Atticus,
You are officially a teenager, and that, my friend, does NOT scare the snot out of me. Let me tell you why. You're not just any teenager. Sure, if we're talking your average, run-of-the-mill, teen on the street, I'm with MCR, God have mercy. But when I look at you, I don't worry. You're the right kind of dangerous. You are not the kind of teen good people need to be afraid of, but the kind of teen evildoers need to steer clear of. You are a good kid and a good man, a good Christian, a good son, a good friend, a good brother, a good graphic novelist, a good builder, a good breaker, and a good many other things. I love you and am proud of you. I like being your dad and like having you as my son. I love having you as a brother in Christ and look forward to watching God bless you with all that He has given me: a good wife, good kids and a good life.
You are a great graphic novelist. You capture action really well. You always have. From an early age, you could communicate movement through your drawings. You understand how things move and what it should look like. You can make an inanimate picture on the page move in the mind. You apply that same skill to engineering all kinds of lego inventions. You can see how it should look and reverse engineer it back into its parts. You bring things together. You build it in your mind and are able to then build it with materials. You have the clear, creative spark of one made in the image of His Creator.
In keeping with this, you enjoy watching Lego and plastic army men stop motion videos on YouTube. These take an existing area of interest, war, and combine it with the engineering spirit I was just mentioning. You like to watch the stop motion videos and think about how they were made. You enjoy the final product and thinking through the process of what it took to produce it.
You love justice and you hate injustice. You hate seeing someone get away with a crime and love watching those attempting to get away with something get caught in their attempts. You love watching Instant Karma Police videos on YouTube as well as watching Car Crashes Time.
You like eating. And when you're not eating, you're thinking about eating. And when you're not thinking about eating, you're sleeping. You are growing taller and stronger everyday. All that food is fueling your brains and your body as they both grow in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and everyone who knows you. You love spicy food. You put hot sauce on just about everything and you recently discovered that the hottest wings B-dubs offers is no match for you. I can't wait to find your heat ceiling, if you have one. It is fun watching you delight in it. You genuinely enjoy eating spicy food and it is a joy to watch someone you love enjoying themselves so much.
You are a great big brother. Your younger siblings all adore you. Juniper loves spending time with you and you are a great role model for her. You are going to be a great dad. You are already a great brother.
You are a HUGE help around the house. As you grow, your responsibilities have grown. You now know how to mow the lawn on your own. You can be trusted to go out and get it done without any help and it always looks great. It's fun watching you enjoy that. You like being outside and mowing and sweating and showering when done. You feel accomplished and you should. You're doing awesome and it is an enormous help to us. You love helping out at the Amish and load up the milk at Ora and Marie's without complaint. You enjoy having loads placed on your shoulders and responsibilities put onto your plate… along with more food!
You read your Bible every night before bed and copy down the Proverb-of-the-day picture I do in your notebook. You often incorporate your nightly reading into your prayer before bed and it is a joy to watch you learning from and growing in the same Word that I love. As we both read and believe and apply it, we will only grow closer as we grow in Him together.
You like sitting in the front seat of the van and make sure to take advantage of every opportunity you have to do so. You sit quietly and watch out the window. You are a quiet kid. You like to look and think. But you are learning how to share your thoughts and how to let people in to that inner life that you spend so much time cultivating.
I love who you are and who you are becoming. I am so proud of you.
Happy 13th Birthday, Atticus. I love you so much. I always have... and I always will. No matter what. Forever and ever. Amen!
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