I sat down next to Seth on our plum sofa, as I greeted the morning with his smile. Looking at him, I said, 'Seth, did you know it was my birthday, today?" "I had no idea, Mom." as he looked up at me in surprise. "So, do you have anything special planned for me, any surprises for me?" I asked, knowing his wheels would be spinning for something creative to figure out.
Shortly after this, I fixed our craisen, cinnamon and nutmeg, pancakes, along with a side of breakfast sausage. Then, sipping my coffee, gathered the things we needed to begin school for the day, and headed outside to get our table and things, ready.
Between our spelling words, we took breaks for a little, drama. Literally. Acting out scenes from, "The Lord of the Rings," and "The Hobbit," we had lots of fun guessing accurately beneath the gray sky. I could smell the rain coming and soon we needed to pull the table in the garage as it started to sprinkle.
We learned then about measuring in metric units with our balance in grams, and our spring scale in newtons. We estimated that the mass of our Lego Spider Man car Seth made weighs in at about 54 grams, while on our spring scale it weighs about 1.5 newtons.
As we took a break from that to read a story, we learned about a wonderful man named George Washington Carver. Of the many talents he had, one was painting. As I was reading, Seth mentioned his memory of learning how the Indians painted with mud and the colored sands of the desert. As he spoke the words, I had inspiration to try this ourselves.
We gathered some dirt, cookie sheets, freezer paper, and food coloring and paint brushes. We begin mixing water, dirt and food coloring together to see what kind of colors we could make. Then, taking the freezer paper we began to create.
It was so much fun, and Seth was really enjoying how relaxing it was. After we spent time doing this for a bit, we played swords.
About the time I was getting him ready for bed, my sister called. While I was talking with her, Seth was busy playing with the cat, wrapping a rope around my arm, and some other fun things I would find out later. Hanging up the phone and finishing the brushing of my teeth, I walked into the room where Seth had a surprise for me.
"Here, Mommy, you're Birthday present." he said, smiling really big. I took the white and blue dog leash he used as ribbon, and unwrapped it from around the shiny silver, Gandalph cape he used, to wrap my present in. What I opened was the picture framed of the angel picture we have had in our room for a couple years now. I was moved by his unbelievable way of communicating how well I am known by him. That picture of the Angel with the sword is a sacred picture, for it holds a story of the lessons and truths we have learned over the past few years about the way God's angel armies stand on our behalf to both guard us and fight the unseen battles on our behalf, for us. It is so special to us both. But, tonight he said, Mommy... I want you to have it in your room now.
After talking about it a bit, we decided to keep it in his room, for together we just felt that was the right thing. There wasn't a "good' spot in our room. And as we were deciding that, he said, 'Mommy, if I wake at night, and want to look for it, it will be right here on our book table, next to the bed." I agreed, completely, this was the best place for it, now.
"That's not all, Mommy!" he said, with great anticipation. As I got into the bed to read our books together, he had picked out books as I had asked him, too. But with a huge smile, he looked at me as I saw the books he picked, and they were all my favorites. From, "Mr. Putter," to our devotional, to "Amelia Bedelia Goes Camping," to "Heaven Is For Real."
I crawled into bed and as I did, I heard and saw him peek his head around the corner, blowing me a kiss, from just outside our room in the hall. He was up to something, sneaky. Then, while pulling the covers up to my chest, he says, "Mommy, that's not all, I have more for you tomorrow!" "Can you guess what they are?" he asks with great anticipation to tell me himself. I guess crazy clues, like, "It's yellow, it's big." Thankfully, I convinced him to keep it a surprise for me.
As he cozied up right next to me, laying his head on my shoulder, I took a moment to look at his beautiful, big, glowing brown eyes, and said, "You know what, Seth... you made my birthday, very special today, and you are a very special little boy!" to which he replied, "you are a very special, Mommy!"
When it comes to what makes a Birthday, uniquely special to me, it is not how many bought gifts, or exciting extravaganza's one had planned, or the fancy cakes and trimmings of a party... however all that can have its exciting place of fun. What really stays with the deep places of the heart at the end of the day, is when a person takes what they have, and gives it away. When they take the little things, what appears to be nothing, and looks with thought and kindness, with a selfless but thoughtful look inside the persons heart and asks, "What would Mommy, like, if I could give her anything of my own, to her?" That is what Seth, did today. He looked around at what was his, wondering if I gave Mommy, something of mine, what would she want? And what is amazing to me, he spoke my heart language. He showed me how well, and how precisely, he knows me. And, he gave something that to him, was priceless, willingly ready to give it to me. He showed me, Jesus. He gave from a place where the love of Jesus lives in his heart.
The day began, as any other day... a bit overcast, and a Birthday with nothing particularly special about it, that was planned anyway. But, by the end of the day, our noses were crisp and cool to the touch, our bodies were chilled, but our hearts were warmed by love. And, as I turned off the light praying him to sleep, I felt that the most special day of all, came all unexpected from the heart of a little boy, who, because he loves birthday's, decided to make mine the most special of all.
