Our 22-year-old son Samuel has racked up some pretty amazing accomplishments in his short life. He graduated homeschool high school at 16, he earned the title Chemistry Student of the Year at Tyler Junior College and shared the title “Organic Chemistry Student of the Year” with his brother David at UT Tyler, where he graduated with high honors at 18.

He spent the following year teaching biology labs at the local junior college (where he kept his age a carefully guarded secret, since he was younger than the majority of his students), waiting tables (since his dad told him doing so would make him a better doctor), and traveling abroad (he spent three months living in Guatemala and came home fluent in Spanish), before beginning medical school at 19. He is currently in his third year at UT Houston, doing his clinical rotations.

Samuel works and studies hard, but still finds time to read, run, play basketball, practice swing dancing, keep in touch with the family, and stay involved with church activities. We don’t get to see him nearly as often as we like, but FaceTime helps alleviate the pain of missing him.