Son.in.Law

Our very first son-in-law just drummed his way right into our hearts and and still keeps the beat, all these 10 years later, to the soundtrack that is our family-life.

Wow, we got spoiled.  We lucked out.  We got blessed.  We couldn’t have done it better if we’d spent years and years auditioning candidates.  God just knew.  He knew what we needed.  He knew what was missing for us, for you, too.  And He put you in our family, where you are looked up to as the big brother, the musical genius, the technological wizard, the guy who knows everything we need to find something out about.   Ask Tristan.  You’re like our very own, personal search engine.  AskTristanDotCom.  *smile

Happy Birthday to a man we are so grateful to call son, a man who loves our daughter and is raising three of the most amazing little kids ever.  You were born to be a part of us.  We are blessed.  Yes, happy-happy birthday, Tris!

That you are a good man, one for which we can thank God everyday, is evidenced by Stephanie’s success and deepening beauty.  That you are a trustworthy and righteous man is proven by the honoring and great-hearted children you are raising, so loved and so loving, each distinctively developing their own joy-bringing personalities.  Your family, Steph and the kids, look at you in a way that says: Tristan is in his element, right where God created him to be.

We so appreciate and admire your bravery and courageousness in providing for your family creatively.  We applaud the sacrifices you’ve made for the greater good and commend you for good choices in hard times.  Yours is a colorful, thriving, gorgeous family.  All you are doing right – shows.

Your parents got you at birth.  You are their son, the best of the best, the great product of the heritage they have given you.  But then God knew what we Rhoadeses would need.  And He sent you our way as a gift.  And that was a blessing for us.  So we celebrate your birth.  And we thank your parents for the way they raised you.  And we thank God for showing us His favor in this way.

Here is my birthday card for you, Tristan.  It’s a little of what I see and what makes me thank God for you.  Much love.  ~ The m-i-l.