A Year Today

It is officially one year since my Josh entered the MTC as a full-time servant of the Lord.  It has been a year of amazing growth for him - and it has been wonderful to see.  I am grateful for the opportunity that he grasped to serve.  He is a better, stronger, more spiritual, kinder, gentler man than he was when he left.  Congrats on the year mark, son, you make me proud.

Happy 20th Elder Crowther!

Newborn Josh

Today my son is 20 years old.  Whoa.  I can't even wrap my mind around it and yet, it is true.  Seems even more unreal because it's the first birthday I haven't celebrated with him.  I just can't fathom him leaving his teens and being grown-up and mature (okay, maybe he's not mature, but he did leave his teens!).

Actually, I have a feeling that he is different from the young man I last hugged in October of 2011.  There has been growing and stretching and learning in him.  He has had challenges and experiences that have shaped him.  I have absolute faith that this mission in Korea was the very best path for him.  The only path, really, for him to become the man I always knew he could be and the man that God wanted him to be.

A few memories of my Josh:

• As a newborn, he'd go right to sleep if you scratched his back.  He still goes right to sleep when you scratch his back.
• His favorite movie as a toddler was Dumbo.  He loved it when the mama elephant rocked little Dumbo to sleep.  We watched it 3 times a day, every day for months.
• For years, he was a Power Ranger for Halloween.
• Up to age 6, he refused to eat any foods that were the color green.  
• He liked getting dressed up for church in nice pants, a white shirt, and tie.  For his 8th birthday and baptism, he insisted on a suit.
• As a 4th grader, he was put in charge of creating and maintaining his class website.  He and computers have a symbiotic relationship.
• When he started cooking on his own, he liked to get creative with the ingredients.  I distinctly remember the slightly under-cooked scrambled eggs seasoned with cinnamon.
• The first time a girl broke his heart, he came to me and wept in my arms.
• He drives like a mad-man.  I blame myself.  It's those darn Gresko genes.
• He stole the basketball on the inbound pass in game after game after game with those lurpy arms of his.  
• The look on his face on Skype when I opened up his mission call with it facing the camera and he read the word "Korea".

Happy birthday Josh - I love ya!

The Dumbo phase - about 20 months

Looking good on his 5th birthday

Hiking together when he was in 6th grade

Those long arms in basketball

Dropping my boy off at the MTC

Taken just a couple of days before his 20th birthday in Korea.  I love that he looks so happy!  And he's wearing the tie I sent him :)