Today is a pretty special day. Today, my oldest son turned 9 years old. We reminisced about the day he was born. I told him, again, about the events of that day and that he came 4 weeks earlier than we expected. We looked at some pictures again and laughed and I admit I teared up a bit. I realized that 9 years of his life have vanished. Where have they gone? It seems as only yesterday that he was but a preemie being swallowed by a onesie that was supposed to be for preemies. It seemed like just a moment ago that I met him for the first time with his swollen features and curly red hair. For those that know my son now, he is tall, blonde haired and blue eyed. He is the best looking 9 year old I have ever known. God took the best of both my wife and me and blended it to make this wonderful young man I see before me today. What a privilege to be his dad. Though sometimes I fail miserably at that job, he never gives up on me. He never ceases to give his forgiveness when I ask for it. He always has a hug to offer. He has an amazing heart. He is kind and very sensitive. I mean that in the best way possible. What a miracle!!
We also got to share the afternoon with some dear friends that we hadn't seen in a while. It never ceases to amaze me but the definition of a good friend is someone who you may not see for a while and when you do get together it is as if you have never been apart. These were our former neighbors. What is amazing is how that friendship that appeared to happen by chance really has been a perfectly divinely planned friendship. We lived next to them for 3 years at a time in our life where God was doing a lot of building. I was changing careers, we had a roommate and one child when we moved in. Shortly thereafter, Corban was born. So 3 adults, 2 children and a dog shared 1,140 square feet. It was tight!! But in that, we got to begin a relationship with a wonderful family. Colin and their son quickly became friends being they were close to the same age. We became friends with the parents as well. At the time, I didn't realize how much of an impact we might have on each other's lives. When we met, they professed to be Jehovah's Witness; or at least the wife did. We began to pray for them and for the family. God opened opportunities for Lauren to minister to her. The husband and I commuted part way to work together. After 6 years, the wife has left the Jehovah's Witness faith and they are now looking for a Christian church to attend. It was wonderful to catch up with them today. We can't always see what God is doing behind the scenes but it is so wonderful to see Him at work.
So now, to the point of my post. I wanted to share our evening routine. By the end of it we are exhausted. After a short time of swimming after our friends left, we began the "get ready for school tomorrow ritual. Everyone has to take a bath. I bathed to the two little ones while my wife took care of assisting our oldest daughter. The boys are pretty self sufficient at this point, though my younger son (6 yrs old) still needs some help making sure he washed out all the shampoo. Like I said, my task was to bathe Caitlyn and Christyana. Now I must mention that neither of these girls has straight hair. So part of the bathing is detangling of the hair. After two days at a watermark (we went to Schlitterbahn for Colin's birthday) and an evening of swimming in a saltwater pool...lets just say I have seen less tangled tumbleweed. We managed to make it through bath time. Though at the end, I must say, I felt like I had just run a 5K. The trick is getting one to sit down while the other gets bathed and detangled. Giving the bath is the easier part of the ritual. Next comes the routine of putting a night time diaper on them both and applying the lotion. Now since one of these girls is fully African American and the other one half African American, this is a very important step and shouldn't be skipped. So, again, trying to keep one occupied while you apply a nice lather of lotion can be a bit of a challenge. Of course, they want to "help." I finish putting lotion and pajamas on one only to find the other one has taken the task of applying lotion on herself into her own hands. Fortunately, lotion soaks in. After we have lotioned and put in pajamas comes the daunting task of setting their hair. I started with the younger of the two, who is 2 years old. Getting her to sit still is a task all by itself. Then, as if accomplishing that wasn't enough, I was foolish enough to think I should part their hair and do 4 braids. (yes, I am a dad and can braid). Have you ever tried to part curly hair on a two year old. Well, the first attempt looked a bit like a job completed by Helen Keller. When in doubt...add more oil. So after a 2nd heap of coconut oil in my hands, I tried again. Much more successful this time around, I finally got the part straight, though it really took another try or two. One part down; now the 2nd part. I knew it was pushing my luck to try another one. But I took a deep breath and braved it. The trick is for the head to resemble a cross when looking down from above. The is close to impossible to do well. But I was determined. I should mention that while I was working on taming the hair of the shrew, I looked over and my 3 year old had taken it upon herself to play 5,000 rubber band pickup. I asked her for two rubber bands (after all you can never trust just one of these temperamental things). She handed me a handful...not quite what I had in mind, but at least she was trying to be obedient. Trying to hold the section of hair in place while my 2 year old proves she has ants in her pants and trying to get the two rubber bands around three of my fingers so I could put them in her hair ended by me snapping one of the rubber bands (I still don't know where it landed) and asking my three year old for one more rubber band (to which, yes you guessed it, another handful). Finally got the four sections of hair in place and banded. Now the task of braiding them. (sigh) By this time, I was down right crotchety, while still trying to be encouraging. I managed to get all four sections braided and banded in place. Whew!! Then I had to repeat the process with the 3 year old. Except the 3 year old, has a tender head. I plunged forward with fierce determination. This time around, the 2 year old decided it was a great idea to not only dump the rubber bands and then mess them up with her hands. So these rubber bands covered an area of about 3 feet square. She is fairly efficient in the mess department...she is 2. She was actually cute about it. She kept saying "It's ok Nonna (she can't say Christyana), almost done." This whole ritual took about 45 minutes. At the end of it, I felt like Picasso looking at my rather odd looking art. Then I realized, we hadn't had dinner yet. My wife ran to the store to get cupcakes for our oldest son's class. She had baked one cake today and didn't feel up to baking again (understandably). So, needless to say it was peanut butter and jelly for dinner. Fortunately, my kids were grateful; after all, we had a big lunch.
So does all of that sound like chaos? Mind you, this was for just two of our five little ones. The children finished dinner and I went to tuck the two little ones into bed and I kissed them goodnight. The 2 year old said, "Read back and forth." I have made it a point to read her the book I Love You Forever each night for the last month or so. It has made an impression. That is the only book she asks for by name. But I told her it was late; she smiled and said, "OK, Daddy." This is the same child who not long ago would throw a tantrum at the drop of a hat. She wrapped both hands around my neck and said, "Daddy pay (she can't say pray) with me." So I prayed with her and gave her a big hug and a kiss...we have our rituals. I then went and prayed with my 3 year old and told her what a blessing she was to our family. She giggled and I gave her a kiss goodnight. I then came downstairs and reflected on how much our family has grown and how much I really do enjoy them. While I get frustrated at times, I can't and don't want to imagine what life would be like without them...without the chaos that comes with having children. But you know, I am learning that children are God's blessing. They drive to our absolute limits to where we don't think we can handle anymore and then we get to our bedtime routine and we quickly forget the headaches of the day. How blessed we are!! Children are an heritage, blessed is the man who's quiver is full of them. Wiser words were never spoken. I am content.
Happy Birthday, Colin. You are loved far more than we could ever express.
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