Saturday, December 6, 2008

Isaac Matthew 12/6/98

Well, here we are again with the last of the birthday tributes for the year. (I don't have to do this EVERY year, do I?)

My BABY is turning 10!! A short journey through our first ten years:



1 day old


4 months. I enjoyed him so much as a baby. I have thanked God many times that (even though I didn't fully appreciate it at the time) He chose to give me almost four years alone with my firstborn before the next baby arrived. I treasure those years we had together, just the two of us, on the long days while Daddy was at work.



Who can resist a cute picture on the pot? 18 months (And no, he wasn't potty-trained until a full year later. Must have been a first-time mom, trying to make it happen early.)



Age 2



Easter 2001, Age 2 1/2



Big brother at age 4



Age 6



Age 8. He has always loved to build. Rarely does a day go by when my kitchen counter is not taken over by building materials of some kind.



What can I say? Maybe a little practice on oral hygiene is needed......The child takes after his father; loves to be the life of the party, the center of attention, loves to make people laugh, and to play practical jokes! (Though we're still trying to teach him how to TAKE a joke!)



Isaac finished his fourth year of baseball this summer and has improved a lot! He is looking forward (hopefully) to playing the infield next summer. It has been good for him to experience being part of a team. I am thankful that God seems to have given him a pretty easy-going spirit when it comes to sports. Don't get me wrong, he likes to win as much as anybody, but also accepts losing quite well. As we've watched many of his teammates stomp off the field angrily after a loss, Isaac brushes it off, skips back to the van and simply wants to know where we're going for ice cream!



This summer he took up skateboarding....sort of. He discovered soon after getting his skateboard home that it looks a lot easier on TV!!



Over the years we've gone through a Thomas the Train phase, a Hotwheels phase, and others. Now he's into Transformers. He loves to build, take apart, and rebuild; anything he can do with his hands.



One of his most recent Lego creations; there have been many castles, houses, churches, airports, and so on. He also enjoys his erector set and creating just about anything he can think of!



His most recent "original"; a pirate ship he named "Killer". Give the boy a roll of duct tape, some straws, pieces of wood or other little random trinkets, and he can make a "masterpiece" out of it! This creating will often occupy him for literally hours during the day. (And you thought he spent his days "home schooling"! HA!) Anyways, "Killer" decorated the top of my refrigerator for quite some time before I decided it no longer fit my decor and it was moved back to his room! I am so glad for Isaac's creativity! And for this I get NO credit--it is simply a gift from God! (Just ask me about my ability to "create" anything!)

This past week was a first; Isaac went deer hunting with his dad and got to experience the "fun" of sleeping in a rough cabin in the woods, sitting perfectly still for hours at a time, (in sub-freezing temperatures), while waiting for the shot-of-a-lifetime to come walking past. Although Isaac didn't get to shoot anything, he did get to witness Matt shoot a beautiful 10-point buck. Isaac had a great time, and I was so thankful for the opportunity for him and Matt to spend the time alone together. A glimpse of the experience:

The Holiday Inn for hunters







(Looks like fun, ey?)


This entire last year has been one full of growth. One of my favorite things to do these days is to just sit and talk with my son. It is amazing how he is learning to understand life; able to comprehend things I don't think I understood at his age. My prayer daily for him is that He would fall in love with his Savior. Isaac understands who Jesus is and knows quite a bit about the Bible. And though he hasn't made a decision yet to follow Christ, He does talk positively about the Lord. He's full of questions and we talk often about his need for Jesus. We've made it clear to him that following Jesus does not mean an easy life. This concerns him a bit. :) Though we tell him it certainly does mean a good life. I am confident that the Lord will one day capture his heart. (Jesus, SOON please.) Would you say a prayer on Isaac's behalf today?

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of this child. Happy birthday, my son.

10 comments:

Charity said...

I couldn't help noticing in the pic with Erin that her hair is just like Zeke's - jet black as a newborn but now blond! (and they both had really fat faces, although hers isn't anymore :)

I've really enjoyed reading about all three of your kids. But I think I'm with you: the thought of writing any more "birthday tributes" is enough to prevent us from wanting to give birth to anyone else!

Jodi Bradshaw said...

Great post! The things Isaac creates and plays with reminds me a lot of my brother at his age. Jeremy is now 34 and a graphic designer. Maybe Isaac will use his creativity in his job someday. :)

Margaret said...

What a beautiful tribute, Kati! I see an engineer of some sort in the future! Isaac is turning into a nice young man. Happy Birthday, Isaac.

JanAl said...

Wow is he talented! When he is not busy, will you send him over to my house, we have lots of projects to work on! Also, I am behind on 3 b.d. posts from October, since I can not upload pictures right now, and because I will not feel at peace until it is done, they will probably be posted next year, like hopefully, January!

Kati said...

May I just say, (and I have already had a discussion with one of you about this) that there should be NO GUILT over things gone un-posted! There is no 11th commandment that says anything about being required to write on a blog about your children's birthdays or whatever. So if it gets left undone (because obviously we were off caring for more crucial matters), SO BE IT!

Let not the blog be "just one more thing I didn't get done today!" Relax! It's not important.

JanAl said...

Even with that said, I am still going to post the bd's, (with a big smile on my face):}}}}}
It is already in my mental to do list, and it would have been done if I didn't have so many issues with the uploading. Yesterday, I had a computer guy come to my house, and he came to the conclusion, which I suspected, that my internet provider is not, for some reason allowing me to upload anything. Which, I am thankful, because that means that it is not my computer!

Anonymous said...

hey janal - we've had the same problem here. we've contacted g-wireless and they keep saying it isn't them. yet when we take the laptop to bjoes, we have no problems uploading...

and katie - sweet tribute again. ryan, my oldest, loved building things, and as he got older he also loved tearing things apart to see how they worked as well as to see if he could make modifications. so don't throw anything old away. keep it for the purpose of developing his curiosity later, if possible :)

JanAl said...

Dee~ I am so glad to hear that from you. I have called them 4 times, and they say that it is my computer, and no one else in my area has complained. The computer tech-guy is going to talk to them next week, he also hooked up his laptop directly to their box, and was not even able to send very, very small pics, so that confirmed it is them as a provider!

Jessi said...

Thank you for the pics of Isaac! we missed the first 8-9 yrs. of seeing him grow...so thank you for your posting, we enjoyed reading and looking at the pictures!

shaun agrees w/ the comments on the engineer/graphic designer thing ;)

p.s. thanks also for the reminder about the "11th commandment thing"
blogging (in my opinion) is something that can develop quickly into sinfulness w/out even realizing it, you know?

Jessi said...

KatI~ this is a comment concerning my errors in spelling. Notice the "I" in your name is by itself, and in capital lettter "I" so my error won't go unnoticed again!!!
I've never done that to you before...thanks for having the sense of humor and the comfort to call me out!!!! we enjoyed the laugh ;)