12. Years. Old.

Do you ever have those moments where you just cannot believe you're actually an adult?  You go back to your childhood when you would dream about the future and wonder if you would ever get to that point in life.  And then, since you have reached that point in life, you are still in disbelief that you are there?

I have a 12-year-old son.  J had a birthday yesterday.  I just cannot wrap my head around that!  He was born a few months before 9/11.  We moved to Kansas when he was just weeks old.  New baby, new job, new city, new state....talk about completely life-changing!

Well, life has been crazy busy.  As I looked on the calendar, I was having a hard time finding a day we could even celebrate his birthday.

After K's birthday, Seth's grandma passed away.  So, the following Thursday, we drove to Topeka and spent the night with some friends.  Our kids all got along great!  Early Friday morning, I took Seth to the Kansas City airport where he left to go to Idaho for the funeral.

On Sunday, J and K went to Kansas Bible Camp.  It was just Little A and me for a few days.  We went swimming.  We helped get things ready for VBS.  We enjoyed special treats.  We just had some good 1-on-1 time.

On Wednesday, we were going to leave for Kansas City at 9:30 in order to pick up Seth at 1:45.  However, his flight was delayed.  And delayed.  And delayed.  We left at about 3:30 and we still had some time to kill.  We wandered around Cabelas for about an hour.  Seth's plane landed around 8:45 Wednesday evening.  We picked him up and didn't get home until after midnight.  Seth had been awake for nearly 28 hours.

Friday, Little A and I traveled to the camp to pick up J and K.  They had a great week.  By this time, I knew we had just a few hours available to celebrate J's birthday so I told him the plan.

Saturday morning, I went to a town about an hour away for a Thirty-One meeting.  The local meetings were both during VBS so I had to find a different one.  I came home about 1:00 and we had lunch.  Then, it was time for a birthday celebration!

I got the presents and he opened his gifts and cards.

 

We sang "Happy Birthday" and he blew out all 12 candles on his cake.  I didn't realize how long it took to light 12 candles!  lol  However, since lunch was so late and supper would be soon, we saved the cake and ice cream for later.

 

 

For supper, J wanted to eat at HuHot.  Since we couldn't have that option on his actual birthday, his Saturday celebration continued there.  HuHot is a family favorite.

 

Then, I had to go to our VBS skit dress rehearsal.  VBS was right around the corner.  It was fun seeing everyone's costumes.  And we ended sooner than I had anticipated, which means the skit was coming along very well!

 

Once I got home, we enjoyed the cake and ice cream.

 

Sunday, we got to sing to him at church.  Then, I stayed all afternoon for our VBS training.  Of course we have another skit practice immediately following the training.  This is just to clean it up, fix the details, make sure everyone is in his/her proper place on stage.  Since everyone was doing so well this year, it didn't take very long.  I was exhausted when I got home.

 

Monday was his actual birthday.  It was his day, his choosing of what to do until 4:30.  He received a package in the mail, so he did get to open one gift on his birthday.  It was from the Piearson family, his aunt, uncle, and cousins in Iowa.

 

 

 

We had shells and cheese for lunch.  He played the Xbox most of the morning.  Then at 2:00, he decided to go swimming.  So, we quickly got ready and headed to the pool.

 

It was a short swim, but it was fun.  Both J and K jumped off the diving board.  And all of us tried to teach Little A how to swim better.  We left her life jacket at family camp last summer so I really want her to learn how to swim soon.  She does fine in the shallow end on her own.  She knows how to swim...she just doesn't know how to keep herself above water.

 

After swimming, we rushed home to change and headed back out for our first night of VBS.

 

Seth was going to have to work in the same town I went to on Saturday.  But he had to be there by 4 this morning.  At first, he was staying in a hotel, but then decided to sleep in his own bed and leave here around 2:30.  So, he was home and got to wish J a happy birthday.  That was a nice surprise.  :)

 

So, even though life has been busy and we've  put a lot of miles on the van this week, I think J enjoyed turning 12.  He is growing up into a very nice young man who loves the Lord.

 

 

Happy birthday, J!  I love you!