Getting Grace

Dear Caleb,

Today you are seven hundred and thirty days old. You are talking up a storm and you can’t seem to get enough fruit. Your current favorites are blueberries, strawberries, peaches, apples, oranges, and grapes. You don’t care too much for cantaloupe right now, but I’m sure you’ll like it eventually. It’s really yummy when it’s cold and fresh. Your best friend is a little girl named Ocean. You go to her house everyday to play while I go to work. You’re happy there and having Ms. Bekah and Mr. Marc babysit you is a huge blessing for our family. I made you a birthday poster this year and got you some fun things to play with like sidewalk chalk and an octopus that we hook up to the hose and it sprays water everywhere. You really love the water. So far we’ve been to the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, Lake Murray, Lake Hartwell, as well as gotten a fair share of Auburn City Water via a la hose. You’ve loved all of them and I can’t wait to show you more.  You’ve also developed quite a knack for music. Today we learned the Happy Birthday Song which you were able to sing and strum along on the guitar after only hearing it twice. You LOVE the guitar. For Christmas you got a ukelele and you play it almost all day, everyday. At first you thought it was just a stick and used to bang it everywhere, but after a few repairs, you’ve finally figured out that the ukelele is for strumming, not for hitting. You also love playing the recorder, harmonica, drum, and piano. It’s really amazing to watch you figure out these instruments and I love having our house filled with music.

We’ve been a family for five hundred and twenty nine days so far and hopefully soon you’ll have a brother. His name is Ephraim, which you pronounce, ‘E-bum.’ It’s really cute. We talk a lot about how brother is going to come live with us soon and how you are going to get to play with brother and share a room with him. We look at his pictures together and you know who he is now without me having to tell you. I hope you understand, but more than that I hope that you both grow to love and cherish each other as brothers. He’s going to need you. Especially at the beginning when he won’t know who we are and won’t understand our language. I pray for him everyday.  I pray for you everyday too.  I pray that you will grow up big and strong and healthy. And that you’ll learn to love Jesus and develop the fruit of the spirit.  I pray that you’ll have wisdom and a kind and generous heart.  I also pray that you grow up to love and respect women. I know too many men who don’t and it’s sad to me that so many Christian men fall far short of the standards Christ calls us to. I know that you’ll make mistakes as you get older. We all do. But I pray that you’ll know how special you are and that you’ll grow in the confidence of Christ and his love for you and our family. I love you so much that sometimes I think my heart is going to burst and all the love will just spill out on the floor. It’s really amazing though, instead of bursting, my heart seems to fill up a little bit more with love each day and grows just enough to fill up to the tippy top each time. You are really something kiddo. You are my precious gift. I love you.

Happy birthday!

Love,

Mom