Happy Birthday Xavier!

Please be kind enough to tell me if I ever sing like this! The lyrics are "Happy Birthday to me, in one more day"



Wow! 7 years! I am so thankful that I've had seven years with my son! He is such a joy to me and God has used him to reveal my sin more clearly than any other individual I know. It's been fun over the last couple of days recounting his birth story with him. I remember holding tiny baby clothes up and trying to picture a face in there... what would my baby look like? I was telling him tonight that when I first saw him I remember clearly thinking, "Oh, of course - how else would he look?" He was just right. He looked just like his family. I was able to let go of the soap opera fear that maybe someone would switch my baby and I wouldn't be able to tell - there was no denying this boy was mine! The sweetest part was the day after he was born ~ when God stripped me of my heart of stone and gave me a new heart of flesh! I look back and see how God was softening me over the months prior but there was a distinct turning point on April 25th as I lay there alone in that hospital room and the Lord drew me to repentance for a life spent on sin. In days to come I would get a taste of the magnitude of love a parent has for their child and this overwhelming desire to protect this little one. God allowed me to marvel at the work of the cross and how he crushed his son for a wicked rebellious thing like me. I love Xavier's birth story but it's extra special to me because of how inseparable it is from the story of God's saving grace over my life!



7 of My Very Favorite Things About Xavier

• His love for scripture - he is always very eager for Bible time each morning and evening and if we have a late night out he will ask me to come lay in bed with him to read so he won't miss out on it


• His sense of humor - we love being silly together and I love how he's learning to laugh at himself


• His desire to protect me and how he still insists he will marry me one day


• How he is growing in joyful obedience and self-control


• His admiration for men and how he is drawn to those he sees serving and caring for others


• How he is growing in repenting quickly, specifically and sincerely


• That he loves to rock - he shares my appreciation of music and amuses me with his taste. He has liked the band Skillet since he was about 3 years old. He told me the other day that he looked like Elvis when I gave him white athletic pants to wear (they did not have sequins down the side, just a green stripe! I have no clue how he knows about Elvis!) He heard a bit of Stayin Alive this morning by the BeeGees as I flipped past the oldies station and he said, "This is disco." I asked him where he learned that. He said, "I just figured it out."
  

Xavier wanted me to get a video of us singing Amazing Grace together because I've been trying to teach him this harmony. Sometimes he gets it, sometimes he just makes something else up (hey, he's his momma's son!) I told him he could cover his ears so he won't hear me singing my part when we do the harmony if it would help him. You'll see that it didn't work. He still sang something else, but it was funny. I'm embarassed to post this with me singing as well, but you've probably all heard me sing anyway.

Here we are getting ready for his party on Saturday and rather than sucking down whipped cream he asks me to squirt his mouth full of deviled egg filling. He is very serious about his deviled eggs.

This was Xavier's special birthday dinner on Wednesday since he'll be eating w/ Daddy on Thursday

Thank you Lord for Xavier Ryan Speedy Monkey Indiana Jones and thank you for calling me out of death and into life through your work on the cross!