Meat Eater

Our sweet little boy has reached a milestone in his life. Yes, that's right, he is a meat eater. It seems like an important rite of passage or something, so I thought I'd write a post. We had a pork roast last night, and I've got this cool little baby food grinder, so we made some for Zach too. Here he is thoroughly enjoying his first meal as a carnivore.

River Walk

We went to Naperville a couple days ago to enjoy a walk by the river. There was much more shopping than nature, but it was still very lovely, and we had a great time! Bethany enjoyed the day quite a bit - she splashed in a fountain for quite a while, and played hide-and-go-seek behind a tree.

What did you say?

Bethany makes us laugh every day. She comes up with creative ideas and communicates them so very clearly to us. Because it's Sunday, and we went to church this morning, I'll include church themed conversations we've had with her... This was my conversation with her today in the car on our way home from Sunday School.
"Can you remember the verse you learned in Sunday school today? "The Lord your God will be with you..."
"Wherever you go!"
"Awesome. Does that mean He's with us in the car?"
"Yes."
"And when we go to the park? And the grocery store?"
"Yes."
"If He's with us wherever we go, does that mean we can talk to Him whenever we want?"
"Yes."
"And how do we talk to God?"
"We could email Him."

And last week, she told me all about the story she learned from the Bible.
"Bethany, what did you learn about in Sunday School today?"
"We learned about Joseph."
"Oh, and what did you learn about Joseph?"
"That his daddy gave him a coat."
"Really, what was special about the coat?"
"It had lots of colors on it."
"And what did Joseph's brothers do to him?"
"They took his coat and ripped it up."
"Then what happened?"
"Then Jesus, you know Jesus, he taped it back together. How nice was that?!"

Her details get a little mixed up, but she seems to understand some of the concepts in Scripture. Here's my personal favorite...
Bethany was playing in the living room a couple weeks ago, and she had made a slide out of a box lid. Many of her dolls were enjoying a ride down, but when she tried, I told her that she was too big and would ruin the lid. She kept doing it, and I warned her again that if she couldn't be responsible with it, she would lose the privilege of playing with it. She slid down it one more time, and I took the lid away. She said, "Mama, can I please have one more chance?" I responded, "No, you weren't responsible with it, so you lost it." It was quiet for a couple seconds. Then she asked so matter of factly, "Mama, what does mercy mean?" I chuckled to myself and said, "You tell me. What does mercy mean?" She replied, "It's when you give someone another chance." Now I couldn't contain my laughter and told her that was right on. She then asked for mercy, and I couldn't resist. We've had many similar conversations since. She'll get in trouble and ask through tears, "Mama, can I please have mercy?" I've had to explain that God always gives us mercy, but people don't.

A Kiss

Here's a new picture of the kiddos. I've posted a lot more in my flickr account, so if you'd like to see more, just click on the flickr link to the left of this page. In this particular shot, Bethany is planting a kiss right on her brother's head. None of us can keep our lips off that boy... especially those chubby cheeks.

Graduation! Yay!

The day has arrived. Darren has achieved what he set out to accomplish two years ago. It was a lovely and meaningful ceremony, and we were thrilled to celebrate. The photo taken during the ceremony is right before Darren received his hood - fancy isn't it? He's wearing it in the other picture. I'll post more pictures in my flickr account because we have some of Grandma and some of our friends. After the ceremony, we went home and picked up our kiddos and went out to eat to celebrate. I presented Darren with his book of congratulations messages from friends and family. Thank you so much for participating - I know it meant a lot to him.

For Moms with Preschoolers

Since this post is particularly for moms with preschoolers, I trust you will all understand why it has taken me over a month to make another post. I've got about 3 minutes before my sweet little Zach wakes up and wants to eat, so I'll make this quick. I found a couple fabulous websites to help kiddos learn to write letters. I wanted to pass them on because it's fabulous entertainment for Bethany!

http://www.dltk-teach.com/alphabuddies/trace.htm This site has printable pages for each letter of the alphabet and a picture to color at the top of each page.

http://www.printactivities.com/Tracing.html This site has printable pages of pretty much any name and spelling you can think of!

I'll attach a picture of Bethany's latest accomplishment! We're really having fun with this, so I thought I'd pass on the tip.

Christmas Mercy

Life has been a bit chaotic these last few weeks, having welcomed a new baby boy into our family. The last couple days, Zach has been getting good sleep, so we all feel a bit more rested. Since the sleepy mental fog has cleared a bit, I headed off to Starbucks today to find an hour or so of quiet. My goal was to contemplate the wonder and mystery of Christmas. I read Luke chapters 1 and 2 and just soaked in the Christmas story. What I found in chapter 1 was that the story was very much about God’s mercy, God’s tender mercy. He had mercy on Elizabeth and Zechariah, in giving them a son, because they were well on in years, and Elizabeth was barren. In Luke 1:50 & 54, Mary sings about God’s mercy. And Zechariah’s song in 1:67-79 is all about God’s tender mercy in providing salvation and forgiveness. That salvation and forgiveness is available to us today.

Mercy is for those who need it. It kind of implies a background of sorrow, desperation and need. Elizabeth and Zechariah had a great sorrow in their lives, but God had mercy on them. We are in desperate need of God’s mercy as well. We have lost our way and would continue to wander were it not for God’s great mercy. He offers it to us in his son, who brings salvation to all.

Jesus is the most beautiful and perfect gift to humankind, to me and you. I can’t picture that precious baby in the manger without thinking about his purpose and ultimately his death. Love I can’t even begin to comprehend. God’s great miracle that we celebrate and sing about at Christmas it too precious for words. His gift brings us salvation, forgiveness, and life. I’m amazed at the story of Christ’s birth: the wonder, joy, beauty and greatness. And I’ll be reminded of it this season as I hold my sweet baby boy and imagine that God would humble himself to become something so helpless, needy, fragile and completely adorable.