Luca's 8th Birthday

Months of long awaited anticipation finally came to an end for Luca on March 29^th as THE day finally arrived to celebrate his eighth year of life.  Our boy of action and energy fills our home with so much joy and life. Luca is always humming a tune.  We joke how he has his own theme music for everything he does.  He has had to work hard on controlling that habit at school this year, as his teacher and classmates are not able to tune it out as easily as us.  We are so proud of another year of growth for Luca.  He has faced this school year with much courage and excitement—if only that also translated to doing homework with the same energy! He has taken on an interest in reading in English this year and often goes to bed with his headlamp on while reading The Action Bible.  For his birthday from Munga and Gramma, he got the Jesus Calling Bible and each night he has been reading it to us with much expression.  We are thankful for his desire to now read out loud to us, since it was such a rare occasion before.  God has given Luca such determination, enthusiasm, strength and will that we pray will one day all be channeled in the direction of loving God with all his heart, mind and strength and living a life for His glory and honor.

Luca’s actual birthday was pretty low-key as we celebrated over lunch at home and had some cake and presents.  It was a beautiful day so there was lots of time to play outside with some new toys.  Skyping with his cousins was also a highlight.

His birthday dinner and requested Lego cake were put on hold for a couple of days until Nano arrived so she could join in the festivities as well.  What a special treat to have her here with us so close to a birthday!  (More on her visit in an upcoming post)

Pizza dinner at Bam Bam

Mamma, Emma and Nano all worked together to put this cake together...Benny, the LEGO astronaut

Braces

Samuel got braces on Tuesday of this week.  It was a pretty bothersome deal as he said his cheeks hurt basically from the get go.  We gave it a day until we realized that indeed he had wires poking the inside of his cheeks.  Thankfully, we had wax to place over the wires until we could get him back in on Thursday to get them trimmed.  Poor kid had his wax fall off at school and he came out of school yesterday pinching and holding his cheeks out so that the wires wouldn't touch.  We felt bad.  All is good now and the drama has ceased, so everyone is happy.

Spring

Vibrant Colors. Sweet Aromas. Birds Singing. Radiant Sunshine. Longer Days. Open Windows....

Spring's Wonder of New Life...You are Welcomed! 

Emma's Stuffed Animals

If you receive our prayer letters you know that Emma shared recently about her stuffed animal making for friends at school.  It all began when a classmate of Samuel's was over at our house to play and he saw a couple of Emma's creations.  He was impressed apparently because the next day word spread and Samuel came home with letters for Emma with requests for stuffed animals.  Emma was flattered but at the same time a little overwhelmed by some of their detailed requests.  At the time, Emma did not even know the kids she was getting letters from.  Samuel was a good brother and passed notes back and forth and delivered the finished products.

After about her third request for a very detailed doll figure, she finally made photocopies of things she COULD make and asked them to choose from her list.  Her main inspiration and patterns come from the book, Socks Appeal.  Instead of choosing just one animal, they chose several each.  At least one boy brought her some socks for the projects. 

Emma is quite good with her little sewing machine and can pretty much do everything on her own.  Every now and then I have to step in to help her.  

Emma started making stuffed animals and clothes for her animals I think when she was just six years old using her imagination and a glue gun.

And since mom and dad don't always oblige her in buying yet another requested stuffed animal, she just makes them herself--which satisfies all of us.  Seriously this girl is a stuffed animal lover.  She has so many that we have resorted to storing them in a bean bag case which nicely accents her room, but keeps the animals from overrunning her room and collecting dust.

Here are some more of her recent creations using various techniques: wool felting (bunny), sewing kit (purple bear), yarn (pom-pom), self created pattern (peach and green "Luma"), and machine and hand sewing sock projects (brown bear, octopus, snake and mouse).

Order #1 that she made.  I forgot to take a picture of the owl she made for her second order.  I have to note as well, that her grandmas are most generous in keeping her well stocked with supplies.

Expander

For those who are curious about Samuel's expander (okay, maybe nobody), here is what it looks like:

They froze the wire so that it would contract in the shape of a "W".  Then slowly over the course of two months, the wire expands on it's own to it's original size, resulting in extra space on the upper jaw.  This is much different than what Luca had done where we had to turn his expander daily and achieved full expansion in three weeks.  In March, we will check Samuel's progress and start to prepare for braces.

Happy Birthday to Samuel

Our oldest son turns 11 years old today!   

Samuel is clearly in transition from childhood desires to more grown up interests.  His siblings are not too happy about that and are often frustrated that he won't join in their imaginary games.  Samuel prefers his imagination to be captured in books--a man after his dad's own heart.  His light is often on until 10:30 at night as he reads, with his latest book series being the Lord of the Rings.  He loves to share fun facts he finds from the book in the form of trivia questions, challenging his dad's Tolkien knowledge.  In the normal course of a days conversation he uses words that just aren't normal for an eleven year old's vocabulary.  What kid uses tertiary and archaic in a sentence?  When not stretching our vocabulary knowledge, you can often hear him speaking with lingo from Duck Dynasty.

Samuel is our very sensitive, sincere, intelligent and loving child.  He is also very timid outside of our family and does not desire to be the center of attention.  Girls are showing their interest in him at school and he comes home saying "I don't want to be popular!" He wanted to have a small party with just a few friends because too many people makes him nervous.  It was a our joy to host a party for him over the weekend with 5 of his classmates.  Some siblings of those classmates also came filling our house with 11 kids running up and down stairs, having an indoor Nerf gun fight and other chaotic games, that at times made me wonder if our house would come crashing down.  Samuel was very happy to have his friends over and we are so thankful how God has provided new friendships for him this year.

Today we celebrate his life as a family, enjoying cheesecake #2, presents and dinner out.  We love you so much, Samuel David!  Our family is blessed to have you in our lives.  May God continue to grow you into a man who loves and serves Him and others with all your heart!  We pray the gifts, talents and interests that He has given you will be used for His glory and to bless those around you.  You are one very special and always loved boy!

2013 in Books

Books Read:

Raising a Daughter After God’s Own Heart by Elizabeth George

The Church Planting Wife by Christine Hoover

What if Your Blessings Come Through Raindrops by Laura Story

Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe by Sarah Mae & Sally Clarkson

How to Really Love Your Child by D.Ross Campbell, M.D.

Gospel Wakefulnness by Jared C. Wilson

Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table with Recipes by Shauna Niequist

Because He Love Me: How Christ Transforms Our Daily Life by Elyse M. Fitzpatrick

The Chiveis Trilogy by Bryan M. Litfin

When Jesus Wept by Bodie and Brock Thoene

The Fiddler’s Gun by A.S. Peterson

The Fiddler’s Green by A.S. Peterson

A Million Little Ways: Uncover the Art You Were Made to Live by Emily P. Freeman

Preemptive Love: Pursuing Peace One Heart At A Time by Jeremy Courtney

Currently Reading:

Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection and the Mission of the Church by N.T. Wright

Family Reads:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein

The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr.

Current Family Reads:

The Bark of the Bog Owl by Jonathan Rogers

The Story for Kids: Discover the Bible from Beginning to End

The Gospel Story Bible by Marty Machowski