This is my first born. Quinton is his name. Last month he turned 13! Treize – dreizehn – trece – THIRTEEN! It sounds so cliche to say, “Where did the time go?” but seriously… how the heck did 13 years just go by?! As I come to grips with the fact that I have a teenager, that I birthed, in my house… let me tell you a little bit about him.

Quinton is a natural born leader. If I had one word I could use to describe him, that would be it. Leader, “Someone who has the ability to inspire others to achieve tasks and goals that they might not other wise be capable of reaching.” {Urbandictionary.com}

My miracle baby is living the promise that God gave us when he was the size of a walnut in my womb.

He even won the Leadership Award, presented to him by our local MPP on behalf of our Prime Minister, The RT Hon Steven Harper.

This past summer, Quinton, who was twelve at the time, joined a whack of pre-teens in Texas with a group called Global Expeditions. They trained for a couple of days, learned some team building skills and skits, and headed off to Lima, Peru for a 10 day mission’s trip. In total he was gone for two-weeks.

Releasing him to go was a very hard thing to do but I knew he needed to go. It is part of the calling God has on his life. Now he’s planning to join our church’s mission trip to Romania next summer and his eleven year old sister wants to go with him! I have some more praying to do… 🙂

Quinton has always thought of others first. It’s an important value that we hold dear and one we’ve tried to instill into our children. We aren’t here on this earth for just ourselves. Although we can and should enjoy the journey ~ we were created for a greater purpose. Q gets it. Q lives it.

Tonight we will be celebrating his 13th birthday. Instead of all his friends and family coming together to give him things he wants but really doesn’t need, he’s made it about others. Teenagers who are without a home to be precise. Thanks to the inspiration of Foodlovekw.ca, The 5 Dollar Project & the Twitter hashtag #50teens4christmas Quinton has asked everyone to bring gift cards and items for R.O.O.F. {Reaching Our Outdoor Friends}. His gift to himself comes in the form of helping others, it’s deeper and the feeling of euphoria lasts longer than if he was to get a new toy or gadget!

If you’re in the Kitchener-Waterloo area tonight, Nov 22, 2011, come by the Kitchener Gospel Temple between 7-9pm and join us for some cake and a bit of floor hockey… one condition… you must bring some gift cards {$5-10 denominations} to Timmies, McD’s, Shopper’s Drug Mart, Phone Cards, Bus Tickets, etc. with you!

When asked why he wanted to do something like this, his simple answer, “… you get happy when you help make others happy”. It brings great joy to him to help others!

To give is better than to receive. That’s not just a phrase Jesus spoke… it’s actually been proven by Scientists that our bodies react in a positive way when we give, it can be tracked biologically!

“We think we are unhappy because of what we don’t have. But we are unhappy because of what we are not giving.” ~ Marianne Williamson

Thanks in advance to those who are helping Quinton reach his goal to help other teens have an incredible Christmas this year. Thank you to the anonymous donor who saw my tweet for help and shipped 50 high-tech {solar & hand cranked power} flashlights. Thanks to Melissa and Jodi for inspiring our family this holiday season!

Thank you to my son ~ for making it so easy and fun to be your mom. 

His two younger brothers were going to join him in this as they also had birthdays this year but no party, but at nine and six years of age… they’re just not there yet. And that’s OK. They have to get to this understanding on their own.