the thankful mom

Nine.

NINE.

On Monday our oldest H turned nine.

That truly seems impossible.

Since he was born before the age of digital cameras (or at least, before we had one)

I can't post any newborn pics, which I would really love to do.

So instead, here are some recently taken by one of our favorite photographers.

This kiddo made me a mom.

He introduced me to a whole new kind of love.

As our first born, he's had the unfortunate role of guinea pig,

and has handled that with incredible grace,

in spite of plenty of trial and error by his parents.

He introduced me into the world of "boydom"

and showed me that the love a boy has for his mom is an incredible thing.

And now, today, he is turning into a young man

right before our very eyes.

He loves to ride his bike, his skateboard, and his inline skates.

He is an avid reader, and is currently obsessed with the Harry Potter series.

He loves baseball and collecting baseball cards.

He is a budding artist, which thrills my heart to no end.

He is scary-smart like his daddy.

He is a loving, responsible big brother.

He is outgoing and makes friends easily.

He has a crazy-wild imagination.

He LOVES to talk, and although there are times that I long for quiet :)

I know that the day will come when he'd rather talk to his friends than us, so I'm going to enjoy every second of conversation that I get today.

He loves the Lord and strives to follow Him.

I can't wait to see what God does with him, and what he will grow up to be,

but for now....for now I'm going to soak up every bit of nine-year-old Harrison I can get.

Because it's going by way too fast.