Adam

SO, let me tell you a little bit about my oldest. He's such a great kid.
It still blows my mind that I could have a 7th grader, but I do! AND he's going to be 13 soon. . . . that's right, . . . a TEENAGER! . . . To be honest, I don't worry about him, ONE BIT during the teenage years.
Every day, he takes an hour long bus ride to and from his middle school. The conditions on the bus are deplorable. Language is horrendous with the constant use of crude terms and even the "F bomb" is dropped numerous times. And these are only middle schoolers!
Yet, here's my sweet son, who takes his Mp3, and tunes out to the filth around him and tries to ignore it. At the end of last year, there was even an incident of one sixth grader being bullied by an 8th grader. The 6th grader "J" threatened the 8th grader "B" that he would go to the principal. "B" responded by saying that everyone on the bus would back him up and say that "J" was the one that actually started it. Then "B" looked around and said "you'll all back me up, right?" To which, MY Adam stood up and said "I won't! You totally started this, and I'm not going to lie about it."
"B" looked at him, then sat down. I was SOOO proud. Keep in mind, my Adam is one of the smallest kids in the school, and "B" is a large kid. Now, granted, it does help that I know "B's" mom, and he knows Adam and I (and it's been under good circumstances), but STILL, that took guts for Adam to do.
He has not seemed worried about being bothered or bullied. I LOVE that he's comfortable with who he is. He doesn't like to see kids get picked on, and tries to do his part.
He's been doing well in school, and has learned to play the trumpet. It is so fun for us to get to listen to him improving on it.
We are getting to the end of this soccer season, and a little sad that this will be his last season of being on the same team as the twins. Those three are SO fun to watch together.
Adam is a real leader on the field for the defense. He usually plays "sweeper" (for you soccer players out there :-) . He really commands this position! It's actually quite funny, because it's very noticeable when they pull him out of this position. Two weeks ago, we had an intense game. It was 1-0 late in the third quarter (our favor), and the coach pulled Adam out of the game to have a breather, and switched Isaac with an offensive player (Isaac is usually a guard for defense). Well within 2 minutes the other team scored TWICE> Adam's coach from last season was sitting by us, and was muttering "WHY would he pull Adam away from sweeper?!" After the 2nd goal, it was hilarious, when our coach, pointed to Adam, then out to "his position". He switched to sweeper, and there was an enormous cheer from our cheering side. It was hilarious! Adam stayed in as sweeper, and the other team was unable to score again.
It's definitely not all him, but they have an amazing defense when you combine their powers (MY three are referred to as the "Beck trio").
I love watching soccer.
I really love seeing Adam's personality come out more and more all the time too. He is so fun to talk to. Most mornings, it's just him and I, since he leaves for his bus, before the other kids have to wake up. We have great talks.
I am so happy that he has a great group of friends here. Our LDS group is really small, but they really seem to pull together and enjoy each others company. To me, that is a beautiful thing.
Basically, I am so proud of my oldest child. He's a great example to his five younger siblings, and most of the time seems to understand that. He is so sweet and wonderful with those little ones too. Keep in mind, he still acts like a turd sometimes, and is still very much a kid. . . but I really like him. The end.