Macky Bear 7

From the moment you were born little baby boy, I knew something was different.

You stole my heart like non other and I just couldn't keep my lips off your cheeks!

 You are such a special boy Mack.

You're heart is tender and sensitive.

You have a deep desire for everyone to know Jesus and you pray earnestly for your friends.

You are kind and compassionate.

 "I want to make my own Valentine's for my class Mommy.  

And I'm going to make Natalia's the most special because she has cancer."

You have a deep understanding of God and His grace and mercy.

You are quick to say you're sorry and quick to forgive.

As I sat at the computer one evening, long after you were asleep, 

I heard someone come in behind me.  You were crying.

"What's the matter buddy?"

"Mommy, remember when Georgia was at swim practice last year and you brought me goldfish for a snack?  You asked me if you could have some and I didn't share.

I'm so sorry Mommy."

As you lay in bed at night, you contemplate your days and the regrets that are brought to mind hit your little heart and you go to make things right.

Macky, you have a sensitive heart that desires purity and God will use you in mighty ways.

You make me laugh all the time.

You are so quick witted and funny!

Your confidence is a gift that allows you the freedom to be who God has made you to be.

Your sissys love you soooo much, sometimes perhaps a little too much!

But the day is quickly approaching when you will tower over them and take great care of them!

"Macky, do you want an ice cream sandwich?"

"YES!  But let's wait until sissys get home so they can have one too."

You are selfless and have always wanted to include your sisters in all the joys of life.

You're 7 today!

A new year is before you.

I pray that God protects your tender heart and continues to draw you closer to Himself.

I pray that your compassion for others deepens as you grow up in a world that desperately needs to know God's love.

I pray that your sense of humor brightens up the days of all you come in contact with.

I pray that you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are loved and that 

God has great plans for you.

Happy Birthday Mack!

101 and 1/4 Years

I have a little boy who is obsessed with WWII war planes.

Most specifically the B-17 Bomber that his

Great Grandfather flew 52 missions in and came home alive.

So when I heard that some of the WWII planes were coming to a little local airport,

I knew we had to go.

 



The roar of the planes coming in was awesome and getting to crawl around inside them was even more awesome!
 

But then this happened.
 

A woman pushed a man in a wheelchair over to one of the planes and I overheard her say, "I'm so upset that I didn't bring my camera."

I walked over to her and offered to take some pictures for her and e-mail them to her.

"I don't have e-mail."

"I can text them to you, do you have testing on your phone?"

"Yes," she said, although she didn't have a phone with her!

It was a moment not to miss because she was there with her 101 and 1/4 years old husband!  He dispatched these planes from their manufacturing plant in Michigan during the war. 

John McClellen, nick name "Mac."

I ran and got my little Mack out of the B-17 and told him he must meet this very special man,

 a once in a life time experience.

 

We sat and talked and listened to this incredible man for quite some time.

We heard all about life stateside during the war.

We heard about the precise inspection of the planes that left the US for Europe. 

We heard about his amazing 100th birthday party and letters from Presidents.

We even heard about his experience carrying the Olympic torch in Utah!

101 years old, and a quarter! 

Pretty incredible. 

Then he took the hand of his young bride and said,

"these, right now, are the best years of my life," and he kissed her hand.

That really hit me.

Of all the years he's lived and all the incredible things he had accomplished,

this moment, right now, was his highlight.

I think that is the secret to his long and happy life.

His present moment is his best.

Be present in this moment and make it the best moment of your life!

 

Mack's 3rd Birthday

 My little handsome turned 3 last week.  I can't believe my baby is 3!!  He was all fired up for his John Deere Tractor party (although the day before he told me he wanted Bob the Builder!).  We had a blast celebrating with all things yellow and green!

The plan was to go to our local farm in the morning and see some animals and ride on the mini tractors.  The birthday party would be later that evening.  All the grandparents met at our house at 9am to head to the farm and everyone was so excited!  Last minute we checked online to make sure the farm opened at 10am and found that the farm is closed for the month of February!  Um... I never even thought that the farm closed, so I didn't check!  Now what?  I had a last minute idea to type in "Southern California John Deere Dealers" into a search and guess what?  We have a huge John Deere dealership only 20 minutes from our house!  Who knew!  (Yes folks, we have lots of farms in Southern California and lots of tractors too - not just movie stars!)  So we switched gears and headed out to the dealer and had the time of our life!

We could sit on any tractor, climb around, pretend to plow the fields... is was incredible.

Best of all, the salesman came out and offered a test drive!  He pulled out this quarter of a million dollar monster and fired her up!  Sadly the little birthday boy was terrified, so his sisters took his turn!

He said, "When I'm bigger, I'll ride it myself." 

For now, he was happy to sit on the small tractors in the showroom!

After the tractor fun, we headed to Sky High (a warehouse of trampolenes) and jumped until we could jump no more.  Back home, after naps, the party was waiting for us.

Our wall of photos was switched out to celebrate the birthday boy and his love of tractors!

The favors were little tractors, trailers and hay bales.

Party Food
The food was fun and some of Mack's favorites!

 I placed the veggies in old strawberry baskets to look like a little farmers' market

 The strawberries (that were picked at our local farm that morning)

were washed and placed back in their crate

BBQ Pork Sandwiches on Hawaiian rolls with coleslaw
I placed the rolls in a wooden crate that was from my children's play kitchen

 Tractor Wheels 'N Cheese

Lemonade in John Deere cups for the kiddos

The cupcakes were placed in Mack's John Deere tractor trailer

Party Games

First up was Pin The Wheel On The Tractor

 The kids wore an oversized John Deere hat to cover their eyes

 And then came the Hay Bale Launch

The kids had one minute to launch as many hay bales as they could from the baler into the wagon -

this was a riot!

 And of course they loved just playing with the tractors!

The birthday boy had a blast

And so did we!

Happy Birthday Macky!

*I hope you'll join me Monday for a new series - A New Life