Happy Birthday, LD!

LD turned 3 on Tuesday. THREE years old....when I started blogging, he was three months. What a joy he is to me and to our whole family. I do not think it was coincidence that he came to our family when he did. We have needed his loving disposition and his cheerful countenance so much this last year.

For his birthday, we went to a local train with some of his friends. He had such a great time. It was a gorgeous day and we just stayed and played and played.

THREE things I love and treasure about LD (hmmm....so hard to keep it to three!):

1. He loves everyone. He can be found giving complete strangers hugs. He has such an abundance of love and such a desire to share it. As I have struggled during the last year, if any tears even start to well up in my eyes, LD is running to get me a tissue. He always returns with a tissue, a hug, and an "It's okay, Mami."
   
2. He is so funny. He loves to create jokes and they are very three-year-old-ish, but even funnier are the ones he doesn't intend to be funny. One that I don't repeat in front of him (I don't want to encourage it), but is so funny is a month or two ago he spent a day saying, "What the heck?" I gently told him we don't talk like that, but he thought it was funny so he kept saying it. That night, as he was saying his prayers to Heavenly Father, he says, "I thank thee for 'What the heck?' " It was soooooooooo funny. Luckily, that phrase has never come out of his mouth again. Don't know what happened that day, but it was over as soon as he thanked Heavenly Father for it.
   
3. He is so innocent. I know this is a three-year-old trait, but it has really been refreshing to watch him be "as a child." He doesn't have anger towards me or DH for the stuff going on in our family. He just misses his dad and wants him to come home. The other three of us deal sometimes with the anger, but LD never does. He is truly innocent and a great reminder of how we should become like little children.

Okay...enough of a novel....here is his birthday in pictures (worth 1000 words, right?):

We love you, LD! Happy Birthday!