Keeping up with the Joneses: Dear Christina,

Hey there! It's me...yourself. You are home sick today and just finished trolling blogs for an hour, including old posts of your own which are always fun to read back on. You also stumbled on a blog about a girl that had a parasite infection that caused her to lose her eye, all from contaminated contacts. You immediately swore you would never sleep in your contacts again and called the eye doctor to order dailys, which they can't give you unless you come in and pay for a "fitting fee." Obviously you and I both know that's not gonna happen.

After reading your life back in the form of blog posts I can attest that blogger 2006 Christina could never have predicted life in 2014. Crazy what can happen in 8 short years. To be honest it kinda freaks me out about what 2022 while be like. If I did the math right, in another 8 years Levi will be graduating high school. I wonder what teenage Levi will be like. My best guess is a good kid with a sarcastic wit, which pretty much sums him up now. Titus will be finishing 10th, Seth -8th, Judah -7th, Canaan -6th and Silas -4th. That doesn't even seem possible. You know the blog post you just read about Levi's third birthday? That's gonna be Silas in 4 months.

That's right- 8 more quick years and this guy will be your 4th grader, not the red head.
Fingers crossed, swim goggles hopefully stay home.

Silas is still your wild man. And I mean wild as in "he's-going-savage" wild. But oh he is so cute. Strangers typically ask if he is adopted from India. And every time you see an Indian family out in public you walk Silas over close to them and match skin color/hair color shades and can't help but agree. He is still on his Feingold/No Dairy diet for ADHD, but seems to have plateaued a bit. There have been more than a few notes home from school this week that just say "Another rough day." And that shake the MD called "typical?" Yeah, its still around. You and Cory continue to get a kick out of pointing out his athleticism to each other... like his sculpted post bath-naked body....spinning the merry-go-round by himself...scaling the unbalanced washing machine...and his calves, my goodness that boy's calves.

His favorite phrases are "I no like it," "Snuggle Momma?" "He take it me," "I want milk" and "Ah Mama?" When he wants something he starts yelling "Ten! Ten!" because you taught him how to wait while you count backwards and 10 seconds is his MAXIMUM limit.

He drives his brothers crazy, but they love him to pieces and fight over who gets to give him a piggy back ride. Spoiler alert boys: he's gonna pick "AhVi." And while you are sooooo over the having-young-kids-phase of motherhood, you can't imagine him calling someone else Momma.

Each of your boys have a song, one that when you hear it you always think of them. Sometimes it is a song that was popular when they were little, or maybe it's one that you picked for them because it has special lyrics. You probably should write them all down so you don't forget because even at this moment of typing you can't remember Canaan's. Ugh oops.

But you do remember picking Silas' song. It was August 14th, 2012. It was his first birthday and you weren't there because you had just given him back to his birth mom. You had loved him since he was three days old, back when his name was Pierre even though you always called him Pip. And for those first 11 months Pip had always promised that you would be his momma forever. You knew this because obviously his coos and smiles were a binding contract when you asked him about it. But then the Judge's authority made him into a liar. In August of 2012 Cory and the big two were already living in Little Rock, your brown three were permanently back with Bio-mom, and you and Seth were tying up loose ends on Houston life. You came to Little Rock for a few days to see Levi and Titus off on their first day of school in a brand new town. While school held them captive you used the hours to decorate the new bungalow rental house with some fresh kitchen paint and contact paper. Your soundtrack for the days job was from the musical Wicked. And that's when Silas' song picked itself. For hours you hit repeat over and over and over and cried and cried and cried while you painted to the words of Silas' song....

I've heard it said, that people come into our lives for a reason bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who will help us most to grow, if we let them,

and we help them in return.

Well I don't know if I believe that's true. But I know I'm who I am today because I knew you.

Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun-or a stream that meets a boulder half way down the wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

((((((((((AND THIS NEXT VERSE WOULD SEND ME INTO HYSTERICS...)))))))))

It well may be that we may never meet again in this lifetime, so let me say before we part: So much of me is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart.

And now whatever way our stories end, I know you have re-written mine by being my friend.

Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind of the sea, like a seed dropped by a sky bird in a distant wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I do believe I have been changed for the better. Because I knew you, I have been changed for good.

Two years later and it still brings out my ugly cry. But I don't care.

I'M JUST SO GLAD HE KEPT HIS PROMISE AFTER ALL.