Mark is 22

Another Happy Birthday Post. This time my firstborn son, Mark Christopher is turning 22 years old.

So 22 years ago today, I went to church. It was a Wednesday night. I started having contractions during the service. Nothing major, real light contractions. I timed them and they were real irregular. So after the service we just went home. We remembered three years earlier when we had Casey how long I labored in the hospital. I didnt want to lay in that bed for so many hours so we just went home and went to bed. A couple of hours later I woke Todd up. (Early to bed, early to rise is his motto) Anyway, I woke him up and told him it was getting stronger and we should probably go on. He said, well lets wait for one more contraction. Another contraction came, I woke him again, he said AGAIN - One more contraction. That went on for 3 or 4 contractions or so and then all of the sudden a really loud gushing sound woke him up. Yep, my water broke. I said, "I told you we needed to go". He never got out of the bed so fast. hehehe So we headed out. We got to the hospital and the nurse told me to "HOP" up onto the table. I looked at her like she was from another planet. No HOPPING happening. Turns out when they checked me I was ready. They called Dr. Godfrey who ran 3 red lights to get there before he was born about 45 minutes after arriving at the hospital. (No medication!) So turns out we didnt have to stay in that bed for hours laboring. That day Mark was ready to go. Two weeks later we celebrated his first Christmas! Mark has pretty much been ready to go ever since. He LOVES to GO more than anybody I know. He has already been more places than I have ever been my whole life thats for sure. This is one of the pictures he took on one of his trips.He is smart, adventurous, funny, helpful, and fun. He loves sports and still stays involved in as many as he has time for. This is Mark (on the left) and his friend Ben(who he is still friends with even though they dont get to see each other much.)

This is the night he won the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame Top Scholarship! We are just as proud of him now as we were that night.He loves hunting deer and duck too. He sure didnt get that from his dad. He is really a well rounded person with lots of interests. He is always ready to do something new and always has been. This is a picture of when he was "Clifford the Big Red Dog" for a contest in First Grade. He won $10! I am pretty sure he doesnt read my blog so he will in no way be embarrassed by it. hehehe I am very proud of who he is. I wonder what God has in store for his future. Whatever it is I know it will be great. So Happy Birthday Mark! We love you more than you can know.