February Twenty-Third

Happy Birthday Mitchell David!

Nineteen years ago today, you were born ... our first son. The boy that would save our family name! With Dave being the only male on his paternal side, in his generation, it fell to us to produce at least one male, and with you & Kevin we have an heir and a spare!

From a very young age you proved that you would not sit still for long, and would push us to "keep up" as you explored and investigated all that was around you!

At about age 6 I followed you upstairs to your room one hot summer day, because I wanted to know what you were doing with that arm full of extension cords. I discovered that you had placed 4 oscillating fans outside your window on the flat roof. You told me you wanted to cool off the outside!

You have created some really amazing machines through the years ... this one you built with the back 1/2 of a go-cart, a John Deere tractor seat, the handle bars off your outgrown bicycle, and who knows where those front wheels came from. The cool thing about this machine was that in the winter you could take off the front wheels and replace it with an old snowmobile ski that you found in the barn (or stole off an existing snowmobile). All this with the welder we bought you for your 14th birthday!

You introduced us to the fine "sport" of 4-H Animals. Your choice, with great influence from Aunt Julie, was poultry. In your first year you captured the Grand Champion ribbon of the meat pens with your gigantic Roaster that you raised. We couldn't figure out why there were so many flies in the chicken barn here at home, until we found out that you were feeding the chickens corn syrup! You misunderstood the 4-H leader when she said to feed your chickens corn oil to help fatten them up! I'm sure your chickens loved you more than anything!

Age 16 ... big trucks, mud, and fun! Lots of prayers and grey hairs for Mom!

Sad to say that your zest for life didn't leave you free from injury. You broke your leg skiing when you were in Kindergarten and at age 11 you received stitches in your finger from a cut from a stanley knife. But this injury at age 16 was the most traumatic. Your experiment with bottle rockets and muzzle loader powder just didn't go too well! You suffered severe burns to your arm and fried your hair (thus the haircut), but God spared your face and your eyesight! As your Mother, I wanted to take your pain as my own. It was a journey of recovery, but miracles allowed the journey to be shortened to about 4 weeks when the Doc assured us it would be a 2-3 month process.

And about the bottle rockets ... you should've learned your lesson when you were 12 and lit your desk on fire after dropping sparks into the drawer that hid your stash of bottle rockets. Good thing you shoved that burning desk out of your second floor bedroom window, smashing onto the ground below! The poor babysitter didn't know what was going on when she saw you running through the house with a fire extinguisher!

Your knowledge of engines astounds me! Here is a rebuilt and freshly painted engine that your friends are pretending to have helped with. :) Dad and I are proud of the different awards you have won through your years of schooling!

I followed you into town one day this past fall, we were meeting for breakfast. As we entered downtown, where there isn't much room on the two-lane highway, we met one of those dreaded double wides! You politely pulled over to let the double wide pass and for some reason it really tickled my funny bone. Luckily I had my camera with me and was able to take a quick shot. Perhaps I find these kinds of things humurous because your big red truck screams "big & bad, get out of my way", but inside is a driver who is kind, patient, caring and compassionate. That might also be why you have managed to get by with many warnings, and only recently received a speeding ticket - much to Aunt Sarah's enjoyment! I'm convinced that the burly policeman marches up to the window of your truck and is bewildered to find you with your bright smile behind the wheel of that big red truck, and in his confusion he simply gives you a verbal warning. Like you tell Aunt Sarah ... "you just have to be nice to them"!

I am proud of the young man you have become! I am thankful that you are enjoying your first year at college and have been able to exceed beyond ...

I am forever grateful that you are always willing to help me out around the house. Taking off screen doors, chopping wood, shooting wild animals that get into our barns, helping with big 4-H horses, entertaining your younger sibs, fixing my Gator, on and on ....

My continuous prayer is that God will always wrap you in His arms of protection. That you will strive to become all that He intends.

Happy Birthday to my almost grown-up and handsome son! I Love You!