Saturday, October 14, 2017

Hip Hop Hooray... Dashy Is 8 TODAY!

















Saturday, October 14, 2017


My Sweet and Silly Dashy,

It’s the morning before your 8th birthday. As I sit on our balcony of what has been our Orlando home for the last 7 days, overlooking our Playground of Joy, I smile in knowing that tomorrow our celebration continues back in Tennessee.  

Last year, I typed your 7th birthday letter from the beauty of Seacrest Beach. This year I’m doing so from a balcony near Disneyworld.

This past week has truly been an adventure that I will treasure in my bank of memories for all of my days. I am filled with gratitude that your Daddy decided to gather our family together to share in this experience. I will never forget the moment when Mimi, Grandaddy, Auntie Ali and Uncle Patches yelled: “SURPRISE” as they entered our room on our first evening in Florida!

Each and every year that I sit down to type these birthday letters to you and Cam I am always flooded by a wave of emotions.
·      First: Joy! A pure state of elation that fills and floods my heart!
·      Second: Sadness in knowing that another year has passed so quickly.
·      Third: I am flooded by LOVE for our Jesus and the gifts of my beautiful boys that He has bestowed upon me
·      Next: Remembrance for all of the years and growth of which we have experienced together as a family
·      Finally: Excitement for the beautiful future that is to come both here as in heaven, my Dashy.

And so, my Littlest, today and every day, with all of the above sentiments, I am celebrating the Miracle of YOU!

JOY:
Oh how you have been a carrier of joy since we first learned of you growing in my belly.  Holding you for the first time was so very different than with Cam, yet both moments are two of my heart’s deepest treasures. I could not believe that my heart was able to contain even more love than it already had; not to mention that the love I felt for you was unique and just as immense as what I felt for your brother upon his birth 21 months prior.
Being a witness to your first belly laughing hands up roller-coaster experiences this week was an absolute delight! Watching you bless other children around Disney with the prizes you won at Dinosaur Land was pure bliss and made my oh-so-proud mama heart swell! 
Your joy has been like an overflowing wellspring. From your sweet little voice, your on-point-and even sometimes hysterical dance moves, your one- liners:
“Well, Mommy, you may not have always known Jesus, but I’ve known Him since I lived in your belly,” and finally, your great big bear hugs and cuddles around the neck that sometime choke me…but always fill my cup with never ending JOY!

SADNESS:
Sweet boy-you carry absolutely no sadness. It is an emotion that I allow myself to feel as it comes, though not to live inside of it for too long. The only time that I ‘m sad is when I think of the years that have passed, because I am unable hold on to your tiny yet far too quickly growing little self! I know the days of being able to carry you piggy-back will soon come to and end, though I vow to continue until it is no longer humanly possible! I’m also well aware that the day will arrive when you will no longer say: “YOU are my only girlfriend, Mommy,” with such a pure and sweet innocence.  I will continue to beg time to slow down…so you can remain tiny for just a little while longer on our journey together through this life.  

LOVE:
Oh my son- the LOVE I have for you is currently flooding my eyes with tears that are spilling over on to my hands as I type each word from my heart. You fill me with this emotion more and more each day. You teach me every day about how to LOVE patiently and uninhibited. Watching you take the world in with your bright and big eyes has been a treasure that continues to multiply each and every year. You see the world intelligently as well as artistically. You share your love without fear! I promise I will preserve and applaud you for that all of your days. Your LOVE is exactly what our family needed and I thank you for always sharing your heart. You lead us into bigger depths of LOVE simply by just being YOU!

REMEMBERENCE:
I remember how we struggled to find balance in your health during the first few years of your life.  I remember the doctor telling me that she thought you had muscular dystrophy at your one-year well visit because you weren’t walking. I remember how you crushed that lie and have grown to be the most agile and vibrant little mover and shaker I’ve ever known. I remember the way you used to talk… where your R’s sounded like W’s…. Oh how I miss those days. I remember your 4th birthday when we bought you a stuffed dolphin larger than you in size. You have slept with that dolphin every night since.  I am remembering the first time you rode Honey the Pony at Kindred Spirits Farm and when you walked right under the head of the largest most majestic horse, Annabelle, and stood so very close to her without fear. I remember how you used to sit in my lap and cuddle with me in the carpool lane at Step Forward Day School. We would sing, laugh, and talk before you went out to adventure in your last year before you began grade school. I remember the excitement on your face each and every Christmas, and how we have experienced a miraculous shift in the meaning of this holiday together as a family. A shift that has grown our depth of love for our Jesus and within our family beyond my wildest dreams.  I remember your Daddy baptizing you in the Harpeth River and how you witnessed to our family and friends: “I Love God Because He is AMAZING” before you were washed forever clean and anointed as a child of The Most High! I will never forget walking down the isle this summer toward your Daddy with you and Cam on either side of me … the love of what God has done for us yesterday, today, and forever being celebrated on that beautiful day surrounded by those whom we adore on this side of heaven and amongst the Great Cloud of Witnesses.

EXCITEMENT: Oh Dashy, I am still weeping as I share my heart with you in these words, but these tears are truly ones of Joy, Love, and Excitement! While time only seems to move more rapidly each and every year, I am embracing the changes of the seasons as I know they bring the MORE that our Lord has for all of us- especially for you and your brother. We still have so many “firsts” that we’ve yet to experience together and my promise to you is that I will not allow fear to dictate how I guide and parent. I will always look to heaven with advanced thanksgiving and praise God for the blessings that haven’t happened yet as though they already have. Today, I praise Him for your bright future, your strength in health, mind, body, and spirit, your unwavering and steadfast passion for TRUTH, that you will make disciples of Christ- simply by showing the love and joy that you have for Him, that you will dance like nobody is watching for all of your days and you will teach your children to do the same.

Happiest 8th Birthday My Littlest!! You truly march to a never ending and eternal beat from heaven and I praise our King of Kings that He chose me to be your Mommy.

Celebrating your yesterdays, your today, and your FOREVER!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

Mama