Elijah's 7th Birthday

It's official. I've been begging and bribing for weeks now for him not to turn seven but he did it. He's seven years old.

Here's a picture of the birthday boy:

We celebrated with a gathering of friends and family on Sunday afternoon. His birthday theme choice this year was dinosaurs.


Here is my attempt at dinosaur cake. I am sure my sister in law, who makes incredible cakes, will be amused at my cheesy plastic dinosaurs and the fact that the cake is still in the pan, but Elijah loved it and it tasted good.

He got lots of nice gifts. More books for his "library" is always a great thing. A person really can't know enough about sharks.

This is a Webkinz. I didn't know much about them, and neither did Elijah, but they are "virtual" pets that you care for on the internet. Elijah named this frog "Spot" and he LOVES him!


Since our residence above the funeral home is pretty small, we usually have our parties downstairs in the chapel. Some people find this odd, but it's just what we're used to. His sisters decided to make use of the register stand where service information usually is.

Each birthday my children celebrate has a hint of bittersweetness to it. Time passes so quickly and their childhoods seem to be rushing by in a blur.

With my older daughters, each birthday has seemed to be an end and a beginning. As they mark off another year, they leave behind more and more of their "little girl" lives, but they do not depend on me any less. My training of them is still just beginning as I try to help them transition from girls to young women. Even when they are wives and mothers themselves, I will have opportunities to mentor and advise them.

However, I am not sure that will be the case with my little man-cub. He will obviously still need me for some things, like academics, meals and laundry. But I see my role in his life changing. If he is to grow up to be the kind of man I hope he will be, he will have to break away from my influence more and more and look to his daddy for guidance. I can teach him many things, but I cannot teach him how to be a man.

So as he blew out those seven candles, I felt a little lump in my throat. He's growing up. The day will come when he will not need me anymore. He may certainly love me, respect me, honor me even, but he won't need me. And he shouldn't. I want him to grow up be a strong, independent, godly man, who leads and disciples his own family. But it hurts just a little. These moments just go by so quickly.