Our Second 9 Year Old…

How is it possible that almost five years ago I stared at the photos below of this precious boy and immediately knew he was going to be our son?   I can’t even believe how much life we have lived together as a family since his arrival home. 
Today, we celebrate his 9th birthday!!!  He is growing into such a wonderful young man. 
He came home loud and lives loud to this day – full of laughter and love!

PLEASE DO NOT COPY OR PRINT ANY PHOTO IN THIS POST THEY ARE FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY BY JILL SAMTER.

His eyes are just as expressive today as they were the moment we saw a photo of him.

The top left photo was his VISA picture and then meeting me and the kids for the first time.

Some things have not changed one bit since he entered our lives forever.  He is a HAM!  He makes faces all day long and is very expressive.  He is still best friends with our son in the photo below.  They wear “same sames” (a family saying for any time two of our children wear the same outfit) almost every single day and wouldn’t want it any other way.

One thing I love about taking so many photos of our children is that I can look back at them and see how much we have lived, laughed, and loved together.  Not to mention how much they have grown!!!!

I love the next group of photos of him with our youngest.  They are funny together.

Take note of the faces he is making here in 2010 – they will be the same faces you will see in photos years later.  HA!

 

Another thing about our birthday boy is his constant smile.  It is what people notice first upon meeting him and talk about more than anything else after spending time with him.  He loves to smile and make others smile too!

This next photo is still my favorite of them together (outside of the ones above of course)!!!!

I could share 100’s of photos in this post because he LOVES to have his picture taken.  He loves to give that million dollar smile right at the camera. 

He loves to swim and splash all summer long!

This image of him flying high won me a place into the top six with Pioneer Woman Photography Contest in June 2010

Now back to his funny faces – HA HA HA!

 

 

This is the face we see whenever someone says or does something he doesn’t like or understand.

Hands down I prefer his gorgeous smile and sparkling eyes full of joy and love!

 

 

Another thing that has not changed is his favorite place to be…right in daddy’s lap or by his side.  Whenever my husband is home this young man is stuck to him like glue.  Literally!  He plays business all day most weekends just to be like daddy!

He loves to play hard!

He has truly enjoyed learning how to catch a football and play with daddy during the nicer weather!

After looking at four years worth of photos, the next two remain my favorite and were captured only a few months ago during our family tradition of Saturday Pancakes.  The light was gorgeous in the kitchen and his eyes simply sparkled!

And this next photo needs no words…it simply speaks a thousand!

Happy Birthday to our sweet, caring, funny, loud, smart, curious, and generous young man!   Trusting this year to be one that continues to mold you into the mighty warrior God created you to become!   We love you to the moon and back!