Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Happy Happy Birthday, Jeremiah!!

You're one!! It's amazing!!

It's been a really good year. You are such a joy of a baby, so happy and sweet. You light up a room and make everyone feel special. Each person around you just knows they are your favorite. All your siblings are united in their adoration of you, and it's easy to get a volunteer to play with you just about any time of the day!

We are so thankful for you, Jeremiah Joseph. You were born after a hard pregnancy that followed a hard, dark year of loss and grief. I remember Daddy expressing surprise that you were healthy and thriving considering how difficult things had been. I remember just being incredibly grateful that you were alive. Certainly many, many prayers were answered kindly and generously with your birth -- most consistently the prayers of your big sisters who prayed almost daily for you long before you were even conceived.

And thrive you do well! You live and laugh and love fully. You sing, you dance, you wave your arms in the air to music as if you are conducting a full orchestra. You love to be sung to... sweetly relaxing into each bedtime's rendition of "Rock-a-bye Baby." You blow kisses. And you are a tease!! You love to act like you are going to give your big sister a kiss, then at the last second, turn your head away. And you love to look mischievously into my eyes and babble, "Dadadada!" in response to my encouragements to say "Mama!"

We love you, Jeremiah, and we thank God for you. You are a sweet, sweet gift to our family and we enjoy you so much! We pray that God will bless you and keep you, and that you will always know the delight of His love and grace in your life.

Happy happy birthday, Sweet JJ!!