My Oldest

Today is Kale’s 22nd birthday. I’ve always been big on making family birthdays a special day.  It’s their day and I like to make a big fuss.  But, now that they’re not even children anymore, birthdays are a little different than they once were.  Since I can’t see my boy, or give him a big hug on his birthday, I want to just say a few things about the birthday boy.

David and I were married nearly four years before Kale came along.  When we got to the point that we felt “ready” to start a family (I was ready MUCH sooner than Dave), it seemed like it took forever to get pregnant.  In reality it was only 4 or 5 months.  Each month, I was just so sad when it didn’t happen.  Finally, one night as I laid in bed, I prayed to a God that I learned about as a little girl, but never really had a relationship with as an adult.  I asked Him to just give me a child and I would give him back to Him.  I didn’t know the story of Hannah (1 Samuel 1) – I just simply wanted a child to love.  But, I will say that at that very moment, I KNEW I was pregnant.  I KNEW it.  The next day, I told David that I was pregnant.  He asked me how I knew and I told him he couldn’t tell anyone, but God just let me know. We weren’t in church at the time and I just couldn’t quite explain it.  Dave, I’m sure, thought I was out of my head, but as it turned out… I was pregnant.

That begin a really special time in my life.  I was reading my Bible and talking to God in a way I never had before.  I was filled with joy and happiness and having Kale growing inside me was simply amazing.  I LOVED being pregnant.

Kale came along 3 weeks after his due date.  A whopping 9 pound, 8 ounce baby boy.

And I realized what love was.

(What was with those glasses??)

Kale was always interested in learning, we noticed that from early on in his life.  When my kids were crawling age, I did a little experiment with each of them.  I placed a ball, a truck and a book in front of them and I watched to see which one they would go to first.  Every time without exception, Kale crawled to the book.  He never went to the truck or the ball. Tyler, on the other hand, NEVER went to the book, but pretty much equally went to the truck or ball.  They are still that way today. Kale is my book kid – Tyler is my active kid.

Kale spent a lot of time in his elementary and middle school years studying the game of basketball, working on science experiments, and staying after school to visit with favorite teachers. (Jamie and Micaela’s dad used to say that Kale was the kind of kid he used to like to beat up in school. Ha!)

During his high school years he was never one to run the roads hot.  He spent most of his time tinkering with gadgets (we should’ve seen it coming)…

… and learning all about computers. When he was fourteen, he started playing piano and became quite good, even writing his own classical pieces.

He shares the love of the Arkansas outdoors with his Daddy and loves to hunt and fish.

On New Year’s Day of his senior year. he bought two baby grand pianos.  One had been painted antique white and he decided he wanted to restore it to ebony and sell it.  And that he did. 

He spent several months working on it and the night before he graduated he sold it.  We were so proud that he started a BIG project and followed through… and he’s done that in every area of his life.  Here’s the final product…

He is now 7/8 of the way through college studying to be a Chemical Engineer.  He works hard to keep his scholarships, he’s held a job through most of his college years and makes time for Kayla and his family.

He makes us proud. I’m not only proud to call him my son, I’m also proud to call him my friend.

Happy Birthday, Kale David. 

We love you with our whole hearts!!