My Ebenezer

Speedy,

I can’t believe you are really three years old today. In some ways you seem so much older and in others it seems like you are barely two again. I’ve been your mommy for a little over a year now and it’s been one of the best and funniest years of my life. You absolutely crack daddy and I up on a daily basis.

You look more and more like a little boy every day and are even starting to sound more and more like a little boy instead of a toddler. These days, you are all about tools, trains, fire trucks and any kind of construction vehicle. Your imagination is growing by leaps and bounds and one of your favorite things to do now is pretend to be a fireman or a kitty. Sometimes you like to pretend you’re daddy, but you always go back to being Speedy very quickly – like you know you are the best of them all!

Parenting you is fun and challenging all at the same time. You’re learning to twist words – for example, I’ll ask you, “Speedy, is that toy in your mouth?” and you’ll look innocently at me and say, “not anymore.” When we tell you to take your hands off of something, you will often put some other part of your body on it and look at us like, “well? I’m not touching it with my hands!”

You continue to have the most contagious smile and I can’t even think of it without grinning myself. On your birthday, I can’t help but stop and thank God for the gift of you in our lives. Teaching you new things is such a blessing, but I also learn from you on a regular basis. God uses you to teach me more about my relationship with Him – and He uses you to teach me patience!

You’re doing well in school, not napping but following directions most of the time. There are one or two boys you play with a lot at school but mostly you still play independently. You love to color but usually get in trouble for trying to eat the crayons – we’re working really hard right now to learn not to put EVERYTHING in your mouth! Your favorite thing to do is to play outside – anything at all, as long as it is outside. We’re trying to teach you to use the potty but I’m afraid I’m not all that enthusiastic about it. I keep forgetting to remind you to go so we haven’t had a ton of success in that area just yet. We’ll get there.

Your all time favorite person right now is, without a doubt, Daddy. Daddy is a hero in your eyes and can fix anything and do anything. I took you to his jobsite this week and you got to watch him drive a tractor and I’m not sure you’ll ever stop talking about it. When he comes through the front door every afternoon your entire face lights up! When you wake up in the middle of the night it’s usually his name you call for – thank you sooooo much for that!

Let’s see, when you turned two you were having nightmares regularly and you almost never have them now. You ate a lot better when you were two – but you had only been here a couple of months so I can’t really count that. I think once you realized you could have food any time you wanted it, you got a lot pickier about what you wanted to eat. You still love your sister but she definitely pesters you a bit more now that she is mobile. But when no one is watching, you are usually very sweet to her!

It would be impossible for me to capture in words how much I love you and how much joy you bring to my heart.

God, in these last minutes of Speedy’s third birthday, I ask that You bless him richly this year. Write Your name on his heart, God, and teach him to love You and to obey Your word. Help daddy and I model the character of Christ for him so that He can build a foundation for understanding Your love and Your will for his life. Help him learn to share and to follow directions and to make good choices even when no one is looking. Lord, I ask that You instill in Speedy a great sense of self-worth and that He would begin to understand now that he is loved and lovable. Help him to focus and to practice self control. As Speedy starts his fourth year, I pray that you would bring a special friend into his life. Someone he can pal around with and have over to our house to play; someone whose family shares our Christian values. Please help him to feel safe and secure and give him the knowledge that we are his forever family. In Jesus name, Amen.