Star Wars - Episode #7

Today my son turned 7 years old. His birth was truly one of the more memorable moments in my life ... and for my wife as well. His delivery into this world was a tough one. Being almost a week overdue, the doctors decided to induce labor late on a Sunday evening. It was 1:11 AM on Tuesday morning when he was born. It was a long, hard labor that left my wife needing 2 units of blood and several weeks to recover.

I remember the day we brought him home. I had the television on and we laid him on the floor facing away from the TV. This little guy, only a few days old, rocked himself 180 degrees around so he could face the television. I can remember when he was only a few months old, and I would come home from church and watch football with him lying on my chest. We napped together during many a game that way.

I used to be able to hold him in my arm like a football. Now, he's a tall skinny kid who is growing like an out-of-control weed. I can still pick him up and give him a bear hug; I wonder silently if this will be the last birthday of his that I can.

This year he asked me to make his birthday cake for him ... he was impressed with the job I did on my wife's cake several weeks ago. He asked for a cake with a Star Wars theme. So I stayed up late last night to make the cake, making a late night run to the local grocery store to get the specific cake flavor and frosting he wanted. I woke up early (5:30 am) this morning to put the frosting and decorations on only to run out of the lettering frosting half way through - so it was an early morning run to the grocery store as well. In the end we had a cake that said, "Star Wars 7" with action figures and seven candles (you can see a picture on my Facebook page).

So we had chocolate cake for breakfast (a la Bill Cosby). Then we took a trip down to the Gateway Arch and took the 630 foot tram ride to the top. Both kids loved looking down on the city and the Mississippi river. Afterwards, we toured the Westward Expansion Museum and learned a lot about frontier life and the various trails leading to the west. After that we had a late lunch at Chuck E. Cheese, and yes, the kids had a ball there as well. When we finally got home we had more cake and watched Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.

In a couple of weeks, my son will enter the second grade. The time has certainly flown since the days of Sunday afternoon football naps. He is growing in stature and he is growing in his knowledge of God. I couldn't be more proud of who he is, or the person he is becoming. We all want our kids to do well ... to do and eventually be better than ourselves. Whatever my son chooses to do, he will have a great and glorious Venture of his own. My prayer is the God will continue to bless his life. My life has been tremendously blessed because of him.