Well, a more beautiful day to celebrate your birth, I cannot imagine.  I know Stephanie and the kids have been scheming and plotting and you will have a whole weekend of fun and delight for they love you so.  And with good reason: you are such a great daddy to those grandbebes of ours and we are so thankful that you married Stephanie almost 11 years ago now.

I totally remember dad spending some time with you and saying, “I wish one of our girls would go for him.  That guy has great spiritual  insight and a good head on his shoulders.”  And though we weren’t really particular about which girl, we should have known, that Stephanie, insightful and sharp-minded as she is, was already discovering what a great catch you were.

So on your birthday, when you’ll be getting lots of gifts, we are hoping to get continued credit for the gift of a gorgeous red-head (or platinum blond, or raven-haired beauty, or whichever phase she is in) to be your wife.  It has been a pretty fortuitous and mutually beneficial situation for all of us, I think.  My daughter got the man of her dreams, who turned out to be a WONDERFUL man, at that.  And the love between you has produced 3 amazingly, quite-above-average, wondrous grandbebes that light our lives.  And in return, you get Stephanie and all of us.  :)  And we all love you so.

The proof of this has been reflected in my blogs since 2007.

Here is what I have been saying about you!

2011 {click the year to read the whole post}

Last year I tried to put my words on a “card” and the cool thing is, I could have used a whole billboard and still have filled the space.  It was all true then and it is all true now.

2010

Stephanie threw a fun soiree in the backyard, complete with a photo booth and old-fashioned root beer.

I couldn’t help teasing you for not getting that marital permission first!  :)

Almost 9 years ago you married our multi-prismed, colorful, feisty, yet tender Stephanie.  What a gentle treasure she’d found.  What a trustworthy man, fit to hold her heart and walk along in life with her, covering her.  We were so pleased then and have not ever for one second had any regret or fear about whether or not she’d done the right thing…even though you forgot to ask permission first {we really do forgive you!  haha}.  And you became our son.  A new son – all grown up and finished (thank you Larry and Chyrl Kelley: GREAT job.  Truly!).

2009

You were turning 29 and Stormie made you a Timpano!  Which I referred to as “glorious.”  And of course there was a fruit pizza, which you know I love to have you request..

I also wrote 29 wishes for your 29th birthday.  Here are a few:

• I wish you 50% off days at Mile-High Comics every Labor Day!
• I wish for your full talent as a musician to be recognized beyond your wildest dreams and that you be compensated duly.
• May you get all the best drumsticks and Zildjian cymbals you ever need.
• I wish for you to have good students: the kind who don’t waste your time and who will really learn from the treasure-trove of musical knowledge you possess.
• I pray that as you have dared2work at dare2share, you’ll  get credit in heaven for the harvest!
• Tris, I hope you will always be strengthened by knowing that you are so well loved by our whole family.

I still REALLY wish you had taken me up on number 27.  It was a GOOD wish!

But please accept #29 again, and for always:

And finally?  I pray for God to bless you back, in the same kind and with the same measure with which you have loved us, shown respect to us, honored us and become a part of us.  And if He answers that prayer, and I know He will, you will be blessed – on your 29^th birthday and always.  And I am believing for that!

In Paris earlier this year

2008

In 2008, I said all sorts of things I loved and appreciated for you.  And I made you 2 fruit pizzas.  And I prayed this prayer over your life:

Grace to you, Tristan, and peace.   Be blessed with provision through your giftings and abilities, both the technological and the artistic-musician sides.   I pray that resources make themselves available and that your resourcefulness will become an even greater and valued commodity!

May you be preserved in blamelessness your whole life long.   May your beautiful wife bring you joy and your children, great delight.   May God hear all your prayers and your secret heart’s desires and answer   you in times of trouble.

I pray that, while should it ever fall my lot –  I would defend you to the death, may the Lord be your defender and protector and  may He keep you safe on every side.

I pray that you, planted firmly by living waters, will begin to see the fruitfulness of your faithfulness before God and that this next year will bring blessing on every side, provision, new opportunities and new open spaces.   I pray that we’ll see the explosion of the color of you all around,  for this new time and place and new year for you and you family.

I just love reading old prayers, actual petitions before the LORD and realizing that He has faithfully and lovingly answered them fully!  SO COOL!  Happy Birthday to Tristan, I hear Him saying!

2007

You actually created this blog for me in November of 2006.  Sometime in 2007, I realized I could tell the world how much I loved my family.  I was just plain effusive, talking about how you came to us and described what you looked like when we first met:

…I believe he was wearing all black including a leather coat.  He had bleached-blond spiked-up rock-star hair with a lip piercing and those really big plug-style-earrings.  But he was not frightening at all.  Not in the least.  Rather there was sort of this gentle uprightness about him…

I remembered how you reignited the zeal to worship God musically for us, and mentored Rocky past his hear-and-play methods.   And about how when you got in the car accident on I-25 on an icy Colorado morning and Stephanie called me at work, quite concerned and overcome with tenderness and care, the light had dawned, me finally realizing:  Ooooohhhh-my baby girl is in love, with some one she had already let us know was the “best drummer in the world.”

On Father’s Day 

Yes, Tristan, I have been talking about you for years, behind your back and on my blog and hopefully enough to your face that you know I appreciate you, thank God for you and today, like always, I wish for your birthday and every single day of your life to be blessed and joyful.  Also, like always, THANK-YOU to Cheri and Larry for raising a wonderful son and sharing him with us.

Happy Birthday, Tristan. {mom}