Dear Sweet Leo…now you are one.
You may not know this yet, but I thought our life was filled to the brim with all of God’s goodness. I know, please don’t be like momma and ever consider being filled to the brim by God…He can always make more room.
But then I realized there can be two very different filled to the brim and running over. There is the one, like when I go to make a smoothie for six children in the blender and after I put in all the ingredients, put the lid on and turn it on…fruity pulp and bits of spinach start to ooze out of the top, down the sides and pretty soon, although the blender is shut off, a large sweet mess is covering the counter.
And then there is the bubbly surprise filled to the brim and overflowing you’ll see with a champagne bottle. And no one yells. “Quick get a towel!” and everyone laugh and cheers and just like the champagne bottle could not contain all that bubbly goodness, God could not contain His love…and here you are.
You my sweet boy are the champagne bottle kind of overflowing, filled to the brim, bubbly, surprise of goodness. And do not let anyone ever tell you differently.
Seven…who would have thought. Surely not I. Surely not dad. You see, when we married and thought of children, our thinking was very stunted. Stunted by the world, stunted by selfishness, stunted because we did not understand the enormity of God’s love. And each of your brothers and sisters revealed more and more of the love of God to us.
I did not know unconditional love…until your daddy. And your daddy’s unconditional love taught me the unconditional love of God. And your family’s unconditional love will be a living, active, daily reminder to you of how much God, your heavenly Father, loves you.
Your very existence in this family is a daily reminder to each of us not only of how much God loves us but also how much we love each other. My fervent prayer my sweet boy is that our family will always remain lovingly, spiritually and physically close. As you grow, you will learn more of why my mother’s heart pleads with God for that grace. For now, just know that you have been celebrated from the first moment we found out about you.
You are a beautiful, wonderful, child of God and mom and dad…and your brothers and sisters, love you, always and forever, no matter what.
Linking up with the ladies at Suscipio for Moments of Grace.
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What a beautiful post! Happy birthday, sweet boy.
Cassidy recently posted…“I Can Do It Myself!”
He is sooo cute! Save this forever for him. Beautiful words Jenny. We all want this for our children. You are right…the world says we should have no more…the children are the ones that teach us about love and about God. Little angels they are! Happy Birthday cheeks! (can i nickname him that) just kidding….Happy One year Leo!
Beautiful meditation — any a very happy birthday to lucky number 7! Like you, we never would have thought we would have seven children but we do consider our lucky number 7 a big gift too. : )
Jessica recently posted…Experimenting
That is just so beautiful!
I don’t even know what else to say!
You are blessed.
And thank you for blessing us!
Emily
Emily Davis recently posted…JOYFUL NEWS! WE HAVE A POPE!
You have such a way with words, Jenny. I love reading your thoughts.
We, too, pray that our family remains close. Our four genuinely like each other, and its a joy to see them together. Both girls were home this past week for Spring Break, and the house was positively glowing with happiness.
Angela Pea recently posted…Friday’s Letters – March 15
Happy Birthday to your sweet little boy! I like that “stunted”. That is exactly how I would describe my thinking about kids at the start of our marriage. We have 7 also and I never would have thought that would happen. Two was the plan (or at least MY plan)! Thank God for His intervention