Happy 4th Birthday, Katie!

Happy 4th Birthday, Katie!!

We returned from the beach at 11 pm last night after a fun weekend with John's family, part of which was spent celebrating Katie's birthday early.

She brought pink cupcakes to preschool today, and they gave her a crown to wear.

This afternoon a few friends will come over for pizza and to enjoy the pool, which I told Katie opened for her birthday. (It actually opened a few days ago but we've been at the beach so this will be the first time this year that she'll get to go to our new neighborhood's pool.)

Tonight she will also open a used Barbie dollhouse that I bought for her, and I will pass along all my Barbies and accessories that I had when I was a little girl.

Joshua gave her a $2 fake Barbie named Michelle.  She doesn't know the difference and she welcomed her with kisses.

Joshua also gave her "Annie" DVDs.  He's a bit jealous; he loves "Annie" as much as she does.

In two weeks we will have a larger gathering at a campground on the water -- a chance to have a big rustic swimming party.

What a beautiful, sweet, amazing little girl I have.  Happy birthday, Katie!

Katie + Jesus = Friends Forever

Katie asked Jesus into her heart today!

When she woke up, she ran into my room for a hug.  As we were cuddling, I told her that we were going to church this morning.  She asked why we were going to church, and I said because we wanted to learn more about Jesus, and that we'd always be learning more about Jesus for the rest of our lives.

She said, "I want Jesus in my heart."  We've discussed this idea before, but I've treaded lightly so that it would be her decision and not something I pushed upon her.  I called Daddy upstairs so we could pray to Jesus together.  John said a simple prayer that she could repeat, and she repeated line after line.

What a delight to see my daughter's heart turn toward her Savior.  She has taken this step of faith, and God will be faithful to complete the work He has begun in her heart.  Yes, she is still young, but she loves Jesus and wants to see Him and know Him.  And God honors the faith of children.

A few minutes after our prayer, I sang a song to Katie that I had learned as a child through the "Kids Praise 3" album: "Welcome to the Family."  I found the music here so you could hear it, and I'll post the lyrics below.

Welcome to the Family!
We're glad that you have come to share your life with us as we grow in love, and
May we always be to you what God would have us be, 
A family always there to be strong and to lean on.


May we learn to love each other more with each new day.
May words of love be on our lips in everything we say.
May the Spirit melt our hearts and teach us how to pray,
That we might be a true Family.

Welcome to the family, Katie!

P.S. When we went to church later this morning, it struck me that Katie's Sunday School lesson was the story of Lydia accepting Christ as her Savior! 

My Brother Comments on Osama's Death

My brother Stephen is a patriotic American, soon to become a chaplain in the Army Reserves.  I love his perspective on the events of yesterday so I'm posting them here.

Dear Friends and Family,

 

It has been almost ten years since religious terrorists, seeking to overthrow the values and freedom of Western civilization, crashed planes into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. Some three thousand lives were lost that day, and with them, the illusion of invincibility and naivete toward world affairs that had persisted until that point. Until that time, it was easy to shelve questions of life, love, and evil--knowing that we could use the many benefits of a free society to isolate ourselves from the hard realities inherent to this world and our own hearts. But that illusion was shattered that day, so indelibly so that most all of us can remember how the events of that day unfolded in an almost freeze-frame memory.

 

From that day on, we have sought to remind the world that we would not let such crimes go unpunished. We would not let tyranny and terrorism scare those who cherish freedom into compromising the things they hold dear. We have committed incredible resources--not the least of which is many thousands of soldiers--to defend the hopes of man in a world that is bent toward despair. Thousands of civilians died on 9/11, helpless before those who drew no lines between soldier and citizen. Thousands more have died since then, and whether those soldiers fought for country, education, family, a better future, or merely the battle buddy beside them--they fought for our freedom. They stood in the gap between freedom and tyranny to defend freedom against those who would cross the gap and vanquish it. To them and to the families that now have empty seats at the dinner table we owe an undying debt of gratitude.

 

We cannot simply delight in the death of the wicked because we would ultimately delight in our own deaths, for sin consumes us all. We can, however, delight in the execution of justice. Ten years ago, a man who lost all sense of justice and goodness struck down harmless civilians from the shadows of his own cowardice. Rather than fighting those trained to fight, he has struck over and over and retreated to his hiding places. He struck down the defenseless and fled their defenders. Yesterday, the defenders pursued him into the shadows and loosened the grip he had on the hearts of free men and women all over the world. That detachment of Special Forces are our heroes. Like so many other missions, they set out yesterday without assurance that they would survive, entered enemy territory and brought down the blade of justice upon the 21st century's first great villain.

 

Today, I am proud to be an American. I am proud of our soldiers. I am proud of my commander-in-chief, who made a difficult decision and showed moral resolve in the swirling maelstrom of the political season. And President Obama did not show any moral equivocation in the decision he made. This is a victory for us all, and though the present wars will likely persist for a good number of years, we can stand particularly confident today that as long as men and women are willing to defend it and our God in His grace is willing to preserve it, freedom will not perish from this earth.

 

With Sincere Gratitude,

Stephen

 

Graduation Day

Today was Graduation Day: The day both of my children graduated to bigger beds.  When Joshua needs to move up, that means Katie needs to graduate too, since Joshua needs her bed.  Their last Graduation Day was September 27, 2009.

A few months ago, we moved Joshua to a pack-and-play for a day or two so we could have him nap in one room while his own bedroom was painted.  When we tried to move him back into his crib, he threw a fit.  So he has been sleeping exclusively in a pack-and-play next to his crib for the last several months.

This week he learned how to climb out of his pack-and-play.  Since it's close to the ground, he didn't hurt himself in the process, so I didn't worry too much about it; I just disciplined him and put him back in.

Today however, he refused to sleep; he just kept getting out of his pack-and-play.  So I moved him to his dreaded crib.  Oh, did he hate that.

He hated it so much that he learned how to climb out of the crib.  Immediately.  THUD. CRY.

Hoping he had learned his lesson, I disciplined him and put him back into the crib.  A bit later, THUD. SCREAM!

I didn't want him breaking his neck, so I gave up on the nap and waited for John to get home and help me with the bed transition.

Making the transition easier for the kids was them getting to pick out their own bedding.  They both had fun surfing the web with me looking at bedding, and then we headed to Target to pick it up.

The result: Two VERY excited children.

Katie's so excited that I'm listening to her get up for the third time since we said goodnight.  Joshua is super-excited too, but you know what?  He hasn't gotten out of bed once yet.  I just peeked in on him and he was stretched out horizontally across his bed, content as can be.

Wow, he looks so tiny in that toddler bed; Katie was almost too big for it.

Happy Graduation Day, kids!  Now let's home Graduation Night is fairly peaceful.  :-)

Katie "Reads" Her Bible

Katie has memorized the story in her children's Bible about Jesus turning the water into wine.  She loves it because it's about a wedding.

Here's the actual text from her Bible.  How close was she?

A wedding is the perfect party!  When people fall in love, they have a wedding.  All their friends and family come.  

Jesus went to a wedding.  Everyone was eating and drinking and laughing.  

Mary, Jesus' mother, saw that there was no more wine.  "Oh, no," she thought.  "It's all gone.  This is not good."

"Jesus," she said.  "Can you help?" He could.  He turned six big jugs of water into wine.

"What good wine!" people said.  Everyone was happy.  This was Jesus' first miracle.  After this he helped many other people.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Joshua!

My baby is two!  Happy birthday, Joshua!  You continue to delight me in new ways everyday.  The above video, taken Monday at playgroup, has been delighting me all week long!

Katie the Artist, Part 1

Katie's had so many great art projects this year in preschool and Sunday School.  Rather than trying to save each and every one of them, I decided to make a series of videos so she could show off her works and describe the meaning of each one.  Here are the first two installments of the series!