In honor of DS16’s birthday, here are sixteen thiings I love about him!

1. DS16 is helpful. If I ask him to help me with any job, he will gladly do it.
2. DS16 is friendly. He makes friends with everyone. We even lost him at a cross country meet, because he had made friends with another team–he was hanging out with them, sitting in their chairs, eating their food….
3. DS16 is sensitive to others. He can just tell if you are having a bad day, and he always comes alongside with an encouraging word.
4. DS16 is faithful in prayer. If he thinks you are ill or hurting, he will offer to pray for you. And then he really does pray. Sometimes to everyone’s frustration, when they are waiting to bite into a delicious dinner, and he lists everyone he knows who has an ailment.
5. DS16 has a good sense of humor. You kind of have to have one to live in our house. But he takes most teasing and ribbing in stride and dishes it right back.
6. DS16 is self-confident. He is absolutely certain that everyone is as happy to see him as he is to see them. It never crosses his mind to be hesitant when he greets people.
7. DS16 is the life of the party. Or at least of the dances. In middle school, when all of the kids would stand around with their backs to the wall, he would get out in the middle of the floor and dance…alone. But not for long, because soon other kids would join him
8. DS16 is uninhibited. See above.
9. DS16 loves to sing, and he sings with his whole heart. This is a good thing when he is worshipping. It is slightly less good when he puts on his MP3 player and sings at the top of his lungs in the driveway.
10. DS16 loves babies. He is drawn to them and loves to entertain them!
11. DS16 is a positive role model for his peers. Because he is uninhibited and outgoing and friendly, he sets an excellent example of how to be less self-absorbed and more concerned with others for his fellow high-schoolers.
12. DS16 has no prejudice. He does not care if your skin is black, white, pimply, pudgy. He doesn’t notice if your clothes are ill-fitting, expensive, unfashionable, dirty, stylish, worn out, . He looks at the person, not the package.
13. DS16 is competitive…in a friendly way. When he swims, he has been known to hang out at one end of the pool, waiting for others to catch up before completing his second lap. And then he puts on the speed and wins!
14. DS16 loves animals and always has. (No wonder we have six pets!)
15. DS16 loves sports. He is loyal to many teams, some even rival teams. He adores watching college football and Braves baseball.
16. DS16 is blessed with an extra chromosome that is a significant part of who he is. It does not define him, but it is one of many wonderful characteristics about him that make him who he is–a special young man, made in God’s image, who is loved very much by his family!