To my Jay, on the verge of nine

Dear Jay,

On Wednesday of next week we will celebrate nine years of you. 

Is it ridiculous that just typing your name and acknowledging this milestone has me emotional. Already? I know, you're used to it. ;)

You. -My hurricane.

You are the best of me and the worst of me. You are full throttle, everything. You have done things to my head and my heart from day 1. And now we celebrate 3285.

To say I am thankful for your presence in my head,
                                                                          my heart,
                                                                               this family,

-would be a crazy understatement.

To say you don't drive me to near insanity at time would be,
                                                                                            a lie.

Oh child. 

Nine years old
Third grade (that big ol' jump to the significant THIRD)

Science & math loving
Silliness personifying
Attitude wielding
Book devouring
Spelling loathing
Long hair wearing
Hug & kiss declining (gulp. sigh. blink)
Vintage tv watching
Curiosity soaring
Fridge emptying
Brother tormenting
Toby Mac listening
Smile disarming
Occasional cuddling
Deep feeling


Here you are, in that balancing act of a man and a child. As much as I don't envy this place of teetering on the pinnacle of little boy and not yet reaching the foothold of that next life phase -
…I do spend a significant amount of time on my knees asking that God would keep this phase to a minimum. ;)

 I pray that God would be working in our lives. I need Him. You need Him. Navigating this time in your life? - Not easy.

I know you feel the responsibility of "oldest", while we all recognize you are not. Sometimes you want to shed the expectations and responsibility, but you often acquiesce and we see you step up, even when you don't know you are doing it.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

We are going to get this figured out. We are learning a l o t together. We are kind of just learning as we go. Winging it. Trial and error.

With a heaping serving of grace, we are learning, growing, and getting back up when we fall down. I'm in this with you and you are in this with me. Most importantly, both of our lives belong to God.

I'm pretty sure I've only met the proverbial "tip of the iceberg" when it comes to parenting you. We're going to take this one day at a time, because that's all we can do.

Happy nine, dear Jay. May this year bring growth, always reaching for our best, and lots of laughing. -That's pretty much a guarantee with you around. :)