15

-

 To my First Born,

 

What a year this has been. To start with the obvious you've flown by me in height. You earned your Life rank and became an OA member. You volunteered your time as a CIT at camp. As a troop we hiked Mount Washington. In short: You have had a lot of wins this past year. 


Part of your Life rank service project was cleaning a walking trail for a local elementary school and building a new bench for the outdoor reading circle.



You amaze me. You dream big and you make it happen. You already have goals set for year 15: 
- Work on Staff at Camp Roosevelt
- Go to the National Jamboree.
- Get your driving permit by the end of 2023, of which you already have all the money saved.
- Take the Life Guarding course over the school year so next year you can be a Life Guard at camp, or even better be a secondary one so you can work at COPE.


My favorite part about how you dream is how often you bring other people along with you. You have a natural gift for leading and encouraging others on. You set the tone for the Troop after we lost most of our scouts during early months of Covid. You lead well as a CIT earning CIT of the year. You encourage the newer scouts to work on their ranks. On a deeper level when the opportunity to love on an orphan came up again, even though you knew how much it would hurt to say goodbye you didn't hesitate to welcome her in. I am proud of the man you are becoming. I'm proud of how it's not enough for you to succeed but you want others to succeed alongside you. Even me, you encouraged me and participated in my Wood Badge ceremony. You watched how tired I've been this past year and gone out of your way to make sure I know your proud of me.



My encouragement for you this year is that you would continue to make good choices. You're wrapping up your last few years of childhood. I pray that as you do you continue to make choices that not only grow you, but influence those around you to continue to grow as well. I hope that no matter how hard the right choice is that you'll choose it, just like you did this year when asked if we should take in our orphan. I am honored to be called your Ma, and I am proud of the man you are becoming.



An interview with your 15 year old self:
Where's your favorite place to eat?
Applebee's



What do you want to do when you grow up?
I want to be a rock climbing instructor.



What's your favorite memory of this past year?
Working at COPE



What's your favorite book or book series?
I guess it's still Percy Jackson.



Who is your favorite superhero?
Spiderman



What's your favorite thing to do?
Scouting

Niagara Falls 


What is your favorite color?
Blue

Family camping trip before you headed to Maine for 9 weeks.


What is something special to you?
My family.

Last time we were here you were less than a month old.


What is your favorite saying?
Sure does.


I love you.
~Ma

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

14

-
Image
To my Laughter, Fourteen, in high school, and marching to the beat of your own drum, just as you always have. I love it.   As it is every year, it's cool to watch you grow. You have this amazing gift to s ee and meet the needs of others. So often though you are working quietly behind the scene, but this year you have taken on my direct leadership roles. You lead a group of Cub Scouts and their families during Spooktacular, which you enjoyed enough to decide to be a CIT at Camp Roosevelt this coming summer. And minutes before the Distinguished Citizens Award Dinner you volunteered to do the invocation when there was an unexpected need. You got up in front of a couple hundred people, something you have said you would never do. I love that you step into challenges and you don't let fear control you. (Except maybe when it comes to spiders. Ha!)  My prayer for you this year is that you would continue learn to wait quietly before the Lord as David says in Psalm 62 because He alone i...
Read more

Three

-
Image
Hey Baby! -- That's what I say to you all the time.  Last night when you on your way to bed you gave me a hug and said, "night baby"... Your words are such gifts to me.  This fall will mark two years of speech therapy.  You have come so far. I love the way you are beginning to play with words as you find new combinations to try out on us. My favorite thing about you is that when you smile your whole face lights up.  You truly are my Happy One. This past year you have grown up so much.  Physically you are a giant. My guess is that you will be the biggest brother when you reach adulthood. It has been a long time since we've had any feeding issues.  The only thing you have left to learn is that if your in the middle of chewing something and you see something better you can swallow what you are chewing, you do not have to spit it out to get the next thing. Your words are coming, mostly in nouns, but they are beginning to fall out of your mouth.  It's ...
Read more

Change in seasons

-
Image
Last night my Strong Man and I made our first decision about our teenager. Even though he’s still 18 months away from officially being one. There is a National Boy Scout event that only happens every four years. The next one is in 2021 and now is the time to apply. The commitment is big. He’ll have basically two troops his local one and then a troop that is formed just for this event. The scouts will have to raise approximately $2,000 each and will have to do some physical training in preparation. Just because he applies it doesn’t mean he’ll be accepted. It’ll happen in West Virginia and will be about two weeks time. Neither Strong Man or myself will be attending. I would love to go as a staff member, but my babe will be four and will be getting ready to go to pre-K. He needs to be with people that have had specilized training to help him learn academically. While we feel strongly about homeschooling the big ones I feel strongly that he needs to be in a school system. The idea...
Read more