Joseph is 9 Today

Happy Birthday, Joseph! Here are the Top Nine Things I Love About Joseph: #9 His snuggles - He was, bar none, the snuggliest baby ever. My sister told me that he would grow out of it as he got older, but so far, he hasn't. He doesn't have the need to snuggle as often, but he still requests some quiet snuggle time with his mom at least once a day. I am one lucky mom!!! #8 His spirituality - Joseph has a spiritual depth to him. Some of the things he says, and some of the questions he asks are profound. Sometimes it is as if he can remember little snippets of what life was like before he came to the earth. #7 His kindness to babies and toddlers - He is so soft with them, in word and in touch, and in return babies and toddlers adore Joseph. They love to stroke the hair on his head, and they are soft with him too (while they're slapping at the other kids). It's quite amazing to watch. #6 How happy he is when he's baking - He loves to cook. Baking cakes is his specialty, but he is more than willing to help roll out tortillas, or stir up some lemonade. He loves working in the kitchen, and often comes up with some really interesting snacks. The best part though, is to see how happy he is while he's cooking. He says he wants to be a wrecking ball operator when he grows up, but who knows, maybe he'll be a chef? #5 His voice when he sings - At church he won't sing out. With the family, he won't sing out. But every now and then, especially if Jalen Andrew is crying in the van, Joseph will just start singing. Usually he sings Families Can Be Together Forever, and his voice is angelic. I wish he would sing more often, and loud enough that others could enjoy it too. But I guess it's one of the perks I get, for being his Mom, that I get to hear his sweet voice singing whenever the fancy hits him. #4 His voice on the phone - I don't notice it when I'm talking to him around the house, but when I talk to him on the phone, I am always surprised at how young he sounds. He has the sweetest voice. When I'm feeling down, I often listen to a message that he left me on the phone, "Hi, Mom. I just wanted to tell you how much I love you. And Daddy. Bye." Sweet, sweet, sweet. #3 The way he looks in a suit - As a toddler, he insisted on wearing a vest, tie, and suit coat to church each week. He wanted to look like his dad, and dressed up like that, he did. He still dresses like that each week for church, and he looks so handsome. A missionary in training. #2 What a good sport he is - He looks incredible in uniform. He is good at listening to his coach. He has skill out on the field. But the thing that impresses me the most is what a good sport he is - how he spends time with a fellow cub scout, teaching him how to play sports, how he would like to play sports on recess but doesn't appreciate the attitude there on the field, and instead chooses to play with kids who aren't generally accepted in the games. He likes games to be fair and honest, and he wants everyone to be included. #1 That he's our son - Before I knew who he was, or where he was, or anything about him, I was getting strong impressions that there was a boy that needed to join our family. I would buy baby boy clothes and then realize that I didn't have a boy. I would set an extra plate at the table and then realize that I only had 2 children. Always I could feel him, desiring, yearning, worrying about how he would get to our family. Thank you, Shana! Thank you so much for getting Joseph to us. We love him so much. We are so grateful to have him as our son! We love our Joseph! Love, Mom *************************************************** Happy Birthday, Joseph, our big 9 year-old! We celebrated his birthday a day early, and boy has he been excited for this day to come. He's felt lousy, with the flu, but still insisted on celebrating his birthday even though he didn't feel well. When we talked about it, his big concern was how he was going to give Grandma and Grandpa a thank you hug because he didn't want to get them sick. He finally decided that he could just blow them a kiss. He was also worried about blowing out the candles on his cake (great way to spread the germs), and so he solemnly asked me if I would blow out the candles for him. Instead, we put his 9 candles in his bowl of ice cream, and let him blow them out.