Happy 16th Birthday Matthew!

You always hear mothers say, "I don't know where the time has gone." It is so true though. Childhood is fleeting, and before you know it they go from being a chubby little baby to a teenager that is taller than you!
This is one of my favorite pictures of Matthew as a baby. He was such a fat and happy baby! :o)

I was looking through some old picture files and found this one of Matthew and Mariah about four years ago. Matthew was born on New Year's Eve and seven years later Mariah was born just after midnight on New Years Day!

I asked Matthew what he wanted to do for his 16th birthday and he said he wanted to have some of his friends over to shoot air soft guns. Here he is with two of his closest friends from church. They are all within a few months of each other. I will post more pictures from his party later.

Matthew has been a joy to raise. Raising teenagers is definitely hard work, but it hasn't been the nightmare that people told me it would be. I am very grateful for the Godly young man he is growing up to be.

Our charge to you Matthew is that you continue to grow in faithfulness according to God's word so that He will preserve you and plentifully reward you.

"O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer." Psalms 31:23