Sunday, March 8, 2015

My First Teenager

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This is one cool kid. He is strong and persevering. He is creative and funny. We are so glad he is in our family.

Thirteen is a big deal. Teenager: the word strikes fear in the bravest of us :) And now we have one. Thankfully, he's still just Trevor.

Tim took him on a weekend excursion for his birthday. Trevor loves history, so they went to Mobile and visited several museums and a battleship!

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Poor guy...he was sick with fever on his birthday. That didn't stop him from trying to have fun. We ordered pizza and watched his favorite movie--Pacific Rim. All our special dinner plans got postponed, but he was gracious and patient. About 2 weeks after his birthday we finally had our big celebration.

Trevor helped create the Italian menu: Bread and Salad, Chicken Parmigiana, pasta, and tiramisu for dessert. William and Samuel helped make the tiramisu the day before.

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They soaked the lady finger cookies in espresso for me and arranged them in the pan.

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And took turns helping with Peter while I made the filling.

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They set the table for me--washed the china and laid it out, cut daffodils out of the yard and put them on the table (actually, table-s. I really wanted everyone in one room together, so we put 3 tables together! It was tight, but it worked!).

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Tim played Chef and got all the chicken ready.

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Grandparents and aunts and uncles all came--we had quite the crowd!

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We had "celebration juice" for the kids, and vino for the adults :)

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While we were eating Tim gave a speech. :) My quiet, reserved, and wise husband did a great job making the dinner special. He praised Trevor and his delightful talents, abilities, and character. He told us about how long ago he decided that he wanted to make the 13th birthday special. We've probably all heard of Bar Mitzvahs, but Tim went the extra mile and learned more about them. He told us that Bar Mitzvah is more than just the party, it's the person. "Bar" means "son of", and "Mitzvah" means "the Law". Apparently in the Jewish culture, 13 is the age when a boy becomes accountable to the law. But Tim also told us about something he read about online called Bar Yeshua. A "Son of Jesus". It was really special hearing Tim's thoughts on turning Trevor over to Jesus. Trevor has been a Believer for years now, but Tim celebrated the next step of Trevor becoming more independent, and following Jesus in a more individual way. It was really neat.

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We all had fun singing to him...

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Trevor has a serious and thoughtful side. Many of his birthday-candle-blowing-out pictures show that. We've some some pictures of him actually hiding his face. Thankfully, he doesn't do that any more.

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And trick candles can still get a smile even if singing can't.

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Happy Birthday, Trevor ;)