebrated your birthday on the 27th with fun, family and friends. You went to school that morning to learn that you'd been selected as Student of the Month on your team, which you'd been hoping to earn sometime! Daddy and I picked you and Nora up early from school to head to Jim & Nick's for lunch, then home for presents... including your first phone. You facetimed with grandparents and showed them your new presents, including legos, bat grip, and a puzzle from Nora. A bit later we headed to your birthday party at Adventure Air Trampoline Park after picking up your gluten free pizza from Brixx. You rated the day a 13 out of 10, so I'm glad you felt well celebrated!
This past weekend, it was my turn to take you on your 13th birthday trip, since Daddy took you on your 10th birthday trip. You planned out exactly what you wanted to do for an overnight in Greenville - Top Golf, Nose Dive, Jeni's Ice Cream, Hyatt Place, Swamp Rabbit Trail, Grill Marks, and shopping on Main St. We had a great time, in spite of you getting sick Friday night. You must have just overdone it, so that was very sad. We both hated that it happened, but you said you were so thankful I was there and that I cared for you.
The bike trail on Saturday had some pretty major construction, so we had to search around and figure out a detour with the help of a construction worker. It was a bit complicated to find where we needed to be, but you led us the right way! We probably rode 10 miles or a bit more over close to 2 hours. You told me it was more fun with the detour, because it was like a puzzle we had to figure out and we didn't make any wrong moves!
So, how would I describe you at 13?
You are very responsible and organized. You manage all your schoolwork completely on your own and are quite proud of your high A average! I never have to tell you to straighten up your room because you keep it clean on your own (minus dusting!) You recently typed up your own checklist to help you stick to your daily routine and think through details related to playing percussion, practicing baseball and keeping up with track meets.
You care a lot about going to church. You have hardly ever missed a Youth Tribe (or youth event for that matter) and serve in the kids ministry every other week. We have you attend the adult service once a week and you seem content with that more so than when you were in 6th grade. We will have 4 Easter services in a few weeks and currently, you say you want to attend all 4, including the sunrise service!
It's clear you are growing in your relationship with the Lord. You are also very disciplined about reading your daily devotional and underlining important verses in your Bible from your devotional, youth tribe, or kids ministry. You wear your cross necklace most days, have Bible verses as your ipad wallpaper, attend Fellowship of Christian Athlete meetings and have a Bible verse in your school e-mail signature. I pray with you before school that you will be a bright light for Jesus.
You love to watch Young Sheldon with Daddy and me, but also still watch Lego Ninjago with Nora. You like to stay up late and are not a fan of being told it's time for bed. Some nights we go to bed at the same time or you aren't even in bed when I go to bed, so that's been a big adjustment! You will also sleep in pretty late. Monday school was cancelled due to weather and I woke you up at 11...
You love waffles, peanut butter bananas, bacon cheeseburgers, and usually seem to like my cooking. :)
You're running track this spring, which is your first school sport. You sadly didn't make the school baseball team, which was a big disappointment. But I feel like you have processed it well and you are working every day at practicing to improve for the next round. And you seem to have really enjoyed track. You've run the 800 and will run the 400 next week. It's a great social event for you with all the hang out time during the meets, too!
You still like having me sub for your classes, although you don't interact with me when you see me at school. But you'll tell me if one of your teachers is going to be out and ask me if I can sub.
If it's up to you, you prefer to wear a baseball hat backwards, hoodie, shorts, Nike crew socks and crocs.
You have almost reached my height. It seems every week at church people are commenting on how tall you're getting. It won't be long and I'll be looking up to you!
You give great hugs and tell me you love me when we end a phone call or when we say goodbye. And I sure love you!
Love,
Mommy
