Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Happy Birthday to my Baby Boy!

Tomorrow is Adam's birthday. He'll be 7 years old. Until Adam came into our world, I never knew what it meant to truly love somebody more than I love myself. I love lots of people and I love a few of them very deeply, but it's different with Adam. Without hesitation, I know that I would give my life for him if I had to. The love between a mother and her child is a unique thing and I can't imagine going through this life without knowing what that kind of love feels like. We prayed for Adam for years and often wondered why it was taking so long for him to join us. I met Adam when he was three days old and his brave and loving birth mother placed him in our arms. At that moment I finally understood what "the Lord's time" really means. His timing is perfect and although I never would have asked for all of those years of frustration and struggle and tears and confusion before Adam came, looking at it from this side I can honestly say that I wouldn't change a single minute of it. I remember once when Adam was a baby Phil and I were riding in the car with Adam asleep in his car seat. I looked back at him and was overwhelmed by the realization that if anything had gone differently at all during our first nine years of marriage, Adam wouldn't have been sitting in the backseat of our car. He wouldn't be our little boy. What we would have missed out on is unthinkable. So, I 'm not going to think about it. Instead, I'm going to think about how grateful I am that things went the way they did.

It was tough to narrow it down, but here are the top ten reasons that I love Adam:

10) His big, brown eyes that basically allow him to get away with anything.

9) He gets so excited about all the little boy things and loves to share his excitement with me. Just today I was rushed outside in a panic three times to see the "dinosaur bones" that he was finding and digging up in the backyard. And multiple bugs found passage into the house via Adam, also today, so that he could show me how "cool" they were. (He assured me that they were all returned to their natural habitats outside of the house afterwards.)

8) He is tenderhearted and compassionate. Even bugs get to go back to live with their families after their play date with Adam is over.

7) Even though he's not the most cuddle loving kid in the world, he always lets me hug him and he will sometimes give me a big kiss out of the blue while announcing that he loves me. And even though he's a big, bad 7-year-old, he will never turn me down when I ask him to come sit close to me or let me hold him.

6) He's so smart. One of his favorite things to do is to sit and read to me and Noah. I'm amazed at what the kid can read!

5) He loves to line things up and can do it for hours. (You have to see it to really appreciate what I'm talking about so I'll include a picture.)


4) His smile goes all the way up to his eyes and when he flashes it you can't help but smile back and he makes me laugh every single day. (Have you read any of his quotes of the week???)
(Technically, I combined two reasons on this one, but they are closely related so I thought the cheating could be excused. :-)

3) He's a great big brother to Noah and even though they have their moments, he actually prefers having Noah around as much as possible. (On this particular day he didn't mind at all that Noah was using his head as a desktop. They were like this for at least 30 minutes and I didn't hear a word from either of them.)
2) Even though it annoys him when other people do it, he lets me call him Appy. (the name that he called himself when he was a baby and couldn't say Adam.)

. . . and the number one reason that I love my boy more than life itself . . .

1) Adam made me a mom.

4 comments:

Kelly Hill said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CUTE BOY!!! I love you so much! I'll see you soon, and YES I have some good gifts for you. Have a super duper FUN day. You're awesome!!

I love you,

Auntie

Anonymous said...

I kept feeling that there was something special about the 17th, but couldn't quite put my finger on it, or get my head wrapped around it, until I read your's and Kelly's blog; then that brought it to mind.

I want to wish Adam a Very Happy B.D. too.

Kristi said...

Aww that was very sweet. What a handsome boy he is. Happy Birthday Adam! :-)

Kelsen Family said...

Julie,
I really enjoyed this blog. Happy Birthday Adam!!