Growing, growing, growing...

Our son is now nine years old. 

  It seems like only yesterday I was standing in the bathroom, staring a little white plastic stick with blue lines on it, shaking like a leaf in the fall winds.

After years of uncertainty and preparedness that Jason and I may never be parents, those bouts of being car sick and thinking I had the beginnings of the flu was a blessing in disguise.

Many ultrasounds and stressful weeks later, we found out we were going to be the parents of a baby boy!

That baby boy arrived at 9 lbs. 4 oz., and our lives were immediately changed forever.
The days transformed into weeks, the weeks into months and now the years are starting to roll. 

 He is in the fourth grade. He is very active, loving, witty, funny, snarky, and sometimes exasperating.

 He is all boy - small scale tractors, Matchbox cars by the zillions, Legos by the quadrillions, pocket knives, bb guns, flannel shirts, Levis with holes in the knees, boots, 
fishing poles, camouflage shirts, billed caps, cowboy hats, frogs, snakes, sticks, bubble gum and Twix candy bars.

He has squirrel hunting dogs, loves his cousins and friends, his family and school mates.

He forgets to brush his teeth and wash his face. A shower is a quick zip under the water and towel off the really dirty spots, or he stays in the water forever, using a half bottle of shampoo for his buzzed hair and several squirts of man-smelling cologne.

He has his favorite flannel blankets, his stuffed animals and treasure box. He has a collection of shells, rocks, animal skulls and teeth. He has a coffee cup that looks like a racoon and is perfect for dunking cookies in milk.

He truly enjoys crackers, bacon, chicken strips, corn, peas, yogurt and french fries.

He loves to go shopping, but he has to be dressed in his country attire to go. He loves to ride with his daddy in the the truck to haul corn and is happiest when he is outside or in the garage tinkering with the lawn mower, tractor and his bicycle. He is picky over his collection of tools to the point of putting a lock on his toolbox so his dad can't borrow them without asking.

 He hugs for no reason. He gives the softest kisses.

He loves to make up jokes and curls up on the couch with a book to read for hours. He surprises me with words of wisdom and deep thought. He prays and already has a secure faith. 

He is a clone of his daddy. 

I love the glimpse of young man I am starting to see in my boy. We have many years of teaching and learning ahead of us; the best is yet to come. 

However, the past nine years have been without doubt, the most wonderful years of my life.