Today my Caleb turns eight years old. And as cliched as it is to say, it’s true: I can’t believe it’s already been eight years.

He is stubborn, absent-minded, insanely slow to eat his dinner, impossible at times to reason with and occasionally makes us want to pull our hair out (or in my case, pull someone else’s hair out, I guess). In other words, he’s a child.

He is sweet, loving, kind. He loves to help, he loves to snuggle up to you and he loves to tell you how much he loves you. His heart is humongous. His compassion and tenderness put me to shame.

When he was younger, he used to say “I love you all the way to God’s heart.” Occasionally he would add “all the way to Heaven and back.” No matter how mad he can make me (and boy can he), when drops the silliness and talks to me like the sweet and thoughtful child he is, I just melt.

I’m so thankful to my Lord for the blessing of Jack, Caleb and Joshua. I love them, and their mother, all the way up to God’s heart. It is said that the first impression a child has of God’s love comes from observing his own dad’s love for him. I pray that I do a good enough job showing my kids how much their father (and their Father) loves them: All the way to Heaven and back.