Twelve Years Old!

Nickolas at 8 years old.

Nickolas' 9th Birthday

Sooner fans ALWAYS! He taught himself (go figure) the alphabet in sign language, so he is signing OU!

I have never been the type of mother that cries when her kids get older. I have always been excited for them to be able to live more, see more, read more, play more and most of that "more" comes with getting older. Nickolas turned 12 yesterday, and true to form I didn't cry. I was just in awe of the life God gave me to shepherd. In awe of the adventure.

Adventure, that is the word I would use to describe Nickolas' life so far. He was only 3 pounds and 14 ounces when he was born 6 weeks early. It took him 16 days in the hospital to reach 4 pounds. That my friends is agony, to leave your firstborn in the hospital while you drive home to an empty house.

Nickolas' adventure is life. He is not afraid of a darn thing, except the thought of disappointing his dad, or his late great-grandpa, Tolbert. I, on the other hand, am afraid of everything, so it's nice to have a son that will only scare you with a snake in his hands, not throw it on you. :)

Nickolas is good to his siblings, good to his grandparents, good to our neighbors, good to his pets, and good at talking. Oh my goodness that boy can talk. There are days when I wish his gift of tongue wasn't so abundant. All in all the boy delights me. He loves to fish and hunt and read, read, read. I cannot keep enough books for him. Last year in school he read almost 2 million words from January thru May, and those were just the books the AR program had tests for. At night I will find him in his bathroom (with the heater on) curled up in the bathtub reading a book. Nickolas is a great baseball player, a whiz on the computer and he loves to build things, anything.

He is a treasure. My tears come when I realize he is only mine for a short time, but joy comes in knowing he is God's to have and to mold. What a masterpiece he is being molded to be!

Happy Birthday Nickolas! Love, Mom

Nick and Gran