I am officially the mother of a TEENAGER!!

At 12:29 am this morning I was the mother of a teenager. Wil is 13 years old today. It's so hard to believe. Where has all the time gone? He is such a great kid!

I grew up with two sisters. My oldest sister had a daughter 6 years before Wil was born. My dad began thinking his chances for a grandson were slim. (He has been blessed with 3 more grandsons since Wil.) When he was born after a very long and difficult labor, we couldn't have been more excited, especially my dad. He even shares my dad's first name, William. When Wade and I brought him home, we had no idea what we were supposed to do with him. I had many conversations with my mother over the phone about why he was crying! It usually was because of obvious things, like hunger or being sleepy! He was actually an easy baby and slept very well. I did not work for the first year of his life. He and I spent our days "talking" and napping and playing. What a great time! I wouldn't trade that year for anything. There is something special about a boy and his mother! Whatever "it" is, we share it without question.

Time has flown by with many adventures for Wil....climbing into the washing machine when it was agitating(no broken bones!), locking my mother-in-law out of the house and refusing to open the door when he was 3(she had to call me at school-20 miles away-to come unlock the door), and almost cutting off the end of his index finger in a freak accident(I passed out. He handled it fine.) He then went to school, went through speech therapy, for what we thought was cute, got glasses, started showing his animals, and the most recent adventure was when he backed my mother-in-law"s car into Wade metal shop. She was in the car with him! I am sure we are in store for many more in the years to come.


Wil has grown into a great kid! He is bright and funny! He is a boy that loves video games, movies, history(Civil War is his favorite), loves to read(comics, science fiction, nonfiction, etc.), has great compassion for animals(especially his show heifers and our cats), is affectionate and very loving, loves to play his trumpet, likes drama and hates to play sports. He says he officially retired after one season of tackle football when he was 9. The most important thing I can say about Wil is that he has a personal relationship with Christ.

He made that decision last summer. What a moment in his life and ours as parents! I am so glad that as he goes through these difficult years as a teenager he will have Christ walking with him. I can't say I am not terrified at the notion at what the world will throw at him. He belongs to God and my prayer for him each day is that he will follow Christ, not the crowd. I want him to depend on God for protection and wisdom. As his parents, Wade and I have a responsibility to teach him to make good decisions. Our expectations for him are high. We expect him to respect us and others. We expect him to follow our rules. We expect him to be responsible(a work in progress). We expect him to spend time with God. We expect him to go to church. We expect him to do his best in school. We expect him to consider the feelings of others. As his example, I struggle to do these things sometimes. I want him to realize that we all fail, but because of God's grace and mercy we are forgiven! What an awesome responsibility we have as parents! I am so glad that I have Jesus Christ to help me through.

So as we celebrate this momentous occasion in his life, I look back over the past 13 years with amazing happiness. I look at him (at eye level, because he is almost as tall as I am) and my heart just burst with pride in the fact that I am the mother of Wil, the teenager.

Sandy C

I wanted to post some pictures, but for some reason, Blogger won't let me. Check back later.