Hey Caleb...eight is great!

My boy.

Could five years really have passed since the first birthday we celebrated with you, the day you turned three?

October 8, 2009.  Your third birthday.

A quick glance at pictures says that indeed much time has passed (I gasp a bit when I see the physical evidence of how much you've grown) and yet in other ways you are still very much the same.

The ability to make us laugh.  Back then it was mostly with facial expression.  Today it is with your dry sense of humor and pure wit.  If any of your fanciful career choice ideas don't pan out, may I suggest to you making people laugh for a living?  I seriously have not yet experienced a day that you haven't been able to coax at least a chuckle out of someone...often when they think they are in no mood for a smile.  Your big sister even said tonight that her favorite thing about you is your sense of humor and how you are able to brighten our family with laughter.To lighten moods is a gift that you have been given and I hope you always share that with others!

A generous soul.  Nothing has been to prized or special to you that it hasn't been considered as a gift for someone else to lighten their heart or help them out.  Favorite toys have been freely shared, your most loved panda has been offered to soothe other children, and your piggy bank has been emptied time and again for various causes.  I am quite convinced that you would give the shirt off your back to someone in need and I deeply admire the true generosity in your heart.

The desire to be part of a really big family.  Just about the time you learned to talk was when you started voicing your opinion about the number of siblings you wanted.  Seriously.  I still remember the first time you specifically told Daddy and I that you wanted to have five brothers and five sisters.  We were driving around the Grand Loop in Yellowstone National Park when you held up your right hand and told us this was you sisters and then your left to show us how many brothers you felt you needed too.  You were still two years old.  And today when asked, the magic number of eleven is what you come up with for the number of M kids.  Don't know why or where that came from, but in your mind it seems to have been set.  I also love that anytime in public we come across a mega family that you smile and say, "They are even more blessed than us!"  May one day you have a mega family of your own.

Your love of carbs and all foods Chinese.  The day we met you we were handed a bag with some yogurt drinks and five bags of potato chips.  Guess that was my signal that you and I were going to have food struggles.  While you've added carrots, oven roasted cauliflower, "split ham soup" (with it's magic ability to turn green at serving time...one day I'll come clean with you and confess it is actually split pea soup) and green beans ~ with Asian sauce ~ to your vegetable list, you still are a carb junkie.  When asked what you wanted for your birthday meal, you came up with "those crunchy things with the brown sauce."  After several days of further questioning for details, you finally gave a sigh, shrugged your shoulders and gave a dry, "Okay then.  You obviously aren't getting me.  How about we just have dumplings?"  Until you remembered dim sum.  The chance to have jiaozi (dumplings), baozi (steamed buns), AND noodles all at one meal?  The perfect solution for my carbohydrate craving Chinese-American son!

You're a snuggler.  Well, maybe not quite as much as you were when you were little.  And not quite as much these days as I would like.  But you did sprawl across my lap just on Monday to read a few books to me.  And if I come lay down on your bed to chat before you fall asleep, you are likely to lay your head on my shoulder and bare your soul.

A desire to share God's love.  Time and again through the years you have expressed the desire to go spread the news of Jesus and his love to others.  And while many nights you struggle to stay awake when it is time for prayers, you often voice your desire to teach others that God loves them.

your heart is that all would know they are children of the king

It's a strange place for me to be...wanting to pause time to soak up your little boy days and yet wanting to move into the future to see the mark you leave on this world.  You are an amazing example of the handiwork of our creator and I am still humbled that I have the joy of being your mother.

I love you sweet boy.

Today and always,
Mommy