Happy 14, Jonathan!

November has been a whirlwind, with concerts, conferences, finishing up my editing project, and taking kids where they need to be. But the most important date in November for us was back at the beginning of the month--November 3--when we celebrated Jonathan's birthday. It's hard to believe that fourteen years ago he was snuggling on my shoulder, the happiest little guy imaginable. In keeping with my blog tradition, here are ten things I love about my Jonathan.

1. His nose--Jonathan has always had the cutest little button nose. (I'm sure he'll love that one!)

2. His loyalty--Whether it's for his longtime Nascar hero, Jeff Gordon; his friend since fourth grade, Steven; his favorite restaurant, Taco Bell; or for his family, nothing can shake Jonathan's undying loyalty to the people and things he loves.

3. His interest in history--Interestingly, Jonathan was only 2 years old when his father died and really has no memories of his time with him. But he seems to have inherited his father's love for the study of history.

4. His compassion--Jonathan is not too cool to love babies and animals. And he wrote one of the sweetest e-mails I've ever read to a cousin who was going through a hard time. He genuinely cares.

5. His memory--Jonathan can memorize like few people I've ever known. This serves him well in lengthy Scripture memory assignments, studying for tests, and in recalling promises made in the distant past--particularly involving bribes of some sort from me. If only he could remember his homework assignments that well . . .

6. His growth--Unfortunately for him, I'm not talking about physical growth just yet. But I'm sure that it's coming. I'm talking about the little things that I see happening in his life every week that show me that he's becoming a responsible young man--and give me hope that one day he will be a responsible adult man. He's opening doors for his sister and me, getting better and better about remembering his homework, and getting fewer and fewer discipline cards at school for lack of organization. He's taking care of responsibilities without being asked more often. Step by step, Jonathan is growing up.

7. His seriousness about spiritual things--Jonathan understands the importance of knowing God and His Word, and I've been told by his catechism teacher that he listens well and asks very good questions in catechism class.

8. His ability to deal with the fact that he's the only male in a household of females. That's been a tough one for Jonathan, and a reality that has often broken my heart for him. I try to put myself in his place and imagine what it would be like to be an adolescent female in a household of males. It's unimaginable. But Jonathan has a grandpa who has been the man for him, so there has been a bright side to it all.

9. His nonconformity--Jonathan can only be himself, and he really doesn't seem to care "if everybody else is doing it, wearing it, listening to it, or watching it." He knows what he likes and how he wants to live, and as long as it's not immoral and within reason, it's okay with me.

10. His devotion to his mom. How could I not love that? A recent story: Jonathan found himself in math class taking a test and realized he had forgotten his calculator. Here was his dilemma: He realized that if he asked to get his calculator, he would get a discipline card, which would mean he was up to three, which would mean a noon hour detention, which means grounding for a week from the computer at home. He really didn't care that much if he did well on the test, but he realized that he wouldn't do well without his calculator. And yet he asked the teacher if he could get it and suffered all of the disciplinary consequences. Why? Jonathan told me that he knew I'd be unhappy if he did poorly on the test. And he'd rather have me happy and suffer personal consequences. "I sacrificed for you, Mom," he told me. He only got grounded for three days. What can I say?

And that's my Jonathan. While the blog posting is a little late, the love is always on time.