3 days to 5....

The big day is getting close now. Only 3 more "sleeps" until our little boy turns 5. Hard to believe that it can go by as fast as it does. I decided when there were 10 days to go until Ky's birthday that I would take the next 10 days and walk down memory lane. I would pick 1 memory each day and record it here on our family blog. This has been such a fun process. I have really enjoyed it.

Today I will be sharing memory #3....

As a mom of 3 boys I take it very seriouly that I am raising up soon to be men. Don't get me wrong, I do not want them to grow up too fast and I want to cherish these days of small but I know that despite how hard I try to prevent it, they are still going to grow up. I want them to be good men, Godly men. I want them to be the leaders of their households and to be gentleman. The list goes on and on for what I hope they become. I am so thankful that God has given my boys such a wonderful father to model these Godly traits to these sweet princes of mine. He does a phenomenal job and I know we are blessed.

But I know I have my role too. I have to, in so many ways, allow them to be the young men that God has called them to be right now. Since their baby sister and I are the main girls in their lives we have to allow them to treat us as God has called them to and they essentially get to practice on us so that when they find the bride that God has called them to share their life with they are really good at it. :-)

Often times this means allowing my 4 year old to hold the door open for me even if it is easier to get it myself. Allowing all 3 boys to help hall the groceries in even if it means that my 3 year old swishes the bread a bit. What I have learned from being a boys mom exclusively up until 5 months ago is that these traits, this behavior, comes very naturally if you let it. They will race to get the door for me and they go out of their way to meet their baby sister's needs. It has really been quite amazing to watch.

With that all being said, this reminds me of one of my favorite memories of my soon to be 5 year old. We were at the same family camp I wrote about a couple of days ago. There was another family there that had three girls. We were all at the main lodge area when it was time to turn in for the night. These 3 girls and their mom were going to be walking in the dark to their cabin which was one of the furthest away. They also had never been to the camp before so they weren't as familiar with things as we were. Ky immediatley saw the need and at 3 1/2 he offered to walk them to their cabin. It was so adorable! Not only did he walk them to their cabin but he walked them to their very front door and opened it for them! It was so adorable. I will never forget that night and my little gentleman.

4 Days to 5...

Only 4 days to go until my 2nd son's 5th birthday and to celebrate this milestone I have been recording my top 10 memories of him. So here is memory #4....

With the recent weather turning on the cold side I can't help but to be reminded of his birth. My husband had just recently been transferred to Alaska where we packed up all of our belongings and with me being enormously pregnant we made the very long move. We had just moved into our house on October 7th and I was due on October 31st. Needless to say I was frantically trying to get everything unpacked and settled before our precious boy decided to arrive.

In the morning hours of October 30th I informed my hubbie that it was indeed time to go. We got all of our stuff together and our oldest son in the car and headed to the hospital. On the way in I have the bright idea that Jason should stop at Wal-matt and buy some magazines because you never really know how long these things will really take and I didn't want him to get bored. So he stopped. While he was in the store I had 3 massive contractions. I kept thinking what is taking so long. When I looked at the clock he had been in there less than 10 minutes. I then informed Jason that we should probably skip taking our oldest son to the babysitters and just go right to the hospital.

Upon arriving at the hospital I knew things were serious. They got me in a room and then left. I immediately told Jason to get a doctor in the room. He had to call 4 tines to get the doctor into the room. During that time our babysitter also came and got Cale. This proved to be in just in time. Within 10 minutes I delivered Ky. They had no
time for any kind of monitors or an I.V. He just arrived.

October 30, 2005 ~ 8lbs. 4oz. ~ 21 inches long

5 days to 5....

The past 5 days I have been walking down memory lane remembering all of the wonderful things about our middle son, Ky, who is about to be 5 in 5 days. Be sure to go back and read days 10-6 if you have time.

For memory #5....

I keep remembering Ky as a little guy. Born Kylind James, named after two pastors (two of his great-grandpas) and boy was he awnery! This increased drastically after his baby brother was born.

Ky has these big blue eyes and at the time he had these amazing ringlets. I didn't cut his hair for the longest time because I didn't want them to go away which I got a ton of grief for because everyone said he looked like a girl. But they were so cute!

I am going to try to post some pictures of him when he was just a little guy. I know you will get as much of a kick out of them as I did. :-)

6 Days to 5....

For the past few days I have been recording memories of my soon to be 5 year old son, Ky, in honor of his upcoming birthday in 6 days. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed this process. I love remembering all of the fun and wonderful things my son has done to touch our lives in the past 5 years. It has also inspired me to do something similar for my other children in the very near future so stay tuned....

As for memory #6....

Two summers ago we attended a family camp called Sonrise Family Ranch. If you have never been there GO! They have the most amazing ministry there and we make a point to get away to this amazing place at least once a year. It has been life changing for our family.

Anyway, we were attending another family camp and I noticed there were a couple of older boys there with their dad. Before I knew it, and not surprisingly, Ky had buddied himself up to the oldest boy, Josh. Well Josh was this kind of tough guy on the outside but as I began to watch how he dealt with my then 3 1/2 year old there was a gentleness about him. This 17 year old
boy had the patience of Job and spent hours fishing and giving him boat rides and whatever else Ky would dream up. I watched and studied from afar and really began to see Josh's heart through it all.

Ky, we have found, is a really good judge of charecter. I began to mention my observations to my husband who is a youth pastor. I remember telling him - there is just something about that young man. So Jason started to watch too. When we finished the family camp Josh started attending our youth group and we would invite him over to our house for other activities with the other youth group kids. More often then not I would find Josh hanging out with our boys playing video games or bouncing on our trampoline. Jason ended up inviting him on our mission trip just a few weeks later and he agreed to go. The first night we were there Josh gave his life to Christ. It was overwhelming to be a part of. Jason then had the honor of baptizing him in the ocean. It was truly amazing.

When I think about it all I know that God used Ky to touch that young man's heart. He used Ky to make sure my husband and I were paying attention. I don't know if we would have done things any differently if it weren't for Ky but I am glad we don't have to find out because I think it turned out pretty great

I don't know if Josh will ever read this but I hope he knows how much he means to our family. We love you "Big Josh" (as Ky affectionately calls him.) :-)

7 Days to 5....

My middle son will be celebrating his 5th birthday in 7 days. I still can't believe he is going to be 5! Time just seems to fly. In honor of this special day I have been recording some of my favorite memories of this precious son God gave me. I actually thought this was going to be easy but it isn't. It is hard to pick what to write about actually.

Today however, I am remembering the little things. These are the things that I want to hold on to and cherish. Like the fact that Ky refuses to wear button-up shirts except to church. He calls them "church shirts." If we put one on him during the week for something he always looks at me with those big blue eyes and asks, "Are we going to church today mom?"

Watching a movie with Ky is hysterical. It doesn't matter how many times he has seen the movie he always asks, "What's gonna happen next?"

If you ask for a kiss he will reluctantly offer you his forehead or cheek.

He loves fresh coconut.

He is afraid of the dark and usually always is the one that comes and gets into bed with us in the middle of the night.

He is completely warm blooded like his dad.

He loves his friends.

He cleans his room without us asking a lot.

His favorite drink is milk or "white milk" as he calls it.

There are lots of little things I just adore and somehow they just don't seem to be little things. In fact, they are just Ky.

Just 7 more "sleeps" my son until your big day. I know you can't wait. :-)

8 Days to 5....

My son Ky will be 5 in 8 days. I thought it would be fun to record a memory that I have of my sweet son each day of these last few days until his birthday. Here is my #8 memory....

#8....
Ky is this rough and tough little boy on the inside but has a very sensitive heart on the inside. As apart of this tender heart of his he absolutley loves animals. We were leaving our house the other day and he spotted a black kitty in a field across from our house. He asked me if that kitty was lost and if it had a home. I told him I didn't know. He was convinced that we needed to adopt that kitty ourselves and was trying to convince me of that fact ss well. When I think of this memory I can't help but to smile as it does truly show my son's heart and how compassionate he really is....

Stay tuned tomorrow for memory #7!

9 Days to 5....

My 2nd son Ky will be 5 in 9 days. To honor this milestone I have decided to write about my 10 favorite memories. When I started this I had no idea it would be so difficult to pick my 10 favorite memories. But I will give it a try.

Here is #9....
Ky was born at 8lbs. 4oz. and he continued to gain 3 pounds a month for several months. At 3 months he was 16lbs! He was such a rolly poley little thing. I remember his doctor telling me that Ky could go without his 2 a.m. feeding. My response - yeah, I will call you and you can explain that to him!

They also said he would be a late roller, crawler, and walker because he was so chunky. This was the furthest thing from the truth. He rolled at 3 months, sat up on his own at 5 months, crawled at around 6 months. He never walked, just took off running at 11 months.

There are so many great memories of Ky as a little guy! Stay tuned tomorrow for memory #8!