Happy Birthday, Jay!

***Pretend with me for a moment that it is August 3,2009. Life does not stop for me to blog and so I'm behind on posts. Aaron got "lucky" as I had a bit of time on his birthday. The other recent posts were ones I've worked on here and there, but posting for Jay, Rock and Mag's bdays is just a tad late.***

Dear Jerald,

Happy Birthday! Double digits, a decade, TEN years! I can remember it like it was yesterday. Falling down the stairs on my due date and coming home from the hospital with a cast on my arm instead of a newborn in my arms. A week later, Your dad and I spending our first anniversary walking the mall in the hopes that labor would start. I remember going to bed cranky and so tired on August 2, 1999. Your dad was twice as tired and at least as cranky as I was that night. I remember saying "honey, I think my water just broke" and him saying "can't we sleep for a little bit first and go the hospital in a few hours?". Hours later, I remember having his loving support (especially after I threatened his life if he ever again went to the cafeteria to eat while I was in labor) and being so excited, nervous, joyful and terrified that we were really about to become parents. How in the world has that been ten years ago? Etched in my memory forever will be the sight of your daddy holding a baby for the first time in his life. The love and fear on his face, but mostly I remember the complete amazement as reality sunk in for him...this is our son.

Jerald, you have been nothing but a blessing to us these ten years. Through the days of frustration as we tried to master breastfeeding, the years of exhaustion as we struggled to sleep when that was the last thing on your agenda, the years of food issues as we've pushed for answers and tried to do the best we could, through all of that you have been a constant source of Joy. Slow to anger and always quick to forgive, you have been an example of peacekeeping and love to all of us. You have such a servants heart and daily I am humbled as you cheerfully do chores you'd rather not, plays games with your siblings when you'd rather read, and often seek to give me a "break" because you think I work too hard.

I love your passion for everything in life and how you enjoy the simplest of things...applesauce, a good book, birds in the yard. More than your passion, I love your desire to share it and your willingness to teach others about the things you love. You are an example of what it means to be diligent, to serve wholeheartedly and to love unconditionally.

I am forever grateful for the past ten years, grateful to be your mom and so looking forward to all that the next ten years will bring.

I love you Jerald Thomas and you will always be my little man!