Happy Birthday to the big brother of our family. The cutest, funniest, kindest, smartest kid on earth. Love everything about you Dane!
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This past year you began driving and working as a soccer coach at North County Soccer Park- a venue you used to play at when you were a small child! You are a wonderful coach and you have a strong connection with the kiddos you teach. You continue to play club soccer- your junior year, however, you had a setback with the high school team and decided to take a break from playing at school. Not an easy decision…but you are making the best of it as you always do.
You are still very into cooking and you grill and cook up all sorts of things for our family. This week you are on a salmon kick and you made a delicious grilled salmon for dinner last night. I love that you can come up with any main course or side dish and it’s much better than anything I could ever put together. One of your specialties is chicken parmesan. It’s delicious. This year our family brought home a dog for our big Christmas present. You are incredibly responsible with Coco and you take very good care of all her needs. This puppy makes you quite happy! You are for sure a dog person and you like to snuggle and run with her whenever possible.
You are conscientious with your school work, although there is certainly room for improvement. The problem is that school comes very easily to you, but sometimes you lack the discipline to really get to work and so you get fine grades, but you could be getting GREAT grades! I’ve come to accept this fact about you… you are a very calm and content kid and that’s an amazing quality that carries with it less of an urgency to work work work. Your Dad and I have that problem and it’s intense. Ha! So I love that you are more relaxed and confident about most things in your life. Everyone loves being around you Dane, because you make others feel loved and special. You are grateful and humble and a good listener. You are intuitive and thoughtful and funny. You have an amazing sense of humor and a heart of gold. These are qualities that never cease to amaze me!
Your favorite treat is s’mores mix and chocolate oranges. Favorite snack is white cheddar popcorn. Your favorite food is teriyaki noodles that you fry up yourself or else Panda Express orange chicken and chow mien. Your favorite TV show is Burn Notice; your favorite thing to do is play soccer, create recipes, hang with your friends: Jarron, Hiru, Hugo, Christoph, Tyler and Ryan, watch TV, and play with Coco. You are good about exercising every day and getting to sleep on time. You are very interested in business and you come up with a new business idea almost every month! Right now you buy thrift store clothes and then re-sell them! You also bought a heat press and have worked on starting your own clothing line— jorts, or sweatshirts with cool phrases. You love to think up great ideas and have lots of plans for your future in the business world. You love tropical life and would live on an island if you could! This year we traveled to Tahiti and you had the best time snorkeling, surfing, and exploring the island. We also traveled to Mexico and again, you adored that time near the coast.
You have an amazing sense of style and you dress extremely stylish. You spend a lot of time on this and it shows! You have the coolest hair and clothes and the cutest smile on earth. Your siblings absolutely adore you because you love them and you are a caring, kind big brother. You are always there for people in need. I don’t need to ask twice when there is someone who needs befriending…. You are there for that in every way. You reach out to others and think beyond yourself.
I was so proud of you this year as you decided to travel to India for 3 weeks with HXP. This was not an easy trip and you gave up a big portion of your summer to go build a school for the children there. You worked hard, made friends, built your testimony and grew in so many ways. You have always been able to do hard things and push on through when there is a challenge in front of you!
Dane, I can’t fully even express what a joy it is to be your mom and to have a person like you in my life. I just feel so very blessed in every way by your example and the amazing person that you are. I know your life will be full of everything wonderful- because you invite that energy and goodness in times of joy and times of sorrow. You know how to connect with God and those around you to find the good. That’s all we can really do in life and that is a skill you have down pat. I love you Dane! Happy 17th birthday!
