10 Years of our Sweet Beefy....

10 Years ago today, at 8:03 am to be exact.... Chris, Isaiah, & I welcomed the 4th Nelson to our family. It was a time of much uncertainty as we all knew that soon Chris would be leaving for a year in Iraq. We were still unaware of the date (which turned out to be 3 months from this day exactly!) But we didn't let that stand in the way of celebrating our new little boy.

It's hard to believe that 10 years have passed so quickly!

Life has a way of doing that to a person.

We made it through Daddy's time away (15 months to be exact.) 

This is how Ian looked when Daddy left.

And this is about what our 2 boys looked like when Daddy returned.

(Quite a difference 15 months can make when they are little!)

We also had many other adventures. We experienced Ian's love for all things trains! This is when he was truly our little "beefy" boy. 

And have watched him love his favorite things, MichaelAngelo & Snuggie.

I just simply LOVE his curly top!

And then of course there are those pictures that simply melt Mom's heart.

Like this "Rambo-esk" photo taken at the home of our fabulous friends, the Kindleys.

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And here he is just days before our 3rd little treasure was born.

Again... loving those incredibly adorable curls!

Here is my handsome little man with a few less curls... so sad, but his active little self was getting too hot! At least he still had the curl in front!

This photo is by far one of my favorite Ian photos from his "babyhood." 

My how quickly that little baby began to grow!

Here is our boy when he turned 5. And we love that he has to have a special pound cake in addition to his decorated cake... because he doesn't like icing! This special cake was made by his Great-Gran. I don't think that anyone else's cake can truly ever live up to hers in his mind!

We love that he willingly joins us in ministry & makes us laugh in the process!

We also love that he always wears "cool" glasses.

And I love that of the 3, he has always been his Mama's boy.

We love that he is compassionate & loves caring for others (including the furry kind)

 We have been through lots of ups & downs as a family. And we cared for Chris together after his nasty car accident. And of course, we have all dealt with that experience in different ways. We admire the faithfulness that Ian has in his prayers & his faith that his God can do anything!

He is such a blessing to our family. We can't wait to see what the future has in store for our Ian,

Beefy... you are Extraordinary!