Sunrise

The trees are full of color--oranges, yellows, reds, with some green still hanging on.

I was making coffee. Admiring the maple out my window. Reflecting on how there's often been that maple outside my window. Going over the plans for the day in my head. 

Then I turned away for just a minute, probably to get the cereal bowls out of the cupboard. When I turned back to the window, everything had changed.

The oranges, yellows, reds, and greens suddenly became alive with gold. They were colors before, but now the colors were more real, more rich. 

"In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye... we shall be changed... Death is swallowed up in victory."

This is the promise every morning. Every morning, the sun rises again reminding us that though it sometimes feels like we are living in the night, the morning is coming. Every morning, ordinary things become glorious. Every morning, we have another chance to try again. Every morning.

"Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me."

Happy 13th Birthday!

How the time flies...

When I brought home a tiny baby with bright brown eyes, how could I have imagined the creative, bright young man he would become?

But there have been signs along the way. Music has always been important.

From falling asleep to The Piano Guys, to doing math while listening to soundtracks. From humming while playing to figuring out songs on the piano, guitar or most usually his cello. From singing in his sweet baby voice developing a lovely baritone, music still moves in and through his mind.

Books have also been a huge part of his life. I didn't know how strange it was that my 6 month old looked at books instead of eating them. His love of words, sounds, and pictures developed into a love of stories, illustrations, and good literature.

I didn't think that teaching him to say "To be or not to be," when he got on a stage at age 2 would lead to anything besides being adorable. But now he enjoys Shakespearean English and looks forward to performing it live.

Dinosaurs and dragons,

Star Wars and superheros,

Excavators and airplanes,

he is fascinated by so many things, and in his games and imagination, they blend into amazing new ideas.

Not only is he a pretty cool person,

he is also an amazing brother,

a good friend,

and a wonderful son.