Happy Birthday!!!!

I can't believe it! Tomorrow is your first birthday! I feel bad for a second that I have not written on your blog in the last month but there have been just a few other things going on. One of the things is that I have been working on a scrapbook of your beautiful face so far in life so that everyone can be reminded of the 1700+ pictures that we took in the last year! I have been trying to do at least one page per day this last month and last night- I finished. Someday- you will get to keep it and know that I was sitting on the living room floor after you went to bed every night- in a sea of pictures, stickers and memories.

Another thing that has happened recently was that your dad lost his job. This is a time when many people are losing their jobs and the unemployment rate is very high. But we feel that there is something else at work here. Recently at church, a message spoke right to us about a time when God asked Elijah (I Kings 17) to go from a safe place through a dangerous place to live with a widow who had no food and told him that this woman would take care of him. The Bible describes the time when Elijah was in a safe place and then says- "after a while, the brook dried up." We both felt that his job at Caliber Collision is like the brook. God gave us nourishment from it for a time, and now it is time to move along. We depended on the brook more than God at times because it was so comfortable.

I am sooo excited for a couple of reasons- the first is that you and your daddy get to be together all the time right now. He said the other day, " sometimes when I look at him, he is so beautiful that it makes me want to cry." At that moment, I just melted-- the bond between he and I as parents is so strong and that is amazing.

The second thing is that I am excited for what God is about to do in your dad's life to help him find the shape of his gifts. Your dad has a lot to give to others that have not been used the way they could be. Now is the time for him to do the work to find the work that He wants him to do.

I pray for you that you will be able to find the job that uses the gifts that you have been given.

I will write more tomorrow--- on your birthday--- about the little man you are becoming right now- crawling, climbing and almost almost walking all over! You are making so many cute faces and sounds to express yourself that we just stare at you and smile. Your hair is getting so thick on your neck that it is curling up.

Thank you for the most special year of my life so far!!!! I love you!