Joel is five

Joel turned five on Wednesday. I know because those were the first words out of his mouth that day. Before I was even out of bed, he came to me and said, "I'm five today, Mom." Not that I would ever even consider being unprepared for my little Joel's birthday. Of course I had all of his presents bought and wrapped and his favorite birthday dinner planned. Or maybe we just ate tacos and I had Elizabeth quickly wrap presents while Grace and I cleared the dishes so that Joel could open his gifts after dinner. Thankfully, five year old boys don't seem to care all that much.
Joel's favorite present by far was a brand new pair of cowboy boots. As soon as he tried them on, he said, "I've gotta go get on my mustache!" Then he did some cool cowboy poses in front of the full length mirror. "Space Cowboy," may have been a better description, as he practiced the quick draw of his new Star Wars gun given to him by his godmother, Peggy.Last night, Grandpa Tom and Grandma Jane came to dinner to help us celebrate Joel's birthday a second time. Joel requested "meatballs and noodles and sauce" for the menu. Grace worked all afternoon to make homemade meatballs and sauce, homemade Italian sourdough bread, green salad with all the fixings and from scratch whoppie pies (another of Joel's requests). What a loving big sister Joel has.Tonight we'll head over to Macduff headquarters, where we'll celebrate all the February birthdays in the family. Joel will celebrate his birthday again with all twelve of his cousins, his aunts and uncles and his paternal grandparents.

Many years ago, Matt and I made the deliberate decision to situate ourselves smack dab in the middle of lots of family and grow our roots deep. While we might have chased a higher paying, higher profile job in Matt's profession, our heart's desire was for our children to be raised in the midst of a loving extended family. Obviously, the Lord's hand of blessing has allowed us to do just that--not everyone has the ability to make such a choice. But by His grace, we have, and we thank Him for it.

As a side note--I was reflecting on our little Joel this past week. I miscarried before I conceived him. I remember crying out to the Lord, "Give me another son to raise to your glory." The Lord answered that prayer, in a little boy named Joel, whose Mommy and Daddy pray continually that he will become a man after God's own heart.