Caleb is our baby - born two years and five months after his twin sisters. My first thought the first time I saw his pudgy little face topped with a huge shock of black hair was that he looked JUST like Rebecca! I loved my girls, but was so very excited to have a son! Caleb loved to cuddle as a baby, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of his baby-hood. With infant twins, I was so busy taking care of them, I had little time or energy left to just soak it in and enjoy them - with Caleb I was given that blessing. And after having two at once, he was a breeze!
Caleb was at a slight disadvantage as the only boy born into a family with two older sisters. Occasionally the girls would dress him up, and when he was really little he had a hard time understanding why he couldn't have his nails painted, too. But in spite of all of that, he was ALL BOY, and very HIGH energy! He loved cars, and would always hum his own action music when playing with them - this caused some discipline problems when he insisted on humming his original soundtracks during worship. He also loved playing with his toy guns, and he continues to have an obsession with knives. And I honestly believe that having two older sisters has helped him develop a sensitivity to the needs of others - especially females. The things he has learned in that regard will serve him well someday when he is a husband, and his future wife will be blessed as a result.
From his earliest days, Caleb was a people person. He NEVER met a stranger, and lived every moment to its fullest, squeezing every ounce of enjoyment from every experience. He was convinced that everyone around him was there to talk to him, which wasn't always a good thing. Once while in the library, we got dirty looks from the librarian as Caleb, from his stroller, yelled "Hi!!" very loudly to every other library patron we encountered. He also would yell a greeting to the men serving the Lord's supper each Sunday if I wasn't quick enough with my hand over his mouth. And when his greetings weren't returned, he thought it was because he wasn't heard, so he would yell it again - louder. All of this was very new for us, as his sisters had always been painfully shy. He was good for helping them come out of their shells a little more!
Caleb endeared himself to old and young alike. He would go with me to Ladies' Bible class before he was old enough to start school, and he would "work the crowd" before class. During class he would draw pictures for ALL of the ladies, and distribute them after class. As he has grown, he still endears himself to older people, and little kids all love him as well. When he was in first grade, his teacher told me he would grow up to be either a politician or a preacher!
His charismatic personality continued as Caleb grew, and I was not at all surprised to learn that on a trip with the high school band to Disney World, it was Caleb who led the entire audience of Fantasmic in the "roller coaster" before the show.
Caleb has grown into a fine, caring, tender-hearted, godly young man who is an Eagle Scout, and currently a sophomore at Texas A&M University, where he is majoring in Communications. He continues to enjoy life to its fullest, and his enthusiasm is refreshing and contagious. Caleb loves people, and people love him back. He has a gift for speaking publicly, and is at ease in front of any audience. He enjoys guitar, photography,and wood burning, and he loves spending time with his friends and his family. He's a wonderful brother - just ask his sisters after he spontaneously takes them a Wendy's Frosty when they've had a bad day. I'm proud of Caleb for the wonderful young man he has become, and I am most proud of the way he follows hard after God. He has a heart tender to God's word, and when confronted with things that need to be corrected in his life, he always responds with a humble willingness to improve - he has taught me much in that regard, and we would all do well to learn that lesson from him. Through the years, we've often wondered where this charismatic, outgoing, unique young man came from, and if he didn't look so much like his dad, we might think we got the wrong baby at the hospital. But how very blessed we are to have Caleb! I am most blessed to be his mom. There is something quite special about the bond between a mother and a son - I love that boy uniquely, and deeply, and I cannot imagine how very boring my life would be without him!
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