My Austin is turning 20 today and we celebrate his birthday in SoCal this year. Last year he was at Messiah College, 3000+ miles away from us. I can hardly remember those days. I guess I do have a short memory which can work to my advantage.........
I remember specifically the day he was born. Doug was working feverishly to complete a basement we were putting in, in a very small house we lived in. I was having contractions and had two young kids to care for on 10/25, while he worked. We left the house, after much urging on my part, knowing the time was drawing close for delivery
It was the end of October when we brought our little peanut home, and had no heat in the house. I didn't realize how cold it actually was because I was extra warm when pregnant........ needless to say, the work accelerated to complete this long project we ventured into.
Since those days, Austin continually challenges me in ways I don't feel ready for, as he is my most expressive, impressionable, and emotionally charged child:) He brings passion and purpose to whatever he has in his heart to do at the moment, which can change any minute, LOL
He's always taken to things I least expected and hobbies that require a great amount of patience I didn't know he had:) Things like fishing, hunting, painting, and reading........ actually most things he learned from his dad........... but thank God he gets his rhythm from ME
He has, as we have discovered in the last 3 years, an amazing gift of expressing himself in ways that others can connect to, whether in writing, playing or composing poetic and musical lyrics. His future ambitions are coming together as we find a way to combine his natural talent with his nurturing heart.........
As we remain committed to each other in this process of recovery, I look back to where we came from in a small, little cottage continually under construction in the woods of Pennsylvania. Those were times of building character for me...... and things I never would have expected I would have to do......
If those days of character building in me can serve as stepping stones for my son's future, then Austin will know "the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord," Your verse for this year..............Psalms 37:23
I love you.