Today's your Birthday---Happy, Happy Birthday!!!

(Christian's birthday is May 3rd. I'm posting this early because of the time difference in Germany)

Christian with braces at age 15!

Today's post is dedicated to Doc-2. It's his Birthday. A long time ago, a tall skinny kid with a goofy haircut and a funny accent came to our family. On this blog I refer to him as Doc-2 because he is in med school. Then we called him trouble!! Only kidding! His real name is Christian. He has a very large piece of our collective heart!

(I'm sure you know the drill by now...but...just in case you don't...CLICK on any photo to enlarge!)

He is tall, funny, smart, hates riding in cars, dislikes nature, loves playing sports, works hard, is a little (ok...a lot) anal retentive and is never, ever grouchy.Count on Christian to be making a goofy face!
The picture on the lower left perfectly captures our three youngest! SonMarie: asleep. Christian: hamming it up. Johnny Mike: imitating both of them!

I have a baby book for Christian. All of the pictures are of him at 15 and older! He is 6 foot 4 inches and 30 years old today and he is still one of my baby boys!!

The summer he came here, from Germany, he had just turned 15. His parents wanted him to come to the U.S. He didn't really want to...If he had to go anywhere he wanted to go to Great Britain. But he was sent to the Kansas. (Where is Kansas, anyway?)His high school picture from his first year in Kansas!

When he arrived in Kansas the family that had promised to give him a home backed out on their promise (Lucky for us...but, wait, I don't believe in luck! A blessing for us!) At school enrollment, I heard of a kid who was in need of a home...the wheels in my brain began to go "clunk...clunk..clunk" (they were a little rusty!) I ran home, asked Doc and the other six kids living at our house that summer, if we should have him live with us. Doc said "Don't ask them, their vote doesn't count. This is not a democracy. I run a benevolent dictatorship!" pause.......listen for the crickets......holding our collective breath......"I think we should have him live here!" the benevolent dictator had spoken!!!

It was an adjustment for Christian. In Germany he was an only child. Here there were so many kids that he had to share a room and even a bed, sometimes! In Germany, he often ate, alone, whatever he found in the frig. Here he was expected at the table every night, no matter if he was hungry or not. In Germany he was his own boss. Here he had to take turns, watch the movie everyone else wanted to watch, get permission before going out and tell us goodnight before bed!

But, surprisingly, he made the adjustment quite easily.



So Christian became a part of our family. He was, alas, a normal teenager. He got braces. Pleaded with us until he got a Driver's License. He liked to argue, missed curfew a couple of times and almost flunked American History. He was a normal teenager and we loved him to bits!



When his parents let us become his legal guardians we were so delighted!!! SonMarie said "Now he will be in our family forever!" We went to Germany to meet them and to thank them and learned their amazing story. They were all originally from East Germany. They all escaped! Even Christian escaped when he was 8 years old. He had never tasted a banana. He had been told at school to never turn on a night light 'cause American missiles were always looking for targets. How sad!

So we brought home our German son, the one with two sets of parents. He found out that lots of kids have more than one set of parents...no big deal...not so hard to explain to people...hardly raised an eyebrow.

Chris, putting on a Monkey Suit for Prom!

The years passed. Christian won a medal at the State swim meet. He went to prom. He played American football. He went to college. He got a Masters in Bio-Chemical Engineering.

Graduating from Dad's Alma mater with honors---did I mention that we're proud of him!?!

Christian and I, the day he left for Med School in Germany!

He decided he wanted to be a doctor, after all, just like 3 of his 4 parents! So he went back to Germany to attend Med School, for financial reasons. He is almost done. We miss him so much. So far he has been home every year, for at least one month each time. Sadly, this year he won't get to come to Kansas. He is in his internship and can't leave.

So, this post is for my baby boy in Germany...we love you very much and can't wait to get you in our arms again!!!


Happy, Happy Birthday, Son!! I know you hate it when I cry so, I'm not crying as I write this...really I'm not (sniff, sniff...hand me that tissue).


All our love and most of our money,

Mom and Dad

PS...Say "Hi!" to your other parents!! We are forever indebted to them for sharing you with us!!