Happy Birthday, JP!!!

Our eldest son, Joseph (who now goes by "Joe" from his friends and "JP" from his mom just to irritate him because she refuses to call him "Joe"), turned 15 last week!  :)  He invited all the boys from his class to our house (all 5 of them) for a BBQ party.  They had a blast...boy-style.  They played a few rounds of Capture the Flag, which works out awesome on our property full of boulders and trees and places to hide.  Then, after eating LOTS of hot dogs and hamburgers, they played a new outdoor game we bought called Cuub, followed by some ping-pong in the basement, and finished off with a Reese's Peanut Buttercup Dairy Queen ice cream cake.  It's so much easier throwing a birthday party for a teenager.  There's no party theme, no decorations, no party favors, no candles or singing of Happy Birthday, and no picture taking (because all of the above would embarrass my teenage son, so I tried to appease him...after all, it was his birthday!) :}

Happy Birthday, Joseph Patrick!

How special you are to your daddy and me!
As our first-born, you turned our world upside down

and expanded our hearts more than we thought was possible.

What a joy it has been to watch you grow and to wonder at what the Lord will do with your life.

You have more talent in your pinky toe than many of us have in our whole bodies.

You are gifted in music, art, academics, athletics. and remaining calm in all conditions--

the first few  of those you got from your mother, and the last one definitely from your father!

You are so talented, yet humble, obedient and kind.

You are a stellar role-model for your younger brothers.

We could not have asked for a better first-born.
God always gives us better than what we ask for anyway, and exactly what we need.

God gave us you 15 years ago, and we are so thankful He did.

We love you and pray that you will continue to grow closer to Christ 

each and every year of your life!