Birth Days

Today, our second son, Wyatt turned 17 years old. Of our four children, three of them were born within a month of each other's birthdays. By the time Wyatt's birthday has rolled around, we have been doing lots of celebrating in our house during the first of the year.

It struck me this morning how excited I get for my children's birthdays. It's not to give them fun gifts or for the party or the special meals. It's far bigger. Yesterday, I kept reliving in my head what I was doing 17 years ago leading up to Wy's birth. Then, I woke up early this morning, like it was Christmas Day...I showered, fixed my hair and found myself as if I had big plans for the day that I hadn't yet discovered. Brad even asked where I was headed. "Nowhere", and I surprised myself.
But, it occurred to me that deep inside, it is a special day again...a pondering of a day of birth is the reason. It is a day that I celebrate great accomplishment in my heart. It is a day that I feel special and their birthdays are sacred to me. And not just because I gave birth to them, but because I have grown with them, nurturing them with great care, watching them change and blossom and flourish.

 

It's amazing to celebrate the adults they are becoming...

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The ways they are changing...(And my hair too, thank goodness!)

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The aspects in which they are growing...

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And the lessons they are learning...

Each of them was handed to me for the very first time by a physician who would never walk with them through this life. Someone who eased them into this world, but would hand to Brad and I the greatest tangible gifts we would ever receive. I wish I could go back to that exact moment once again with each one to savor it a bit longer in the midst of the bustle of the labor room.
There have been great joys and victories to celebrate. There have been huge disappointments and sadnesses to work through. But these are what make and root a family. It's an incredible thing to walk closely with a human from the fragility of a newborn through the entrance to adulthood and beyond, Lord willing.

So, yes. Their birthdays are days I share with them. I get to celebrate the glory and gifts that The Lord saw fit to loan to me for a short time and all He is accomplishing in their lives. Oh, I feel like I'm slowly getting "let go" from this job I've studied and strained to do for the past 19 years, but that's okay. God will grace me with the strength to let each of them go in their time and support and love them in new ways. But their birthdays will always be mine too. And the gifts I receive will never break or be lost.

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from Him.

~Psalm 127:3

Happy Birth-Day to me!