Today, my eldest son has reached a significant milestone. He has gone from this:

(proof that all our children look exactly alike when they are born, except maybe Elijah, but I'll have to look at his pictures again)

to this:

in just 10 years.

The little baby who used to fit in my body is now creeping up to my height. I think he's 4' 3" now. I'm only 5' 4". He is able to do so much more than he used to do. He can hold his own with just about anyone.

We are so pleased with the young man he is becoming. One day, we hope that he will have surpassed us in faith and in goodness. This is the measure of success we take.

My father called a while ago and said that he wanted Alexander to be the first Arab-American President of the United States of America. I told him we had higher aspirations for him.

Our prayer for him is that he grows to be a godly man, a good husband and father, to be satisfied with his life and to work at something that has real meaning. Anything more than that is a bonus. In some ways our aspirations are quite modest, but a quick look around at America and find that there are, sadly, few people for whom you could say those things.

10 Amazing Things About Alexander

• 1. His cute grin (which you can't see that well above)


• 2. His artistic aptitude.


• 3. His sweetness.


• 4. How responsible he can be.


• 5. His resilience.


• 6. How he encourages people everywhere he goes (when we went to an art show, he was telling the artist how he painted really well).


• 7. His sense of humor (which is finally starting to make sense, and is quite good).


• 8. How he motivates himself to learn everything he can about things he likes.


• 9. His gentleness with his little siblings, and all small children.


• 10. How he takes initiative in caring for others around him.

Happy Birthday Alexander!

Labels: Birthday, Family