Happy Birthday to my sweet Eli! I cannot believe you are 2…but you are definitely the coolest two year old little dude I’ve ever known. You are such a blessing and a gift to our family! When we brought you home from Ethiopia 7 months ago, I could never have imagined what a blessing it would be to have you as our son and Emma’s brother. You have brought so much laughter and happiness to our family. I am so grateful to say that we will never be the same since you joined our family. God chose us for you and you for us. The gospel itself is a story of adoption and God’s grace abounds in the fact that before you were ever born He planned for you to be in our family. Our family would be incomplete without you! Even if we could choose all over again…we would choose you again, every single day!
Sometimes I think about some of the things that we missed about you being a little baby and what your first birthday must have been like. Thinking about that makes me sad because we missed those special moments with you. Then, I remember all of the special memories we have made in the past 7 months and all of the awesome adventures we will still have for the rest of eternity and I realize that I am so happy that you will always celebrate your birthday as a Strange kid for the rest of your life! Eli you are such a joy to Mommy, Daddy, and Emma. We love you more than you could ever imagine…we can’t even describe all the different ways that we love you!
Eli, you are our little adventurer. If it can be climbed on or jumped off of…you are all over it! You love to throw all kinds of balls with us and your favorite way to get around is to run. On pretty days, we love to go for family bike rides and you ride in your seat on Daddy’s bike. Some days you also like to try out your tricycle that Emma proudly handed down to you. Emma turned 6 a few weeks before you turned 2. You think that you are 6 and you try to do everything that your big sister does. Emma loves you like crazy and has from the moment she laid eyes on you in May. When she and I are driving back and forth to school each day, she always wants to talk about you and all the cool things you are doing. You always light up right when she walks in the room. From the very beginning, Emma wanted you to know that she would take good care of you forever.
You love to give hugs and kisses. You also love to giggle like crazy when you are pretending that you don’t want to give hugs and kisses. This time of year you have been wearing your footed pajamas and you are just way too cute! So far you aren’t too much of a snuggler unless you are completely asleep. You are too busy all the time when you are awake to have time to stop and snuggle! You also love playing in the bathtub and would stay in there all night if we let you! In the summertime you love to play in the pool, in the lake, and on the beach. When we took you to the beach this past summer, you tried to eat all of the sand!
You have awesome grandparents and lots of special aunts, uncles, and cousins. Your favorite cousin right now seems to be Nora since she is just about your age. Her twin brothers were born two months ago and I am sure you will love growing up with James and Simon too! You also have a lot of friends at North Cobb Christian School, Cedarcrest Church and your school…Primrose. You love running errands with us and love to look at things at the store. When we eat, you always clean your plate and you are growing so fast! You got to bed at 7:30 each evening and usually sleep right at 12 hours each night…you even nap for up to 3 hours on the weekends after playing hard! Your favorite part of getting dressed everyday is putting on your shoes…you love your shoes!
Eli, God has amazing plans for your life. Each day when we sit down to eat, we all hold hands and pray together. As we are praying, I pray that God will raise you to be a mighty man of God that will do amazing things for His glory and the good of others. It is an honor and a privilege to be your mommy and I can’t wait to see what adventures lie ahead for you little guy! I love you!
Happy 2nd Birthday Eli!
Love always,
Mommy