His Fourteenth

Our baby turned fourteen today.  And so we celebrated him in all the ways his fourteen year old heart wanted to be celebrated.  Which meant, this year, we kept things simple.

We started after church with lunch with a few friends.

And then walked over to play volleyball, but not before commemorating Christian’s newest talent.

On a side note… there are things that I will always want to remember about our son at fourteen… and I’m sure things I’ll probably want to forget, haha.  But really overall, I am so very thankful for Christian.  He is smart and talented and athletic.  He’s proven himself to be a hard worker, willing to earn the things he wants in life.  He has really, really good friends and a good heart as well.  He looks out for his sister and we are very proud of the young man he is growing to be.  My hopes and prayers are that he would always love Jesus and pursue the great things that God has in store for his life.

Despite the colder weather, we all enjoyed celebrating Christian today.

He had told us that for his birthday, that he wanted to play volleyball with his friends and eat Popeye’s chicken for dinner.  So we did just that.

After the game, we sat together and ate Christian’s favorite chicken complete with mashed potatoes, coleslaw and macaroni and cheese.  In lieu of cake, we enjoyed snickerdoodle cookies (his favorite) and homemade cupcakes.  Many times throughout the day, I felt and overwhelming sense of gratitude for Christian and his birthday.  Fourteen years ago, I had no idea the joys (and struggles) our son would bring but looking back, would not have it any other way.  Happy Birthday Christian… maybe you continue to grow to be an incredible young man, and always be surrounded by the love of your family and friends.