Formal Introduction * Mr. Stone

All of my children are answers to prayer. This guy here was God's reminder to me that He is still in the business of making and keeping promises even when we deserve it the least. The specifics of that particular story will be saved for another day.

For now I will tell you that these blue eyes are both fire and ice.

He is the young man who will hold open the door for an elderly person and then be the biggest jerk ever to his younger sisters. He is either jovial and ornery or quiet and confrontational... he is also currently 16 years old, which explains a lot.

When he was nine months old he stood up in the middle of the room and started taking steps... and he has never stopped trying to be the leader of the pack.

He is creative and mechanically inclined and one of the hardest working young men you will ever meet.

He can watch a 10 minute YouTube video on how to replace a radiator in a car and then single handedly work all day to get it done.

He is strong and brave even though he isn't very sure about that right now.

One day I pray that he will come to have even half as much confidence in himself as I have in him. Until then I will just love him and cherish the moments when he calms his voice and speaks to me a little bit like he used to, when he was little and loved more openly and without trepidation.

For the sake of privacy I will refer to him as Mr. Stone.

He is number 3 of the reasons that I know I am blessed.

Comments

In My Own Backyard - Soundless Divergence

Count this as number 1 in a series. These are things that I find beautiful, plain and simple that took almost no effort to see, just a redirection of my attention. On this particular day, I had been experiencing what seemed to be a non-stop day of rushing. And by the time I reached the end of this day, my heart and soul were tumultuous and chaotic. And then there was this.... My 15 year-old daughters' gentle hand displaying this elegantly crafted unique treasure. 1 lilac blossom. 7 petals . While her fellow youth group members had played loud exciting games and chatted busily amongst each other, my daughter decided to step away and quietly assign herself the task of picking up freshly fallen lilac blooms. She ended up with quite the collection by the time she was done. Had she not been paying close attention she might have missed this soundless divergence... the way I often miss the details of God's breathtaking creation. Please understand, there is...

Formal Introduction * Mr. NSN

For the sake of privacy, I have changed his name. This is number 1 of the 6 reasons I know I'm blessed... This is Mr. Not-So-Neurotypical (or Mr. NSN). I met him when he was just barely 4 years old, not long after the doctors had given their best medical explanation for why he did things a little differently than other kids his age. If I'm being honest, that was during a time when it was really difficult to look past his symptoms and see the who-he-was in spite of the what-he-did. I remember how a simple trip to Wal-Mart could easily turn into an unprecedented melt down. He is almost 21 years old now and still prefers to move about life in patterns that are as safely predictable as possible. However, over the years that we have spent together I've come to more fully understand that he is so much more than a diagnosis or unprecedented melt downs. He is a soul who offers genuine hugs and infectious smiles. He is the co-worker who is predicta...

Jen Plain and Simple

Search This Blog