So, I am so incredibly behind on my birthday post for Shepherd. It seems like it was Thanksgiving one weekend (which I hosted!), Shep’s birthday the next, and Christmas the day after his party. I had several photography gigs, and preparing those photos take priority over my personal photos, so now that I am done with jobs, I can get to my stuff!

Shepherd is now 4. And has been for 1 month and 1 day. For his birthday, he wanted to play my Nintendo DS, eat at Chili’s, and go to Safeway.

His party this year was a “Lorax” party. We ate pancakes and marshmallows because well, they eat them in the movie. My kids tend to choose themes that don’t yet exist, so I have to get creative.

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Shepherd Gabriel was born on December 9th, 2008 at 2:26 pm. He was 19 inches long and he weighed 8 pounds, 1 ounce. He was short and fat. When he first entered the world, he didn’t breathe for what probably wasn’t longer than 15 seconds, but it seemed like minutes… But when he finally did start crying, he was loud. And so angry. It completely caught me off guard. Stephen is a calm, well-composed man, and I assumed a son of his would be the same. And his name, Shepherd, conjured up images of a peaceful comforter, full of wisdom, walking through a pasture in hand made sandals. But then this little grumpy baby, Shepherd, started screaming. He had the meanest little face, and he pretty much hated not being in my womb. For days. Weeks. Months. I used to tell Stephen that if I pulled the petals off of a flower and recited, “he loves me, he loves me not…” that it would surely land on not.

Then one day, when he was about 3 months old, I had a breakthrough with this little Benjamin Button. He was looking over his daddy’s shoulder, and I went behind Stephen to kiss my little grump. He stared at me for a second, got this tiny shy smile, and pushed his face into Stephen. Then he peeked up at me, smiled, and shyly hid his face. This went on for a little bit, and I was practically in tears. “HE LOVES ME!! He FINALLY loves me!!” It was like he finally noticed me. I truly believe he fell in love with me at that very moment. I felt it. From that moment on, our late blooming bond formed. It grew and strengthened, and he actually started to become a happier, more content baby.

I think the later bond (which has been hard for me to admit) caused me to baby him for a lot longer. For example, he was potty trained, finally in a big boy, and binky free all  in the same week. Like, last spring… He has a speech disorder, so he needed an interpreter, Lilli. He went to speech therapy until about September. He loved it. We prayed that his speech would improve everyday. He broke our hearts praying that he “could talk like a big boy.” His prayers were answered. After only 26 sessions, he had met and exceeded all of his therapists goals, and she dismissed him months early than the expected date.

Shepherd is living up to his name. Sure, he has grumpy days, whiney days, and naughty days when he needs a time out or two four. But I am honored to have him as my son. I am beyond blessed to have a son who takes after my husband, who years ago, I found so respectable that I told my then boyfriend, “I hope my future sons are like Stephen,” to which he replied, “Me too.” Little did I know, that I would actually HAVE Stephen’s babies…

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Shepherd, I pray that the Lord blesses you. Not in a prosperous, riches and glory sort of way, but in ways that will in turn bless HIM, and glorify and build His Kingdom. I pray for boldness, that you will stand firm on truth without fear or compromise. I pray that you will understand grace at an early age, so that you will always know the peace of God and never have to ”climb to the moon on a rope of sand.” ** I pray that you will be humble and mindful of others, always. That you will give of yourself and have the heart of Jesus.

I love you.

Love, Momma.

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**“Works! Works! A man get to heaven by works! I would as soon think of climbing to the moon on a rope of sand!” Reverend George Whitefield- September 29, 1770.

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