Beloved of the King: 19 Years with a Brother

19 years ago today my brother Sam was born. Now this changed our family in a number of ways: instead of a family of 4 we became a family of 5, instead of only daughters a son was added, and we gained the blessing of a family member with special needs.

I don't think I really remember Sam being born (who can blame me, I was only 3 1/2 at the time) and as a result I cannot remember (or think) of life without him and nor would I want to. Sam has been a wonderful gift from the Lord. He is such a blessing and a delight. It breaks my heart a little bit inside to know that I can't be with him today to sing his favorite songs (including happy birthday to him) and repeat his favorite lines from Veggie Tales.

In honor of Sam today, I wanted to share some of the things I love most about him:

Sam does not go light on showing affection. He gives hugs and kisses all the time and if you're one of the select few, he will play with your hair (this is mostly Mom and Charley).
Sam has some groovy dance moves and he is not afraid to show them--pure joy and delight!
Sam has very pure emotions. What you see is what you get. If he is excited you can expect giggling, a huge smile, and him 'tickling' his hands together; if he is sad you can expect big tears falling from his big, brown eyes.
Sam is a goofball and he really is quite clever. Sometimes he might pretend he doesn't know who one of his favorite people is when they aren't where he wants them to be (for example, Sam loves the chorus teacher Mrs. West at high school but will many times pretend he doesn't know who she is at church). Sometimes Sam will sneak upstairs to get a snack (bread, crackers, cookies, etc.) and if he succeeds in eating it all he will put the box or bag back where he found it completely empty. If he gets caught, he will generally start dancing in order to distract us from what he's up to.
Sam loves to take people's drinks, he loves hiccups and burps, say P.U. skunk to him along with a few other words (gross, ick, nasty, feida) and you will have him laughing immediately.
He has a selection of songs he loves and a selection he does not want sung to him.
He loves being a part of the group. For example, last weekend when Michael and I went to hang out with my family at the lake house we all sat down to play some Mexican Train Dominoes and Sam came over and plopped down with us at the table.
Sam loves pictures of himself and the people he loves. We found a picture of the 5 of us with our cousins Jessi, Jordan, and Jackson from like 8 years ago and as soon as Sam saw it, he had to have it for himself to look at and admire, pointing out different individuals.
Sam in ornery. Try taking him on a walk sometime...I promise he will try to walk in the opposite direction every chance he gets. :)
Sam loves routine and he knows exactly the way things should go. For example, if we start driving down a certain street in Story City and don't follow through with going to Grandma's, he is not pleased. At church he runs out of the 'sanctuary' and down to the high school Sunday school classroom as soon as he is sure the service is over (sometimes this is a little early haha)
Sam loves pizza, cookies, pop, Subway, apples, carrots, beets, and potato salad (to name a few things).
Sam loves our dog Lacey. He loves going and laying on/next to her when she is on the floor, he pets her every day, and loves when she and our other dog Libby wrestle.
Sam has the best smile and the greatest laugh.

I could truly go on and on about the other ways Sam is a delight. He is such a beautiful picture of joy and honesty and truth. I am so thankful for him and wouldn't trade him for anyone else. The only thing I wish was different about Sam is his lack of desire to talk to me on the phone or over Skype...this makes me miss him more when I can't see him, but oh well :) I will just have to wait to sing him happy birthday another time.