On His 5th Birthday

My little guy turned 5 today. Now I understand why my own mother always waxed poetic on our birthdays, why she remembered the exact times of our births and noted that time each year, why she recounted the events leading up to our births. It is an extraordinary event, bringing a life into the world, and commemorating that event involves both remembering how it all started-- and then marveling at how much has transpired since.

I'm really grateful for our Davis. He is, in my very biased mommy-opinion (and only to add to the list of the characteristics of all of our amazing kids) uncommonly sweet, sensitive, and enthusiastic. He has had some struggles in his young life, and we have seen him move through so much with great perseverance. We have consistently appreciated his kindness, his attentiveness to those around him, his eagerness to please, his delightful laugh, his capacity to love.

And so it was really a joy to sit at the dining room table tonight, our family of 5 and his good buddy, eating the birthday dinner which he had requested: hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, carrots, and fruit. We talked about our days and then Daddy asked each of us to say one thing we liked about Davis. This was Luke's report: "He has lots of smiles. He's gentle, and he's kind." Kudos to Luke for having such a kind spirit himself, for being willing to praise a friend without any return. Praise God that our little boy has such a friend. And praise God, for our sweet Davis, for whom we are so grateful on his fifth birthday.