Happy Birthday to our fifth son!
Our Samuel continues to be a tremendous blessing to our family. He has always had an extra measure of sensitivity. On days when I'm struggling, he's often the first one to notice and offer to help. He's a great protector of his mom... and usually his sisters, too.
On one occasion about eight years ago we had some excitement in our rental house in California. We heard a strange noise upstairs, and the lights suddenly started blinking throughout the two-story house... in a rather odd way. Paul and I ran up the stairs to see what was going on. There sat little Samuel in the floor of his bedroom. He had a key in his hand, and his arm was black almost to his elbow. Our little guy had put that key into a light socket... and somehow lived to tell about it! His big brothers saw the flash from their room on the other side of the wall... the key was slightly melted... the power surge within the house was rather apparent. By human standards, Samuel should have been electrocuted! Except for the black arm and a stunned look, he seemed fine. God obviously had other plans for Samuel's life!
Now that same young man is doing his best to catch up to his daddy's height of 6'3"... with only about 1/2 a foot to go! Even when he was little we'd often comment on Samuel's "puppy dog hands and feet," knowing he was likely to grow into them... and he is.
Samuel has always had a special gift of working with children. He loves all ages, from babies on up. He's a wonderful encourager, teaching the little ones as he plays with them, and he can often get a child to settle down when no one else can. Some day he'll be a great daddy! That will be so fun to witness.
Until then God has other plans for him. We so enjoy watching him on the soccer field. He has tremendous skills, but he's not a show-off. He's a leader... encouraging others on his team as they play together. He invests in others, and I so admire that.
Lord, I thank you for Samuel. He brings so much to our family. May we all try to encourage him as he seeks to follow you. Use him mightily for your kingdom. Father, please make his path plain before him, and grant wisdom to his parents as we guide him toward You.
3 comments:
Happy Birthday, Samuel! And good heavens, what is in that bowl that you have lit on fire for him? Cheese dip? :-) Guess it's definitely not mint chocolate chip ice cream.
It's actually Lemon Cream Cheese Pie... made especially for the birthday boy (per his request) by his big sister. And it was WONDERFUL!!!
Stop it! Lemon Cream Cheese Pie? I'm trying to diet over here in Springville!!!!!!!!!
Happy Birthday Samuel! And I ditto what you say about his calming effect on children. When he rode in our car, he certainly could tell when Quan needed to be calmed and I appreciated him tuning in to that!
You're a wonderful cousin, Samuel!
Love,
Laine
Post a Comment