Friday, September 24, 2010

Gavin's World

Since we spent most of Gavin's actual birthday waiting for his cousin to be born at the hospital, we had a mini celebration a few days later. Here are some pictures from his party.






Gavin's brothers made him homemade cards. They were so excited about Gavin turning 4 years old! So, as soon as I reminded them that his birthday was coming up, they went hard to work making the perfect cards for him!



I absolutely adore that my older boys put so much effort into celebrating Gavin! There are many people in our lives who seem to forget about Gavin's birthday. It's probably because they figure he can't do anything anyway and maybe they figure he doesn't know the difference either. This kind of makes me feel sad, but my boys definitely make up for it! They treat Gavin like they would treat anyone else and this makes me very happy!

You can see in the picture above what Nolan wrote on his card to Gavin. He wrote Gavin's name and then put words that describe Gavin, by using the letters of Gavin's name. For G, he put "great boy", for A, he put "adorable and awesome" and for I, he put "important." The "I" description really got to me, because I look at Gavin as being important, but I know that many people seem to look at Gavin as just being here and not as a person with a purpose. I was happy to see that Nolan sees the importance of Gavin, because in the broad picture, Gavin really has more to teach us than a lot of people that I know do!

Gavin may not be able to talk, walk or play a major roll in his own life, but his being here creates huge lessons for people to learn. He shows us that we are very blessed and that we shouldn't take things for granted. He shows us that you can be happy, even when life is difficult. He shows us love. He shows our boys the meaning of being caring, helpful and loving to others. And, he shows us that being dependent is actually a great thing! Gavin is very dependent on us, and this has made our family become less selfish and more giving of ourselves. And, it has shown us that we are dependent as well.....dependent on the help and goodness of others and, most importantly, dependent on God!

Outside of our home, Gavin might not be considered by others very often, but in our home he is a huge part of our world! We look at Gavin as an equal.....and sometimes we even look at him as being better than us! Gavin's world is full of love and happiness! So, when his birthday comes around, we really celebrate the gift of him!

We give him gifts that he may not be aware that he is even getting:



And, we make him cake and cupcakes, even though he isn't able to eat them:



And, we gather together and Thank God for the blessing of Gavin in our life for one more glorious year!




Because Gavin wasn't supposed to even live this long! And, we aren't guaranteed another year with him. And, because Gavin is a beautiful boy,





who has feelings and who makes us laugh,



and who gives us a sense of great purpose,



and a sense of PURE JOY!



It may have been Gavin's 4th birthday last week, but we are the ones that have been given a gift!


"Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!" Psalm 68:19

12 comments:

Colleen said...

Those cards made me almost tear up! He is blessed to have such wonderful brothers as they are blessed to have Gavin in their lives. Isaac's big sister is a caring and accepting little girl because of her brother. These special little ones teach us so much about God's love and what really matters in life.

Anxious AF said...

Love Gavin, love his brothers! So precious!

Annette Gysen said...

God can give only good gifts, and it's touching to see that Gavin's brothers understand that. Yes, Gavin is very important. And awesome and adorable.

Shan said...

Beautiful, beautiful pictures :) What a blessing he is indeed!

Debbie said...

you are doing an amazing job and your boys are a reflection of that!

Gavin is one lucky boy as much as you are one blessed family to have him!

C said...

I'm sorry that there are people who make you feel that Gavin's birthday isn't important! He is important and so is his Birthday!! I'm so glad that your other boys realize how special Gavin is. I think sometimes that is must be harder on boys to get that concept. Your boys are naturals!


I love seeing the pictures that you post of Gavin- he is soooooo cute! And your nephew is cute too! Congratulations on being an Aunt.

Grandma Doty said...

Gavin....you truly are a Blessing to your family, and in your wonderful brothers words "important," "adorable," and "AWESOME!" What would we do without our precious, God-given miracle boy GAVIN!!!! Happy "4th" Birthday darling boy. I'm so glad that I was able to spend your special "being" day with you at the hospital awaiting your BEST present, cousin Tate Doty Burton!
I thank God for you all.

Much Love, Grandma Doty

HennHouse said...

What a beautiful post...

And what a beautiful family... such handsome boys!

Happy Birthday, Gavin!

April said...

HAPPY HAPPY birthday sweet Gavin! Those cards just melted my heart!
I'm so glad you were able to celebrate the miracle of him!!!

Amy said...

This one made me cry! So beautiful and SO TRUE! Gavin is the greatest gift, and I'm so blessed to be able to call him my nephew. And now my own gift of a son shares his birthday...what a blessing for us all! We love you!

Tina said...

Happy Birthday Gavin, you are very precious, important, adorable and a whole lot of other things I can think of. I hope you had a wonderful day with the people who love you the most in the world. I love your smile....so perfect, makes me smile.

Unknown said...

You couldn't have said it better. He is a gift and has so much to offer. Glad you had a great celebration and Happy Birthday Gavin!!!!