G-man is 6!

This...is a happy boy.



This...is also a SIX-Year old boy!  HOW can that be?

Loving the birthday card Lao Lao and Papa sent him

Gabriel's love of drums has not abated.  We gave him a little kid's set for Christmas when he was 2...

It physically hurts my heart - like I feel it squeezing - when I look at this and see how impossibly little he was here.

...but it was time to move him up to a real drum "kit".  (I have learned lots of drum lingo...but I am sure there is still lots to learn!)

The night before Gabriel's birthday, Jason set the kit up in our family room, so G would see it first thing in the morning when he awoke.

 We had to google how to set up all the different pieces of a kit.  Where does the floor tom go?  How about the crash cymbal?  And the ride cymbal? And the hi-hat?  And WHERE is the snare supposed to be situated?

Jas and I were up early (it was a Saturday), itching for G to wake up and see his new drums!

But he slept in some, still recovering from a nasty bug.  (He was the 5th of 6 children to get sick...we think it was the flu.)

We covered the kit up with multiple blankets, but apparently didn't do a good enough job, and from the top of the stairs G started giggling excitedly.  

But when he came down he got more somber.

And then he was oh-so-serious for the next HOUR while he played non-stop.  

Yes, he slipped onto that "throne" (and here I had been calling it a "stool", silly me!)...and played away for an hour.

I tried to get him to smile for me for some pictures...but he wouldn't have much of that.

The kit is now situated in the garage, where it is (a little) more quiet.  But it is so neat to still be able to hear him playing his little heart out.

He was born with this in him.

It is so amazing to see how all the children are different...all have their unique talents, giftings and interests...from the Lord.

We pray that Gabriel uses drumming - along with everything else in him - to praise the Lord!