Seventeen on the 17th ~ Happy Birthday Brady!

My middle-man turned seventeen today . . . (actually yesterday, which is when I started this post)

he was my "original baby", the last of my bigs . . . and darn cute, too.  

Wouldn't you agree?  (Please forgive the rainbow background on the picture below . . . my scanner added that.)

Brady came along just as Bryce and Taylor were turning six and four.  It was a perfect baby "position" and it lasted for 12 years  . . .

. . . and then shortly after his twelfth birthday, he got bumped!

Thus becoming my original baby, yet sharing the spot gracefully with his new baby brother. . . who in turn also got bumped!

Brady and Brogan, another match made in heaven!

Brady is my middle-man, positioned between two bigs and two littles -- Though officially he is a big,  and he wears it well.  But you won't find him "wearing" it like anyone else would, because as I already mentioned, he is also my original!  Brady is my outside-the-box kid and he spends most of his time teaching me to parent outside the box.  

I like boxes. . . they have sides, and they hold a specified amount.  They have tops that close, and bottoms that support.  There is an amount of control with a box, they are predictable.  But, there is something to be said for living outside the box.  You can march to your own beat, after all, it's your beat--no one will know if you mess up.  Yet the joy of living outside the box is this, you don't care if anyone cares that you mis-marched.  It just doesn't matter.

Oh how I need that lesson in my life.  I'm constantly worried about "my box".  Does it look okay?  Does it conform?  Is it stylish and up to date?  Do other people like my box?  It's a scary thought for me to get outside my box.  Unprotected.  Wide open.  Nothing to lean up against. Nothing to hide behind.  Nothing to conform to.  Don't get me wrong, as I say this I am speaking of how the world views things.  I know that I am protected by my Heavenly Father, and I do lean on Him.  But I also know that I spend waaaaaay too much time worrying about the way the world looks at "the box" that I choose to put myself in.  Brady on the other hand, looks at the world, and forms his own thoughts and opinions.  He does this guided by the Lord, and Scripture of course.  But no box.  Unlike his mama, he is not influenced by what others may think.  Therefore his thoughts and creativity are wide open.  And as I learn to parent a young man with this way of thinking, I pray for God to help me see things outside the boundaries of my box.

There are no dull moments with Brady . . .

he is loving, and sincere, and deep . . . 

and NOISY . . .

and CRAZY . . .

and he's SEVENTEEN!

See?  He's CRAZY . . .

and I am crazy in love with my middle man!

 

 Happy golden birthday Brady, seventeen on the 17th!

Discovery consists in seeing what everybody has seen 

and thinking what nobody has thought. 

 Albert Szent-Gyorgyi

Happy Birthday Brady, I love you . . . and my nest is blesssed because YOU are in it!

Blessings from my proud mama bird nest ~

Tina