Happy 9th Birthday, Mikey!

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*Yes, this one is late, too, but hopefully we're back on track now!*

You're such a fun kid, Mikey. You're out there. You're bold. You're confident. You can talk more than the rest of your family put together, and in the extreme scenario that no one is listening, talking to yourself is not out of the question.

You're rough and tumble. You're  spontaneous and sometimes impetuous. You're constantly thinking and constantly doing and sometimes that creates and sometimes that... well.... destroys. But you're growing and learning and maturing and every day, we can see more and more of the man that you are becoming. And that is good and exciting!

You are kind. You are thoughtful. You are affectionate. You are sweet to your mother, and that means a lot, Mikey. That means a lot. 

You have great dimples. Great dimples. Seriously -- when you're excited, your eyes light up, your dimples pop in, and you brighten the room. It's both endearing and terrifying. But that's a conversation for another day.

We love hearing your thoughts. We love that you share your heart with us. We love knowing how you process deep, deep realities. We love how you feed knowledge with TRUTH and you love mercy and grace and forgiveness. 

We love you, Mikey, and we're proud of you. We're so thankful that God gave us to you -- in His perfect timing and His perfect design (even if you hold some records in the process! ;)) and we are so blessed, so privileged, so humbled and honored to be your parents. We may mess this up on a regular basis -- both the training and the growing and the teaching and the learning -- but we are in this process together and we have a very good and loving God guiding our course. Look to Him, remind us when we falter, and we'll remind you when you falter and we'll get there, sweet son, we'll get there.

Happy, happy birthday, dear Mikey! We love you!