A Birthday!

Last week, we celebrated a birthday at our house - the only summer birthday of the family! Our second-born son, Ezra, turned 8 years old!

We started the day off with special birthday waffles (topped with ice cream, hot fudge, and other yummy toppings)...


and ended it with cake!
Nothing like a birthday as an excuse to have a few extra sweet things ;-)

Ezra surprised us by arriving a full 12 days before his expected due date. From the day he was born, he had severe colic. When I say severe, this is what I mean - the technical definition of colic is "crying lasting more than 3 hours a day, 3 times a week" - Ezra spent up to 18 hours a DAY crying, every day of his little life, for 4 months straight. He would even cry in his sleep, and while nursing! It was a rough start, to say the least.

After the colic subsided, he quickly developed severe eczema - a rash that was all over his body, and would often bleed and become infected. This is a picture from when he was just about 4 months old, and you can see the rash on his cheeks (this was the early stages of the eczema):

After many, many trips to the pediatrician, we finally met with one who said "I think he has allergies!" and had him get tested. The testing proved her theory correct, and we immediately put him on a super strict elimination diet, as well as bidding our two sweet dogs at the time farewell.

After 2 years of living on a restricted diet, his final allergy test came back with all food allergies gone, except for nuts! Seasonal allergies he still suffers from, but he is getting allergy shots for them and they help immensely.

Despite the hard beginning, he has such a sweet character. He is intensely empathetic towards others, and loves deeply. He is full of energy and exuberance for life, and has a passion to know God, and to tell others about Him, too. During our vacation to New York, he made some friends his age who didn't know about the Lord. The day after meeting them, while they were playing in the yard, Michael checked on them out the window and saw them sitting in a circle while Ezra read his Bible to them. We are so thankful for the work the Lord is doing in his heart!

He's also our resident goofball. He is always playing jokes, laughing long and loud, and otherwise clowning around. He keeps things lively around here! The Lord has certainly traded his younger sorrows for joy today, and we praise Him for it!

Happy Birthday to our wonderful Ezra! May the Lord bless you with many years of joy to come!