One of my favorite things to do lately is play music with my kids and with Jonathan and Rebekah’s kids. I have, over the years, created a mini-studio in my basement for this very reason. Whenever they come over, we head down to the basement and learn a new song. We actually have begun to have quite an assortment of songs that we can play!
Music has been a major part of our family ever since Samuel was born. I credit him with much of it. He is naturally just a gifted musician. He also has a contagious passion (well, for everything!) for music that makes you want to play. When he was very little he started asking for musical instruments for birthdays and Christmas. Every year. All the time. We have TONS of guitars and toy drums all over our basement now. We have his first guitar too. It is broken into several pieces now because he used to carry it EVERYWHERE. I looked through my pictures some tonight, and here is a little history of him and Elliot growing in music. Then at the end, I have placed a video of Samuel and I jamming out, so don’t miss it!
They were tiny here!! I love Elliot’s socks! I remember these drumsets. Samuel beat this thing beyond recognition. Literally. It’s gone!
These were their first “big boy” guitars. The problem with any toy guitar is they don’t keep their tune. But the boys loved these.
Samuel really wanted an electric guitar. As you can see, it was the same year as the electric drums. He was VERY into music. (Can you see Mathea asleep on the couch?!)
Little Drummer Boy! Still to this day, Samuel will escape to the basement (where we have a real drumset now) and just play. It is so cool to watch him get lost in it.
Oh man! What a stud!
I love this pic for many reasons. I love how cool Samuel looks. I love little Elliot’s head in the drum dungeon. And I love how crazy I look!
As you can see, as they get bigger, their guitars and drums get bigger. And it has been so fun to watch music become such an important part of their lives. In the past couple years, Samuel has especially taken to drums. He has gotten so good, that he and I can actually jam together. He loves to write different parts to songs, and figure out transitions. So, I wanted to post this video, because, well, it is just TOO cute. Listen to what a great beat he has for the syncopated part. He made that up. Also, watch his face. He is LOVING it.
I am so frustrated by what poor Samuel is going through right now. For the past three years the boy has struggled with stomach pain. At times it has been intermittent and at times it has seemed almost constant. This pain drives him from the things he loves. He’ll be playing with his friends outside, and be forced to come inside and lay on the couch or sit on the toilet. He can scarcely make it through a soccer practice without having to come out and sit, and often go the port-a-potty. He almost NEVER makes it through an entire meal, without it hurting and sending him to the couch to lay down. And lately, it has been worse than ever.
The pain at times consumes him. You can see it on his face. He is terrified of throwing up, even though that has never happened. But that just shows you how much it must be hurting. It’s so hard as a parent because I can’t know exactly what’s going on inside of him, and kids are notoriously bad at telling you where and how the pain hurts. I’m imagining that it is like nausea and and cramps together. It often doubles him over. It is so sad.
We have taken him to doctors, had blood work done, MRI’s, ultrasounds, the works. Nothing. We took him to GI specialists. Nothing. Now we are starting the process all over again with another hospital because we are desperate. Samuel often talks about wanting Jesus to come back, so that the pain can stop. That scares me.
So I’m writing this, because no one really knows the extent of suffering that this little boy is in. And he needs prayer. Please be praying for him and asking for direct healing from God, or for God to help us figure it out medically fast. He needs an answer.
The best answer anyone has been able to give us so far is that it is childhood irritable bowel syndrome. No medicine for it. He’s supposed to grow out of it.
That’s just not good enough. We need to do better.
So, I’ve been working 10-12 hour days since last Saturday, and I’m afraid the blogging has been a victim of that. I’m hopeful to regain my old consistency now that my schedule should be returning to normal.
Anyway, I’ve been wanting to write about Samuel. This week he did two things that just made me so amazed at him. He truly has a gift of being bold with new people and just being confident in social settings.
Well, earlier in the week our family was at Project Timothy (a leadership bootcamp for teens which I ran this past week) to eat dinner, and after dinner a group of about 10 teens (whom Samuel has never met) were playing a game in a circle. They had to slap each others’ hands consecutively around the circle whilst singing a song. When the song ended, the last person slapped was out. Samuel, to my utter surprise joined right in! He loved it. He played that game with this huge smile on his face the whole time. It was awesome. I was so proud of him.
But that’s not the best story.
The other night, we were in the main room at church and we had moved all the chairs out of the middle of the room for a game we were going to play with the teens. We had not started yet, so people were just milling around talking and having fun. Then, from behind me, I heard a group of teens excitedly counting in unison at the top of their lungs…”6…7….8!!!”
I turned around to see a huge circle of teens cheering on this little boy doing cartwheel after cartwheel across the church floor. Samuel. It was hysterical! They loved him!
And I just thought – that so perfectly captures the spirit of who Samuel is. He is so overly full of joy and love that he brings people together and makes everyone feel like his friend. I have always been amazed at how Samuel does not discriminate amongst friends. He considers and adult, a teen, a child, an a baby all equal as friends in his life. And he has no concept of why that might not be true.
It is such a priceless gift of his, and I love watching his boldness and energy and love come out. What a great kid.
OK, so two posts in a row about my kids – sorry. But today was so cool. Samuel joined a tap dance class with his cousin Selah. The class when all year, but he joined just for the last 4 months or so. Now, Samuel is a musical guy. He’s been carrying guitars around the house and banging drums since he was tiny. So he’s got the beat (does anyone know how to spell “rythym?”)
So today was his first tap performance ever. He was amazing! It was so indescribably cute. He was so animated and into it, it was hysterical. And if you know Samuel, you can imagine just how funny it was. This kid just exudes joy. And watching him up there on stage you could tell he was loving it. It was so funny to watch him concentrate so hard, and yet at the same time he had some great moments of theatrical flare where he threw his hands up and posed. It was great.
The best part for me personally was the end as they scooted off stage. Samuel, in classic Samuel style, gave the double fist pump, while jumping up and down . . . just like he does in soccer or bball. He hasn’t learned the stage etiquette yet, but it was perfect. It was him. And I loved every second.
I had a great day today. Really. One of those days where you sit down after it’s all done and just say “thank you.” My greatest days often involve me getting to be with Mandy and the kids all day, and that was true again today. We started with soccer games (always fun!), then played at home, mowed the lawn (yes my kids like to help!), went biking at the creek, got pizza, and watched a movie together!
What I want to talk about though, was my biking adventure. I’ve been wanting to take Samuel and Elliot “mountain biking” on some trails at Fair Hill for a while now. So today, we did it. It was awesome. We finished completely covered in dirt, exhausted, bleeding, and happy. And loving each other.
But as part of this experience, I also endured this tension that often besieges me as a parent. I am a very safety conscious guy, and also have some healthy fears of traumatic events happening. Along with that, I also have a desire to not shelter my kids, and help them learn to experience the daring side of life.
So today, I decided to stretch my boys a little. I took them on a winding bike path. The further we went, the more scared Elliot got. It got smaller. There were roots. Trees on both sides. And then, all the sudden, we were biking on a tiny trail with a pretty steep drop off to the left. That’s when Elliot put his foot down.
It was heart breaking. I saw in his eyes the desire to do what Daddy was doing, but at the same time too much fear to ignore anymore. “I’m not going anymore Daddy!” So we turned around and found a wider, safer trail. Sadly, on the way back through the smaller trail, Elliot wiped out. Argh.
Now, away from all the fun, I’m thinking about that trail on top of the drop off, and I’m thinking about my little 8 and 6 year old boys, and I’m thinking – what they heck was a I thinking?!?! What if he had fallen down that drop off? What if he had gotten seriously injured? What if I couldn’t get him help in time?
Herein lies my struggle as a parent. I desire to help my kids live life and overcome fear, while I myself am actually plagued by fear of losing them. All my instincts are to shelter them, but I know this would most likely cause worse damage in the long run.
So I’m left walking away thanking God nothing worse happened, but having that gnawing knowledge that sometimes worse things do happen. And there’s nothing you can do about it, but live your life.
Does anyone else struggle like this, or I am different?
