a birthday letter to Graham, on his 22nd birthday

Happy birthday, Graham! I cannot BELIEVE you're twenty-two. Surely I am not old enough for that! I did this exact thing for Jonah and Noah yesterday on their birthday, and I thought I'd do the same thing for Graham today. By the way, this will always be my favorite picture of him from his graduation—it's indicative of how fast the years of raising him went by—in a blur. Once they hit middle school, it's a downhill race and add into that driving themselves everywhere? You can kiss their teenage years goodbye. 

Here are twenty-two things I love about my Graham, but there are many more things that what I've listed here.

1. He loves Jesus, and has since he was a little boy. 

2. He is extremely loyal and will always stand up for others.

3. He doesn't hesitate to make decisions. In my opinion, there is nothing more frustrating than a man who won't make a decision. Unfortunately, as a teenager, this meant that all his friends thought he was bossy. 

4. He is almost always in a good mood and smiles all the time. 

5. He is the most friendly person I know.

6. He has never met a stranger and everyone loves him.

7. He excels in his line of work and customers rave about him, except for one rude lady who complained about him to "his boss".

8. He is always so sweet to ask if I have something planned for dinner before he makes his own plans. I love how thoughtful he is.

9. He is a great friend AND he has great friends.

10. He looks for ways to help others. One of my favorite memories of him was while we were on a trip to Washington D.C. We were walking into a building when he saw an older man whose shoelaces were untied—Graham stopped him and asked him if he could tie the laces for him. (I did cry, yes and I also took a picture.)

11. He is very kindhearted and rarely complains. (Nobody likes to be around someone who complains a lot.)

12. He appreciates a good sermon and he knows Scripture. He will always claim that one of his favorite sermons that he ever heard was when a man named Bobby was his youth pastor and he preached on Ephesians 6—which is the chapter about the spiritual realm and the evil that we do not see all around us.

13. He loves a good tv series.

14. He loves his dogs! Crash is his favorite and he is (one of) Crash's favorite.

15. He is servant hearted and has always served in ministry at our church home.

16. He loves old (good) country music and has a great singing voice.

17. He's as polite as any good ole Southern boy.

18. He is a dependable, hard worker and can figure out just about anything. But if he can't, he calls his dad. ;)

19. He loves his brothers and treats them all exceptionally well, but his favorite is Jonah.

20. He is extremely responsible and mature for his age and he always has been.

21. He's very generous and has taken his brothers (and us) out for dinner several times.

22. He knows how to apologize and is quick to do so when he's wrong or if he snapped at one of us. This may not necessarily be true with his relationships with his brothers, but it is with us. 

I am so proud of you, Graham, and the responsible man you've become. I've loved being your mom and I appreciate that you always made that easy. I pray you always love Jesus more than anyone else and that you love people like you love you love yourself. Happy birthday, Graham. I love you!