Five Years

Five years.  Wow.  It sounds like such a long amount of time and yet, it has gone by in an instant.  Jacob turned five this week and he was so sweetly excited for his big day!  He woke up and ran to give me a hug saying, "Mommy!  I am FIVE today!"

We've decided recently that we want birthdays to be more about memories and less about "stuff."  So we are skipping big parties and endless trains of presents and going for special moments with each one of our children.  This year we allowed Jacob to take one friend from church with us to spend a day up at the Cincinnati Children's Museum.  Chris took the day off work and oh, what a fun, special, and memorable day it was!  On his actual birthday we went to church where he received his much anticipated birthday sticker from his BFG teacher and then had lunch at Cici's.  We opened gifts from family (us, aunts, and grandparents) and then had a nice afternoon rest enjoying some new things.  He requested breakfast for dinner and had John Deere cake afterward.

It was truly a great day together as a family!  He seemed to love it, Chris and I loved it....everyone was happy celebrating the special gift Jacob is in our family!

Dear Jacob,
My little boy is getting SO grown up!  Happy fifth birthday, son!  I love you so much and I've had so much fun this week preparing for your birthday and reflecting on all God did in our lives to bring you here.  You don't know this now, but Mommy and Daddy waited and waited and prayed and prayed for the precious gift of a child.  Sometimes Mommy though I might never get to be a mommy!  God provided for us one of the deepest desires of our hearts when He gave us you!  We were so excited to become YOUR mommy and daddy.  We'd longed for you for so long and now, here you are, five years old!

It is hard for me to think about all that will happen during this year, the year you are five.  You will start kindergarten and become more interested in friends.  You'll play T-Ball and have more and more of an interest in "guy stuff" you do with your Dad.  I'm thankful you still have moments you are just a silly little boy who wants and needs to snuggle with his Mommy.

I love you, sweet Jacob.  We go through our ups and downs and can get pretty annoyed with each other, but I want you to know that through all of it, I still love you--more than you will ever understand.  I adore all God created you to be and I look forward with great anticipation to what He will guide you to become.

You are so bright, so thoughtful, so loving, encouraging, faithful....I hope you keep all of these character traits as you grow.  I beg the Lord to continue to pierce your heart to know more and more of Him and long for Jesus to be Lord in your life.

Happy Birthday, Jacob.  You are my son, who I prayed for!  I love you!

Mommy