Happy Birthday, Isaac

Isaac turned 8 today. It is so hard to believe that I am the mother of an 8 year old.
When Isaac was a toddler, I remember looking at him and, every once in a while, I thought I could see a glimpse of what he would look like as a grown man. But I never saw glimpses of the school-age time. I couldn't imagine what it would be like keeping up with homework and science projects and helping him navigate his ever-widening world of relationships. Now, here we are, right in the thick of it.

To celebrate his birthday, Isaac invited 3 friends over to spend the night (our first sleep over party). So he and I picked everyone up by 4 and headed to the bowling alley where my folks were waiting with Jaylie and Ethan. Eric got off early and met us there. We had a blast. Isaac had the high score with a whopping 102 and I lost. My score was pretty bad. I got a lot of gutter balls. None of the kids made gutters, however, because they put the gutter guard things up when kids under 12 have their turn. I guess they figure adults ought to be able to keep in between the gutters more often than not...they figured wrong in my case.

After the bowling we headed back to the house to grill burgers while the kids played. Everything was moving along real well until I went into the dining room and saw Gretchen (you know, the dog that I wanted for a long time and pleaded for and have tried to be so good with...that dog) sitting in a chair with her paws on the table, eating Isaac's birthday cake. It was half gone. Her belly was gigantic. I tossed (literally) her outside and threw the rest away then hustled off to the store to see what I could do. Well, it was 6:28 and the bakery counter had closed at 6 so I had no choice but to get one of the ready made things. I wound up purchasing a cookie cake (which Isaac loves) but it was decorated with red and green icing and said, "Merry Christmas" on it. I also bought another cake mix and frosting to redo his birthday cake that I had made. I got home and told him what happened. Isaac handled it fine, after all, what he mostly cares about is that he gets to blow out candles and eat something sweet. Eric smeared the red Merry Christmas words around to make a red background and then I wrote Happy Birthday with green icing on it. All was not lost. Gretchen laid around the rest of the night looking miserable. Serves her right, if you ask me.

The boys were all asleep by midnight and were up by 6:30 or so. Isaac had a great time and I think all of his friends did too. He has been blessed to have so many boys to be friends with and it is one of things I am really grateful for as well.

Eric and I couldn't be more proud of Isaac. We are thankful that God chose us to be his parents. We know the Lord has great plans for him.

Happy Birthday, Son.