Happy Birthday Braden

Braden Perry Cox is 14 years old today. As a teenager,  you can’t really get as excited as you used to about the big birthday party and all the new toys you hope you will get; however, our 14-year-old was up at 7 this morning and waking us up just to remind us what day it was! That beats the time of day he woke me up on the day he was born – from about 1 am on May 7 until 7:45 that same night, he kept me up, letting me know he was on his way!nnBraden is our “guinea pig kid”. We tried out our parenting skills on him first – what a great sport he’s been. Thankfully, we’ve matured as he has. And he is still maturing into a responsible, caring, strong man with a quick wit and a quick mind. He’s at the age now where he gets most of our jokes, and we get most of his! His dad can still put him in the floor, but it’s becoming more of a challenge. His mom loves to watch him perform his nightly chore of drying the dishes while his sister washes – it’s gonna help make him a great husband someday. He has so many qualities we admire: he loves justice, but his sensitive heart makes him partial to mercy; he loves to antagonize his sister, but he also just loves her; he loves to travel, explore new places, and practice independence, but he still loves to share stories from each day with his mom and dad. We love you, Braden. We couldn’t be prouder of the man God is maturing you to be. Happy birthday.