Happy Belated Birthday to My Wonderful Brother Andrew!

My baby brother's birthday was the other day and I totally forgot it . . so sorry Andrew. Andrew is a wonderful brother! Actually Andrew and I have a special bond. Back when I was in the second grade I started praying for a baby brother. I was the oldest of three girl in my family - I was born first, then my sister Stephanie and then my sister Michelle. I had so much faith that I started telling people that my mom was going to have a baby boy. The funny thing is my mom and dad were not planning on having any more babies. During a parent teacher conference with my second grade teacher my mom was surprised when Mrs. Meyers said to her, "Congratulations! I hear you are expecting another baby!" My mom was shocked. She quickly informed her that she wasn't pregnant but that I had been praying for a baby brother and that I had so much faith that I just started speaking that baby into existance :-) Well,the summer before I went into third grade we were at our lake house which we went to every summer. I will never forget this . . .my mom came up to me and said, "Emily either I am pregnant or I am dying." I was so excited . . I knew she wasn't dying :-) !!!! Sure enough she was pregnant and you don't know how excited we all were when she had the baby and found out it was my brother Andrew. My dad was so excited to have a son that he actually was running through the hospital halls telling everyone he had a boy! Throughout the years Andrew and I have had some miracle incidents. One day when he was about 9 months old, my mom was in the kitchen making breakfast . . she opened the fridge door to get a bottle of Cranberry Juice Cocktail (back in those days it was a glass bottle not plastic) as she was reaching for the bottle Andrew climbed up in front of her . . . at that time I was walking into the kitchen and something inside me told me to pickup Andrew. I walked over and as I picked him up and started to walk away . . .the bottom half of the juice bottle broke and fell right where Andrew would have been if I had not picked him up. Other things happened like that between us . . .we will always have a special bond between us. Now, years later he is a senior pastor of a thriving and growing church. He and his wife Heidi took over the church with maybe 100 people. Now just a few years later they are running close to 1000. He is an awesome pastor, son, uncle, husband , brother and father. He has two beautiful girls Emily Grace and Ansley Faith. Everyone loves him . . he has such a kind and giving heart. Andrew, Happy Birthday! I love you little brother!