My Eldest Son - Caleb

I love my first born.  Of course, I love all of my kiddos.  Contrary to what many parents may try to tell you, you love each of your kids differently.  You have different connections with them.  They have different "languages" in which the share their love with you.  There are certainly similarities, but since no child is the same, it is impossible to love them the same.

"Hey Caleb, let me get a picture of you."

"How about a better picture?"

"Nevermind, I'll just use one from awhile ago."

I am the father of four and the first is my son Caleb.  Caleb is named for Caleb in the Bible.  He was one of the twelve spies Moses sent to Canaan to check out the promised land.  Caleb, along with Joshua, were the only two of the twelve that came back with positive, faithful reports of the land.  The other ten bemoaned the people of Canaan being giants and impossible to conquer.

Caleb is the reason all of our kids have Biblical names.  If Caleb had been born a girl, her name would have been Emily.

Caleb is from the Hebrew word Kalebh, literally meaning "dog-like".  My wife (who has her own blog) will try to tell you Caleb means "courageous", but I am not sure where she got that definition from.  The closest, alternate, meaning of Caleb's name I have found is "whole hearted".

With Caleb, we also started our effort to honor our parents.  Each of our kids shares the middle name of one of our parents.  Caleb's is name for my dad:  Caleb Miles Halverson. (Miles, btw, means "soldier".)

I am proud of my son.  He has an honest heart an accepting mind and a empathetic soul.  He has a very sensitive spirit and I pray that I teach and train him well.

Our recent conversations have been about integrity.

I love that Caleb loves things I love.  I understand it is because I am his dad, but it is still cool.  There are many things I can't wait to share with him (like the Matrix) and other things we already enjoy together (like Star Wars and Star Trek).

C ourageous
A ccepting
L oving
E mpathetic
B old

Here is a quick video of him.  Was I ever that goofy?  I love his laugh.