So Many "Firsts"

Nate is our oldest - super big bro to the other 3!

Nathan is graduating in June.  A huge milestone!  We were searching through our photo albums this week for a collection of pictures to represent his 18 years of life.  Wow - what an experience for a parent....  Think Nate was pretty amazed too.  As we looked, V was drawn in and settled down beside us to look through everything.  I think that he enjoyed seeing his brothers as babies and little guys for the most part.  Not sure what all he was thinking.  But I was a bit of an emotional fruit salad - little of this and little of that all tossed together.  Couldn't help but wonder about all of the years we had so little of for him.  Also, all of the "firsts" recorded for our other three reminded me of what we hadn't done/seen/experienced with V.

As I've thought about it since, I'm realizing that we are still doing/seeing/experiencing many of the same things with him.  They just might be at a later age than the others.  For example, tonight was a Good Friday event with our friends at Cedar Ridge.  Loved how V was exposed for the first time to what happened so many years ago that affects us all today.  He has not heard this a gazillion times as his brothers have.  The words of the Bible and the name Jesus are as new to him as to our others when they were little.  

Loved how creative my friends were - using candles, interactive painting, music, real wood and hammers, fire.  V could see and hear and feel pieces of Good Friday.  A full understanding?  Probably not.  But my other guys didn't get a full understanding at first either.  Actually, not sure I totally get most of it yet.

We will color eggs together and hunt for them.  We'll have our first Easter celebration and dinner together.  He is attending his first wedding ceremony this weekend too!

V teaches me so many things.  This is just another.  What began as my feeling sad about what we and he had missed was just spun around to be seen from a new perspective.  We have so many "firsts" to experience together!  They don't have to occur at a certain age.  Sounds simple, but sometimes it takes me awhile to understand new ways of thinking.

So looking forward to celebrating this first Easter with 6 of us.  After all, it is because of what Jesus did on Good Friday and Easter that Bryan and I even have V as a part of our family.  Sacrifice, love, new life, pain, joy, separation, union - all a part of the journey.

Celebrating,

Sue

Cedar Ridge, Spencerville, MD