Another Teenager

I can hardly believe that 2/3 of my children are now teenagers or older.  I'm feeling so glad that we had those last two! ;)

His birthday was really yesterday, but I don't feel too bad about not getting the birthday post up on the day, because we are prolonging the celebration for a week anyway.  We make a big deal of our kids' 13th birthdays, as a spiritual celebration, like a bar mitzvah, of crossing a line into maturity.  We invite adults, not kids, to their 13th, and have a Service of Blessing them as young men and women, with a liturgy that Papa Rooster wrote and Scripture verses, poems, songs, pictures and other creative things that their mentors have given them.

So that's next Sunday. Yesterday, on his actual birthday, what he really wanted was a long afternoon of playing Redemption.

If you need something to get tween- and teenage boys into, look into this Christian card game.  (The link above provides a good explanation.)  It really helps to have at least one dad who's into it, too, to help interpret rules and encourage fair play, as well as drive the boys to tournaments, where it gets really exciting and engrossing! (Thanks so much to our friend, Mr. M, who makes it all possible for the young men at our church! Mr. M would also recommend a Christian role-playing game called Dragon Raid, which B13 loves, too.)

Another reason my post wasn't written this weekend is because B13 and I were busy on Saturday with B7's birthday party!  Using B13's idea from last year, we had a Lego Building Competition.

B13 helped proctor the competition and helped B21 with the judging.  Everyone got a unique award for their creation, a mini-trophy (4 for $1 at Dollar Tree--my new favorite party store!), a treat bag, and a piece of Lego cake!

I am not usually very creative with birthday cakes, so it was fun to be inspired, for once.

But.  Back to B13!  What a young man he is becoming.

He's friendly, engaging and likeable.
He fits in wherever he goes.

He's always been active, with energy to burn.

  

(The reason he loves soccer?  "The strategy, and running around with my friends.")

He's famous for being shirtless.  For years he has gone around the house in nothing but gym shorts, year-round.  As you can see in this picture, that's even what he wears to go out to get the mail in January!  (However, besides this one, I had trouble finding a shirtless shot of him in the past year.  He must be growing up!)

He's an excellent big brother.

He's great at improvisational comedy--verbal or non-verbal.  He's always got a joke at hand, on- or off-stage.
(Taken on the set of Robin Hood.  Yes, he's wearing makeup!)

He can be brooding and inscrutable, at times.  

We're not always sure what is going on inside his tall, dark and handsome self.

But it's exciting to see this boy, that we all love and enjoy so much, turning into a young man before our eyes!

“Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”

(1 Timothy 4:12)