Harlee 3, Oliver 1

Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.”  Proverbs 17:6 NIV

What a weekend we had.  It may be chaos for your parents, but two birthdays, two days apart makes for a great celebration.  I know at this point, you obviously cannot read these, but somewhere down the line, maybe you will find them.  I want to leave you absolutely no doubt how much you are loved.  If my brain ends up forgetting to tell your ears, your heart is going to be packed full. 

Harlee, you have pulled off a rather sneaky move.  I have not had a true boss in maybe 15 years.  Now it seems that my boss calls me Papa and that you absolutely know I am the biggest  sucker in the room.  Just this week you were negotiating with your mom.  You wanted a cupcake.  She wanted you to wait until after dinner.  You are determined.  As you snatched one and ran, she asked “Where are you going with that?”  You calmly replied “Papa”.  I told her early on that I would never try to cross her up.  She’s a better parent to you than I was to her, but really how important is it to eat dessert after dinner?

Oliver, you are going to deal your parents fits and I am going to love every minute of it.  Your sister does not accept the concept of quiet.  She’s loud and obvious.  You are quiet and sneaky.  Also, you will not wear both socks, you always take one off.  Not both, just one.  That’s not meaningful, just unique.  I watched you work within a loud house full of family at your combined party.  Once in a while you would stop and talk to yourself a little.  I would love to know what words were in your mind.  You do not make much noise and you don’t seem to mind when your sister randomly decides to run over you and call it a hug.  It usually looks somewhere in between a hug and a reminder that she is the boss.  She doesn’t realize yet that you are going to get stronger.  You love to explore.  I could literally put you in our back yard and leave you there.  You might not make a noise all day, but you would touch every inch of it.  (By the way, I have never actually done that to you).

I don’t know what either of you will end up doing with your life.  I imagine it is going to be beautiful to watch but we are in no hurry to find out.  Time is going too fast already.  What you do not need to do is worry about your grandma and grandpa.  Right now, we have a lot of time with you and we love it.  As you get older some of that time will be taken up with activities and friends and such.  You owe us nothing, but you can have literally everything we have in heart, mind, body and spirit.  We are all yours.

You two have already done something that is far beyond your years and that is to teach us that love, joy and peace have no limits.  I felt loved before you.  I feel more loved since you.  I had a hard-earned peace before you.  I have an effortless peace now.  At one of the lowest points in our lives I assumed that we could “recover” to a certain extent, but I thought there would be a ceiling.  I had not met you two yet.  God blew the roof off of my heart when you guys were born.  I thank Him every day.

What do you want to make sure your family knows?  If you can’t think of anything, maybe you should think about that topic while you can.  Tell them.

What do they already know?  What do you want to spend the most time doing?  Work is necessary, yes.  But does it take more of you than it should?  My yard looks great, but does it take more of my time than it should?

Challenge: Eat the cupcake.  Hold the little hands.  Kiss the little cheeks.  Soak it all up.