“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;” Deuteronomy 7:9
Never did I intend to give birth to 7 children. Two was my original number! One girl, one boy! But what did I know when I set out on my personal journey of wife and mother? How was I to know the plan the Lord had in-store for me to join Him in raising 7 incredible human beings. Now when I reflect on what life would have been like without our Joseph Leon Altaba Brown, I just can’t see it. It’s unimaginable!
Joseph is known as the child of generations. His first name, Joseph, is the name of his paternal great-grandfather, dad of his grandma. His middle name, Leon Altaba is the first and second names of both his maternal grand-father & great-grand father. Allow me to translate! Joseph his named after his great grandfathers on both sides. Both his dad’s & mom’s grandfathers.
Being the last of 7 children, and being named in memory of men that hold such honor in the hearts and minds of each family might seem a lot for a young person. Why would we do such a thing? As I mentioned previously, Joseph Leon Altaba Brown is our “child of generations”. When I was pregnant with Joseph, the lesson the Lord was teaching both my husband and I was that He, our Lord, was faithful from generation to generation unto those who love Him and keep his commands. (Deuteronomy 7:9 NIV)
Therefore, Joseph’s very name is a constant reminder of God’s faithfulness to His people. A God who is worthy of our praise. The God who defines who we are. The One who has made us in His image, and calls us by His name. The one who fills us with His Spirit and grants us gifts and talents by which He can reveal Himself through that He might be glorified.
Current Happenings & Goings On
Joseph is 14 years old. He will be turning 15 October 8th🎉. He shares a birthday with his Father, Jonathan. He loves all his siblings and shares an especially close relationship with both his sisters Tatiana (2nd born) & Elyona (5th born). He and his brothers enjoy competing with each other in basketball. But when playing street ball or against others, they definitely prefer to play on the same team, which truly gives them an unfair advantage against any competition. Joseph began 9th grade in August of this year at Pacifica Christian High School in Newport Beach. Contrary to most psychological studies, such as “Youngest Child Syndrome” (see link below), Joseph does not struggle academically, nor does he act out in attempt to get the attention of others in his family. He is freely loved and embraced by older siblings without leaving out the challenge for him to do his best in every area. Throughout his childhood Joseph often was given to prayer. He was seen as the one who got his prayers answered by the Lord, therefore he was asked to pray often.
Last year marked the end of Joseph’s homeschooling career where, although in 8th grade, he completed 9th grade level work and beyond with very high marks in all his course work. Joseph is academically strong, a high achiever. He usually carries straight A’s on his report cards in every subject. Joseph is multi-talented! He is also an excellent basketball player and has been playing at the highest levels. He is also an exceptional mathematician who completed Pre-Calculus in the 8th grade consistently getting A’s on his exams. He really enjoys building all sorts of things, but never spent much time playing with what he built! The enjoyment for him was in creating by building . He also enjoys producing music that has been used by his brothers in their songs. This beautiful team work between brothers on and off the court is a blessing to both my husband and I. Joseph’s goal is to play Division 1 basketball like brother Judah, and move on to the NBA. But he also aspires to own an automotive designing and engineering company.
Life experiences and Challenges
His first difficult situation at school has already occurred, the dilemma of being misunderstood and being pegged something he is not. It is a very difficult thing when you first encounter something like this. He has always had 8 other people who know him and understood his motives and didn’t judge him wrongly. Joseph is learning that not everyone understands that there are just some things he would never do because it’s not who he is or wants to be. He has known, but is now understanding personally, that the training and discipleship he received is not something everyone has had. Not only this, but that even those young people who have had exceptional discipleship might not handle situations appropriately. There will be times he will need to confront situations in much grace and forgiveness, when the Lord leads to confront. There will be other times when grace and forgiveness is all that is called for. We pray that he will learn to seek the Lord’s wisdom to discern which is necessary at any given time.
This situation did reveal a beautiful tender heart not hardened by the flesh or the ploys of the enemy. We comforted him when his heart was hurt by allowing him to share the pain through words, tears, or both. We embraced him and allowed him to emote. When he had gotten it all out, and taken a few breaths and was able to speak clearly, we encouraged him to continue to walk in kindness and consideration although the world around him might misinterpret his actions as something they are not. I am happy to say he returned to school the next day and reported that he had an absolutely wonderful day full of joy and mirth. Our children have all encountered hard times emotionally. One of the things we desire for our children is to help them become emotionally healthy. But our greatest desire is to train them up to understand the truth of who their God is, and who they are in light of this fact. This foundation has helped our children to become young people of sound mind.
“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
II Timothy 1:7
BIRTHDAY GIFTS, CARDS AND WELL WISHES
For those of you who would like to send Joseph a birthday gift for his upcoming 15th birthday here is his Amazon WISH LIST https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2SG6XVJGGM373?ref_=wl_share.
If you prefer to send a monetary gift here’s the Zelle Link.
If you wish to send him a birthday CARD contact me and I’ll send you our address.
Comments