To My Son

My darling Westin,

Today is your first birthday! Everyone warned me this year would fly by, but there was no way for me to prepare for how fast it really did go! You have been a constant joy in my life and I am so thankful I was blessed to become your mommy.

You have taught me more in these twelve short months than I will probably ever teach you in your lifetime. I've learned so much about you, about myself, about life in general, and most importantly, about our Lord.

I've learned that I CAN function on less than a perfect eight hours of straight-through sleep! I've learned it is possible to physically hurt when someone else hurts, and that there is no greater joy than watching your child's delight. I love to watch you learn and discover! You are such a bright little boy and I know the joy of discovery has just begun for you. I hope and pray that you and I have many, many years to discover new things together. You are so active! You love to do things fast, which you get from your Daddy. I know one day soon when you decide to give the walking thing a chance, you're going to be ALWAYS running!

The most important thing you've taught me this year is a deeper understanding of the love our mighty God has for us. There truly is no way to begin to comprehend the depth of the love He had to have for us to be willing to watch His only son suffer and die for us. The last thing I can ever imagine myself doing is giving you up. I can't imagine what kind of a love it would take for me to begin to imagine watching you suffer the way our Lord did, knowing that I could take your suffering away at any time. Westin, our God is so mighty and so faithful. He loves us so deeply and my most earnest desire is that you will choose to serve Him with your precious life and that someday after our life on this earth is over we will be able to spend eternity together, praising our awesome God. I pray that you will grow strong and healthy and that you will have an unquenchable desire for our Lord. I pray that you will never be satisfied with your understanding, but will continue to seek Him and to find Him.

I love you so much, Westin! I'm thankful for every moment of the past year that we've been able to spend together. I wouldn't trade one sleepless night or one colicy day! I'm looking forward to each new phase of your life and each new memory we make together. Happy Birthday, sunshine!

Love,
Mommy

PS-- we're partyin' tomorrow... will post pics & recap...