Fourteen.

My Most Precious Boy,

DUDE.

FOURTEEN?!?

How in the world have FOURTEEN whole years passed since they placed you in my arms for the very first time?!? It feels like yesterday and somehow also like you’ve been part of me forever. I always knew I wanted to be a mom, but I had absolutely NO IDEA it was possible to love another human this much. I couldn’t have dreamed you up in my most perfect fairytale life. Fourteen years later, I am still completely smitten with you and absolutely blown away by the person you are becoming.

Zack, you are incredible. You are disciplined and driven, thoughtful and kind, ridiculously smart, quick-witted, hilarious, and a natural-born leader. You’ve somehow mastered the dad joke approximately twenty years before actually becoming a dad, and your perfectly timed puns and one-liners make us laugh every day. 😂 You have enormous goals and this quiet determination inside of you that makes me believe you can accomplish just about anything you decide to do.

And my goodness, you WORK.

This might be the busiest season of your life so far. You’re rocking school while simultaneously playing middle school football, Sports Beyond basketball AND baseball—because apparently one sport at a time would be way too boring. 😂 School, practice, games, homework, eat everything in our refrigerator, sleep, repeat.

And somehow, you’re THRIVING.

You’re maintaining a perfect 4.0 while taking the hardest classes available and managing a schedule that would exhaust most adults. You figured out something at fourteen that some people never figure out: wanting something isn’t enough. You have to work for it.

All those ridiculous early mornings when YOU dragged US out of bed because you wanted to get into the gym before school are paying off. You set a goal, make a plan, and attack it. Whether you’re a brick wall on the football field, working on your shot on the basketball court, or somehow crushing baseballs after picking up a bat approximately five minutes ago, you give everything you’ve got.

But as insanely proud as I am of all those things, none of them are what make me proudest.

It’s YOU.

Your character. Your integrity. Your work ethic. The way you lead. The way you treat people. The way you quietly serve without needing recognition. The way you love your family and friends. And the way you love Jesus.

Your faith isn’t loud or showy. It’s steady. It’s woven into who you are. I see it in your choices and your character and the way you treat people. People trust you. They want you on their team. They want to be around you. Watching the little boy I prayed over fourteen years ago become this young man absolutely blows me away.

And thankfully, you’re still completely ridiculous too. 😂

You bring SO MUCH FUN to our family. Every vacation is better because you’re there. Go-karts, roller coasters, scooter races, cannonballs, inside jokes, frozen pizzas, junk food, and laughing until our stomachs hurt. If there’s a way to make something faster, higher, crazier, or more competitive, you’re IN.

Those are some of my favorite memories in the world.

Zack, fourteen years ago I held this tiny baby boy and prayed that God would raise him to be a Mighty Man of God. I prayed that you would be strong and courageous, a man of integrity and great character, and that you would tenaciously pursue God’s will while keeping your heart tender toward His people.

And now I get to WATCH IT HAPPEN.

What an unbelievable gift.

So today and every day, I pray this prayer over your life…

Lord, thank you for the precious gift and miracle you have blessed us with in giving us Zack. I pray that you would raise Zack up to be a Mighty Man of God and a warrior for your kingdom. That he would love and serve you and love and serve your people and honor and obey us as his parents. And Lord, that you would give us great wisdom to be parents worthy of his love, honor, obedience, and respect!

God, I pray that Zack would be a man of integrity and great character. That he would be strong and courageous. That he would tenaciously seek you and your will, but that his heart would be tender in the pursuit of your people. Lord, I pray that your grace and mercy would pour out over his life and that he would accept your amazing gift of forgiveness every single day.

Lord, we are raising your precious child. He is not ours; he is a child of the Most High God. You have created every speck of sand on the shore, every star in the sky, and know every hair on his head…he is yours. Thank you for giving us the amazing opportunity to be his parents and love him every day of his life.

Protect him from injury, disease, and illness. Protect his heart from heartache. And Lord, please help me to always be his greatest fan and encourager.

Before I know it, he will be off to High School…and then college. All too soon I will hear “Zachariah David Pentz” announced as he walks across the platform and receives his diploma.

Lord, I pray even now for Zack’s future spouse. I pray that Zack would lay his life down for her as you did for your church. And someday, when Zack holds his own baby and gazes into that precious face, may he get a glimpse of this crazy, overwhelming love I have felt for him since the day he was born.

God, continue to shape him and form him into the Man of God that you have called him to be.

Amen.

My precious boy, fourteen years with you have gone impossibly fast. Sometimes I still see that little boy building LEGOs and laughing until his stomach hurt, and then I look up and see this incredible young man standing in front of me.

I am so ridiculously proud of you.

Not because of what you accomplish.

Because of who you are.

You are one of life’s absolute greatest gifts.

I love you. I love you. I LOVE YOU.

Happy FOURTEENTH birthday, my boy.

Forever and always,

Mom