Our Sam

Well, Sam had a birthday again, and now he's much taller than I am.

I hardly know who he is!

I have to tell myself--that tall, handsome boy is my son!

But yeah, even tall handsome boys have to put up with little brothers!

Carrie made this delectable cake with peanut butter cups in the middle layer of icing.

And for his birthday supper we used these leftover Thanksgiving plates that I'd gotten last year at Hobby Lobby. I love plates with something meaningful on them.

Sam is a good boy, even if, through the years, he's had to live through true and untrue accusations and criticisms about anything from pulling someone's hair to supposedly making fun of another someone for being fat. 

He knows how to take responsibility for what he actually did,

and he knows how to just simply tell the truth about what actually happened when he is accused of things he did not do. 

He knows how to come to his mother and ask forgiveness for what he's done wrong that his mom didn't even know about. 

And nothing can make me prouder of my son than that.

Nothing can make me prouder of my children than for them to be humble.

I would rather my children make mistakes and do some wrong things and be humble and honest about it,

than to be frantic to be seen as perfect and end up being self-righteous and unable to take responsibility for anything wrong they do.

I would rather they accept criticism cheerfully than go around always finding fault with the other person and being masters at putting others on guilt trips.

I would rather they take the blame than be always dishing it out and ending up playing blame games in order to put down and manipulate others. 

I would rather they be more concerned about their heart than about their head.

And I would rather they be more concerned about their attitude than about their image.

And so my oldest son grows up and is almost graduated, and he makes me humble and proud all at once, and only other mothers and dads can quite understand that!