Happy Birthday, Austin!

"Hey Austin, this is such a classic picture of you (Berchtesgaden, Germany) enjoying the best of God's creation wherever you might find it and whenever you possibly can. The beard, the glean in your eye and the perfect smile on your face capture it all. You were always this way about the natural beauty that reflects the grandeur of His handiwork. Mom and I often recall (How could we ever forget?) your colic character as a newborn and that few things ever really settled you. But there were two things we could always rely upon as fail-safe guarantees to calm your spirits, one quite unnatural and the other all too natural.

For whatever reason that first time you heard a blow dryer, while lying and crying (rather screaming) in your bouncy looking up at Mom while she prepped for the day in the bathroom, it oddly enough seemed to naturally sooth your soul. And of course to this day you, and the rest of us Kruggel's for that matter, need (we almost must have) the unnatural noise of a fan to put us to sleep at night. Maybe it's your mechanical side that the sound of a motor satisfied even at your infancy stage of life.

And then there was that time, at one of those many times that you simply could not settle down at all, still crying and screaming, that only the accidental decision to provide you with a change of scenery seemed to meet your every need. Mom took you outside on the back deck in Seattle (still in that bouncy), and looking up at those swaying evergreen trees blowing in the wind you were mesmerized to such a degree that your whole body seemed to go limp. After that all one could hear was the breeze rustling through the tree limbs. And even today I suspect that you'd rather hear that sound more than most any other.

So, Happy Birthday Austin. The sight and sound of what God's created to display His majesty for His joy and the joy of all His people is probably the best birthday gift you could ever receive. Bask in His beauty, and rest in the peace of knowing that we're moving toward something even sweeter and away from something fading.

I (we) love you,

Dad (& Mom)