Thursday, May 22, 2008

My Very Own Fountain of Youth


Joe is my oldest son. We named him after me who was named after my father. So he is the third. He is seven years old going on 17. It is seriously hard to keep up with him at times. It seems like only yesterday that April & I brought him home from the hospital. We had no idea what to expect and yet, everything seemed to just...fall into place. by the time he was nine months, he was already climbing out of his crib and scaring us to death. We thought he'd end up hurtin' himself for sure. We watched as if we had no control over his lightning fast progression through his toddler years.
One of my favorite memories of Joe (one that made me exceptionally proud) was watching him stand on my skateboard for the first time. He was so excited and seemed like such a natural. By the time he was in first grade, we would skateboard to school in the mornings on my days off and I would be waiting outside his classroom at the end of the day with skateboards in had, just chompin at the bit to see my kid pushin down the street on his first skateboard. Nowadays, he doesn't pay much attention to his skateboard. He'd rather be riding his Razor scooter around the culdesac with his buddies...which is fine with me I guess. It's just that whenever I am skating with my son, I felt like a teenager all over again. It's as if spending time with my kids keeps me young. We share an absolute obsession for video games and vegging out on couch together. I do look forward to the weekends when the two of us stay up playing games into the wee hours of the night.
So he is seven. I cant believe how intelligent he is already. He has a love for reading, that I never had as a child, and is very good at it. He literally reads a book EVERY evening before bed. I think what brings me the most joy though is the love Joe Joe has for the gospel. Each evening as we settle in, I can always count on him to suggest an evening scripture study. Furthermore, as we talk about what we are reading, he has a basic understanding of the precepts contained therein. I feel as though Joe Joe will be something farely important some day. That being said, I pray that I will be able to keep him going in the right direction until that day when he takes up whatever calling the Lord sees fit for him.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can't believe our babies are growing up s fast! I was just telling Cameron that I can't believe I met him 5 years ago. I told him he was Chase's age and he would run away from me. Oh, how they grow up and start to teach us through there example and love!

JoeUlrich2 said...

TIme flies way too fast