You know when people ask you, "Where were you when_________?" and they are significant events you can tell them right away where you were and what you were doing. Well, if you would ask me today, "Where were you 12 years ago today?" I could answer you..."I was lying on a hospital bed waiting for my first baby to finish his journey from my body into this world". You see at this point I had already been in labor for about 36 hours. Since my water broke first it is easy to know when my labor started. We had stayed home for 32 of those hours. We planned to have the baby at home. Unfortunately, I was tired when I went in to labor. My water broke at midnight and we hadn't been to bed yet. Then all the adrenaline kicked in and I couldn't sleep. Even though I wanted to turn the lights on and go outside and walk around, the midwives tried to keep things dark and relaxing. It was November in PA so we already had snow and it was very cold, but I felt the cold would shock me awake and help me. They did eventually turn the lights on and let me go outside, but only for a very short time. As I look back now after 4 more births, I realize I should have fought more for what I wanted. Oh well, it all still went well. Anyway, back to my son making the journey. After 40 1/2 hours from the time my water broke, Michael finally decided to join us on the outside! It's funny now to see that his personality fits his birth story. He is not quick to do anything! It takes him FOREVER to unload or load the dishwasher, gather the trash, do school work that I know he could do a lot faster and really anything, unless it's getting the computer out to play Minecraft, he does really slow. When the second one came along and got older we joked that she would jump off of something and then look back to see how high it was and Michael would stand and evaluate the height, the wind speed, etc before making the jump and then decide it wasn't worth the risk. I am glad after 40 1/2 hours he decided it was worth the risk to come out and meet us!
I'm not a real sentimental person. I don't sit every year on their birthdays thinking about the years past. Yes, the time is going fast, but I guess I'm so focused on getting through it that I don't think about the past, at least not until I see an old picture and remember how little they were. For whatever reason, this year I have been thinking about the last 12 years. We celebrate three of the kids' birthdays in November. There are significant things that happened with each birth and I could talk all day about all 5 of our kids' births, but I do understand not everyone wants to hear about them and I try to be respectful of that. We have found them to be such a joyous time and we just like to talk about them.
I have thought a lot the last couple of days about how much Michael is growing and maturing. Sure there are times that he still disobeys, whines and complains, annoys us about Minecraft, and is just a kid. But, he is also at times a very good older brother. He can be a good helper with his youngest sister, Eva, unless it involves changing a poopy diaper. He will build a whole city of Legos with his younger brother and play card and board games with his other sisters. There are times that he and Lydia will sit and read a book together. I find all of these times to show the sweet side of him and I try to remember those as I'm trying not to be frustrated with his attitude or slowness. Michael was such an easy baby. He slept through anything and was very laid back.
I don't really know what the purpose of writing this was. In my head the last few days I've had the perfect way of writing this and all the right words, but of course as I have time and sit to write it today, it's not coming out the same. I will be letting him read this later so I just want to say.....Michael, I love you so much! I do see you growing and maturing. I know sometimes I expect more from you than you are capable of doing, but I also know you are capable of doing so much more than you realize yet. I pray you will grow into a godly man just like your dad. I pray you will desire to always seek God first. And I can't wait to see what God does with you as you continue to grow. HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL!!
