Happy 12th Birthday, Frazier!

Dear Frazier,

First Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” Frazier, God has given you an incredible gift of encouraging others. You have a beautiful way of connecting with those who are younger than you and older than you, and I see you do that so successfully because you see the good in others, and you aren't afraid to verbalize it. 

You are fun to be around, always up for a prank and a true lover of the outdoors. Just a few weeks ago, you and your best buddy, Liam, shot, skinned, roasted and ate an entire squirrel in a matter of 2 hours. You were both so pleased with yourself and so ready to execute this moment from start to finish. You both are determined to move to Alaska when you've graduated and make it in the wild in some sort of RV/camper van. I love your sense of adventure!

You have a good chance of surviving those Alaskan days because of your ingenuity, problem solving skills and ability to build and fix all kinds of things. However, should those cold days wear off in Alaska, you have the makings of an engineer. I have no doubt your incredible people skills, great passion for LEGOS, and willingness to jump in and try will help you to be successful. 

You have thrived at Grace Christian as a 6th grader. You were voted the male representative for the 6th grade, and you look forward to your Student Council meetings. You recently declared to me that you plan to run every year because you love talking with others about how to make the school better. Moving up to middle school has also afforded you the opportunity to serve on Sundays in Kids Church and attend youth group during the week. You love being at church, and regularly at staff meeting, I hear someone singing your praises - you jumped in the help with sound, you were willing to dress in a silly costume, you gave someone a compliment or asked how you could help. I'm so proud of you. 

You are your little brother's hero and archenemy depending on the moment. All in all, you love him really well. You love sugar...a lot...and you really enjoy helping make breakfast and any reason to use a knife in the kitchen to chop something. I'm still determined to break you of your preference for graphic novels, as well as your pursuit of collecting knife in all shapes and sizes. What is it with boys and weaponry!

Truly though, we are so proud of you. The way you love others represents your faith so well. We know when you're around everyone will be included, I will likely step on a loose logo or sock and you will have all of us laughing. We love you, bud. Happy 12th birthday!

Love,

Momma

Spring Has Sprung!

It’s been a full, mostly fun, and family-centered spring. There’s been games, races, dancing, a new job, celebrations, lots of training for our big hike and many learning lessons as we navigate high school, middle school, homeschool and a 4th child making sure he has our attention. When we pause to reflect, we easily recognize how incredibly blessed we are. When we get caught up in the day to day, it’s all too easy to get bogged down with the things that aren’t working out as we hoped or the realization that it truly does take a childhood to raise a child and some lessons take longer to learn.

Bring a friend to That Dance Thing night!

Celebrating Easter with a friends and family lunch at our home was such a joy!

Family Easter picture.

The girls had a ball on a 3-day Spring Break youth mission trip with RVA Hope Center.

Family hike and everyone is smiling!

Family strength routine.

Frazier has really improved this season. He’s had some awesome catches playing 3rd base and is really starting to hit the ball. Proud of you, bud!

We are up to 10 beehives, and these 2 do a great job tending to them.

Post race for both of us. Leila had a track meet, and I completed the Ukrop’s 10K on the same day.

We completed a beautiful 8+ mile hike outside of Charlottesville. This one was not all smiles, but we did finish and celebrated with pizza.

T-ball. We're really just here for the snacks, let's be honest, but he sure is cute.

Because Benaiah is in a reverse inclusion class with students with special needs, we were able to participate in the Special Olympics Big Feet Meet at Atlee High School. 

Air-restricting masks to help with altitude training. Not. My. Favorite. At. All.

All of this exercise definitely means we get more ice cream!

Post-hike with the Kells - 6 miles!

Geoff and I loved leading an amazing group through Freedom this semester. Here's most of us after the conference!

Freedom conference baptisms - so special. 

Here's Frazier on one of his many field trips with the homeschool group. He's been on more field trips this year than he ever did in 5 years - what a fun way to learn!

Pretty in pink! Here are the Lawrences and Lighty's at the Spring Ball with That Dance Thing. 

Look at our beautiful girls all grown up and learning to dance. So proud of them completing their first year of ballroom dancing and learning how to have conversations with many different people and conduct themselves in a lady-like way. 


We enjoyed a fun Mother's Day celebration with Nonnie and Granddad at the ballfields followed by a Mexican lunch. Love you, Momma!

Thirteen!!!! Happy Birthday Mary-Michael!

My Dear Mary-Michael, 

My baby girl is now a teenager. Wow, what a treat and still shocking to me that you are this old. Your years left in our home are dwindling too fast! 

You have blossomed into this beautiful young lady with a lot of spunk, a lot of friends and a lot of brains and ideas. You love life and therefore add a lot of life wherever you are. You are thoughtful and love to give gifts to others. You take after your daddy and his generous spirit. You're still Benaiah's best mini-parent and have such a tenderness for him when he's upset. You'll drop just about anything to read to him upon request or tend to him when he's hurt himself. I love and appreciate this about you, and I know you'll be a great mother one day.

Like most young ladies your age, you think a lot about your looks and have therefore become quite the fashionista. Armed with a hair straightener and a curler, you frequently take over the bathroom in the mornings, and since we FINALLY let you use mascara (Merry Christmas gift!), you now take even longer. And frankly, you look much too old for my liking, but that's how it goes, I guess. You still don't have a phone and hardly ever complain. It will come soon enough, but we want to make sure you're ready for the responsibility. 

You really love hand lettering cards and papers of all sorts and have quite the knack for it. This month you were paid to do the hand lettering at a Chick-fil-a for their community board. So neat! Speaking of making money, you've also started babysitting and dog sitting the neighbor's dogs. This is necessary given the love for fashion mentioned above!

You continue to excel in school and love your Grace family. English continues to be your best subject after socializing and gym. You are still a voracious reader, and I pray that never ends. 

Daddy and I truly enjoy being with you (except for when you're sassy), and we know we will have a deep friendship when you are older. You're so much fun, so caring and easy to be with. At your neon-themed birthday party, your friends all took time to share what they loved about you, and the same things echoed: she never leaves anyone out and makes sure everyone is included; she's thoughtful and caring; she's fun and funny. All true!

We love you, we see amazing potential in you and we are proud of you!

All my love,

Momma

Happy 5th Birthday, Benaiah!

Dearest Benaiah,

Wow, 5 years old! What an incredible young man you are. You light up a room with your smile, your silliness and your affection. You give wonderful hugs!

You love all things Spider-Man and anything on wheels. When you’re not outside digging holes or shooting nerf guns, we will find you inside building Legos with Frazier, looking at books or wondering if it’s the weekend so you can watch Spidey and Friends.

You have mostly adjusted to preschool (there are still some mornings you want to stay home), and you have learned to write your name pretty well. Your teachers say you are a wonderful role model and a great helper. When we brought cupcakes to your class for your birthday, you were so excited, and you had me read “Even Superheroes Have Bad Days” to your and your friends.

Daddy is definitely your favorite person in the world, and you are the only one he has allowed in our bed when you have bad dreams. That’s what happens when you’re the baby! Frazier is likely your second favorite, and he is a champ playing just about anything you want to. 

You continue to be a good eater and enjoy cheese, fruit and macaroni and cheese the most. Green Eggs and Ham is definitely your most requested book, and you love music with a good beat so you can dance.

This year, you realized your skin color was not the same as mine, and you also made a statement when looking at some old pictures. You said, “That’s when I was in your tummy.” While we’ve been telling you since you were born about your amazing birth mom, having you make the connection felt very hard. I pray you will not resent us or her for the choices we’ve made.

Benaiah, you truly make our family complete, and we love you so much. No matter what comes or what others say, I pray you always know this.

All our love,

Momma and Daddy