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I remember this day. You were not many months into this life of yours. This is how you have lived most of your life, with a smile on your face, laughter spilling out through that smile. You were such an easy going baby. We went everywhere with you, even sat outside a Def Leopard concert with you at the Indiana State Fair when you about three months old!
As a toddler, you were full of life, a bundle of energy, always ready to learn, curious, and very protective of your sister, Isabelle. You two were inseparable. You did everything together. You were best buds. You loved Batman, Spiderman, Woody and Buzz, and somewhere in those toddler years, you found your love of Legos.
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When Audrey was born, you were really beginning to develop your own personality, do things on your own, and you had started pre-school, which you loved. Do you remember how you used to stand at the window in the play room and watch the bus go by...in your diaper with your Winnie the Pooh backpack on? You wanted to go to school so much. You were so excited when we went I told you that you finally were going to be able to go. And you loved it from day one! That first day I dropped you off was one of my most difficult days as a mom...the first bit of letting you grow into your own person, on your own. You loved having two sisters. You loved making Audrey laugh. But by now you had began making your own friends, too. Rob became your best buddy in those early years.
When we moved to Costa Rica, you were ready! You had already spent a year in kindergarten and had done so well. God had been preparing you during that year for what was to come, even though none of knew it yet. Three-fourths of your kindergarten class spoke Spanish as their first language. And you made some good buddies that year. God gave us a wonderful family as neighbors whose first language was Spanish. Do you remember Enrique? You had a lot of fun with him. When we moved away from Frankfort, it was very difficult. But out of all of us, you made the transition the smoothest. You made instant friends with the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican boys in the churches we served with. Your dad and I still remember seeing you sitting across the street from the church playing cars with Elvis, talking, on our first or second week in the country. You had no fear, no stress, no worries. You picked up Spanish as if you had spoken it all your life. Do you remember that time Dad and I were doing our homework and we were so frustrated because we did not understand...and you turned around and gave us the answer like it was nothing?
You eased into life in the ministry, despite a hectic schedule, lots of travel, and two sisters who did not adjust quite as well as you. There was so much change in those first two years in Costa Rica, so much stress on our family, and things were not always smooth, but you kept us laughing. You loved the school you went to that first year and made some great friends. But it was in those first two years that the world began to press in on you and you learned some things the hard way, not the way we would have chosen for you.
We moved to the Guanacaste region of the country and this was the first time in your life that you really struggled. It was the first time you came face to face with having to choose for yourself whom you would serve in this life. You had to choose to believe, even when it was hard, or you had fear. You began to understand that to choose your own way was to disobey God and that was sin. The world began to press in on you more and more. God provided for you though. He began to put other men in your life at this crucial time, like Pastor Phil and Eddy, who love you so much. He also allowed us to begin serving with Potter's Field and we started PFK in Villarreal. There you got a much better picture of what ministry is all about. As you began to serve yourself, you began to develop a love for children and you also began to understand how much you have to rely on God to be your source of strength...
You learned about forgiveness, restoration, and what it means to be a true friend with Joel. Remember how you were once enemies, but how how we saw God work in him and how you became such good friends?
You overcame so much in those years in Villarreal. And leaving was the first and most difficult test of your faith. You had found home there. You had your dogs. You had friends. And you did not want to leave. But you also trusted that your Dad and I believed with all of our hearts that leaving Costa Rica was what we needed to do to be obedient. You knew that we really did not want to leave either. You saw our pain. But you also saw our joy in knowing that if God was calling us to leave a place and people we all loved so very much, he must have something so incredible for us. We believed that.
I love this picture of us tarn when we visited Niagara Falls on our way to Indiana after leaving Costa. Here we were, literally with all we had in suitcases, we'd been up all night in the New York JFK airport...yet, arms open, ready for whatever the Lord had for us next...we had no idea, did we?
We spent a month in Indiana before we took off on our cross-country adventure moving to Montana. These two pictures remind me that as we continue on in life, and as you grow in years, more and more you will be making your own decisions. Sometimes, those decisions will take you on a way that turns out favorable. Sometimes, they won't turn out so favorably. But as you learn the RIGHT way, the ONLY way and how to find it and WHO the One is who will be your continuous guide, your dad and I will be right here, just a few steps behind you, watching, praying, and ready to steer you back when you've gotten a little bit off the path. As I watch you grow, I realize more and more the plans the Lord has for you are great. I don't know what they are or where He will lead you, but I do know that all these years we have prayed for God to reveal His perfect plan to you, that He work out in your life the plan for you that is good and meant to bring you peace and not meant to harm you, we see Him doing that now. I know He is answering those prayers in real tangible ways, in these very years.
No matter what God's plan is for you, it will never be easy to be away from those that love you most who remain far away, like these guys. Even though your time with them each year is so short, you always make the most of it. They love you so much. It never was your dad and I's plan to live so far away from your grandparents, but God has always provided in awesome ways for us to visit them and for them to visit us. We are so thankful for them and for their love for you and your sisters.
We're also so very thankful for these dear people who God has placed in our lives. We believe they are part of the perfect plan He has for you in some way, Ethan. They love you so very much.
Montana was full of firsts for all of us, new friends, and fun adventures! None of ever could have known how much we would love Montana. We never could have imagined the things God was going to allow us to experience, the people that He was going to bring into our lives, or how very difficult it was going to be to leave there...
But prayers were already being answered and God was working out the next steps of His perfect plan for our family, and for you, my son.
We arrived in Antigua, Guatemala last June and none of really knew how very different it was going to be from Costa Rica. The Spanish was very different, so many new words, the culture was so different, and there was not one part of life that was even similar to Costa Rica...but God is good and faithful..and you transitioned much like you always have. Once the July IGNITE class arrived, you really found your way. God has blessed you so richly Ethan both with the young men as well as the older men He is placing in your life.
God is giving you such wonderful examples to watch as they live out obedience in their daily lives. Remember them and do as they have done...keep your eyes Jesus.
Love Jesus with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your strength and all of your mind. Live out that love by by serving Him, not for glory or honor or position, but motivated by your love for Him. Remember that you are deeply and intimately loved by Him. He bought you for a great price. He rescued you out of the mirky depths and is raising you up into the man He has planned and called you to be. He will continue to transform you as long as you remain in Him and yielded to His will for you.
As for your dad and I, we are so very thankful that God gave us you. Fourteen years have flown by for us. I can fill all of this space with pictures and memories and there are so many more. Yet, here you are, taller than me, your feet are bigger than your dad's, your voice is changing, you are maturing, and you are growing and changing every day. I cried last night as I pondered all of this. Not tears of sadness or despair, but joy because you are a gift from God, as your middle name suggests. We love you so much!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TITO!
