Day 351: It’s our eldest son’s birthday today; 31 years ago, on a bitterly cold December night, he was born. It’s quite a Christmas story.
The first time I sat him down with his Christmas LEGO set, he threw them; tried to eat them; stuck them up his nose; and embedded them into the avacado-green shag carpeting of our little college apartment. After I gave him the "what-not-to-do" instructions concerning LEGOs, we sat on the floor and built a basic structure. I only had to show him once how the pieces clicked together. After that, he'd grab my hand and pull me to the closet where the red bucket of LEGOs was stored and point to them. Yet, if I handed him the bucket and walked out of the room, he would follow me. I quickly realized I was part of his LEGO experience. He expected we would build together.
Blake grew, and so did our family. With the addition of each of his three younger siblings, Blake rose to the occasion. He became the big brother. He became the eldest brother. For his younger siblings, he took his place as part of the experience. The hard worker. The ready assistant. The coordinator of the fun. The dependable babysitter (other than those few times when the mischief got away from him). Now, don't get me wrong. He is far from perfect. His sense of humor veers into the inappropriate lane very quickly. He finds far too much joy from his ability to grow unusually thick and copious amounts of facial hair, and he's been known to make people laugh in situations when, you know, laughter isn't appropriate, but he is a constant blessing in our lives! We are so grateful for Blake!
Now, he has two little LEGO builders of his own who grab his hand and pull him to the floor for some building fun. He also has a son who is watching over those building projects from Heaven, and now a new little son who is waiting in the wings to join in the building fun in April. He’s got a lot of eyes on him, and I’m proud of the father and husband he is and the eternal building project he and Amanda are accomplishing. But, I'm getting away from the story! Tomorrow, I’ll shed some light on Blake’s Christmas story.
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