Here’s another song from Evan. Suz works so hard with him, and it makes me so proud to see him learning.

• The Days of the Week (Video)

One of my favorite things in the entire world is hearing little children sing. When the kids choir sings at church, I either get a little teary-eyed or can’t stop giggling at the sweetness of those little voices singing about God. Even if they are usually a little off-key. I think I can understand why Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me…” Their innocence and child-like faith just get me every time.

Imagine my joy when I get to hear my child sing every day! Evan loves to sing. His favorite tune is Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, but he knows lots of songs and sings them throughout the day, sometimes pretending to strum the guitar while he sings, and often getting the words wrong.

Here’s a glimpse of the little guy singing last week. I had to video him in the chair, because it’s one of the only times he is still enough to get on video! Enjoy!

1. Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
2. Row, Row, Row Your Boat

What do you think…future American Idol?

and this is what he said, err…sang (to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star):

Thank you, Jesus, for the Bible, tells me so…
And for Shem and Japha (Japheth)…
Shem, Shem and Japha…
Lamech, Lamech, Lamech, Lamech, Lamech, Lamech, Lamech, Lamech.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

He loves talking about Shem and Japheth, but seems to always miss out on their brother Ham. Hmm…And Lamech…how he got stuck in Evan’s mind I don’t know.

Ah, how sweet it is to hear prayers and Scripture spilling from the lips of your child.

On Saturday, we were eggstatic to beggin our first annual Easter Eggstravaganza. We have never dyed eggs with Evan, so we thought it would be a fun craft for him to do. (Okay, so we thought it would be fun for us, too). He did scribble on a couple of them, but mostly he wanted to eat them. We let him have one this morning, and he didn’t like it. See for yourself what an eggciting time we had (click on it for a larger view):

We hope your Easter weekend was as eggcellent as ours!

Look what showed up in our mailbox yesterday:

Does anyone else think something is a little wrong with this picture?

Dear Evan,

I can hardly believe that you are 3 years old today. I remember the day you were born so well. It snowed that day, which was a little odd for mid-March in Texas. And it snowed here today, as if we need one more reminder of how special this day is. As much as we wanted you and prayed for you, we could never have imagined how much our lives would change - for the better - with you in it.

It’s been a joy and an honor to watch you grow up and learn and become a big boy. You’ve made us laugh more lately than ever with all of your silly toddler antics and funny observations. I’ve often found myself wishing I could get inside that little head of yours and see the world through your eyes. Do you understand how much we want the best for you? Do you know how much you are loved?

We’ve had some tough moments lately as you have tried to exert your independence more and more. We see this every day as one of your favorite phrases has become “I don’t want…”. You have said this so much lately, much to our chagrin, that it has become pure habit. You will say, “I don’t want muffins!” just as you are putting some into your mouth. I am consistently getting more gray hairs because of daily occurrences like these. In fact, I think my hair is turning more gray just thinking about the drama of life with a now 3 year old.

Your dad jokes that you got your obstinance from me, but I say you are that way because you’re a toddler. We have had our challenging moments, but overall you are a great kid. You are usually well-behaved, and all of your sweet hugs, kisses, and “I love you’s” by far make up for any rascal-ness on your part. I look forward to getting up in the mornings so that we can spend the day together, and I feel so blessed to be home with you each day. I pray that God would help you to be a good boy and me to be a good mommy. I think this year is going to be a good one!

Happy Birthday, Buddy! We love you!

Thank you, Lord, for making us the parents of this sweet boy.

“Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.” Psalm 127:3

Yesterday morning started out like most mornings do…I got up to feed Maren while Joe got ready, got Evan up, and started on breakfast. I joined them later. The sun was shining. The birds were chirping their joyous ready for spring melodies. It was the beginning of a good day. Then Joe walked out of the door to leave for work, and came back in shortly thereafter and somewhat casually mentioned that someone had broken into our car…which is in our driveway…which is right by the front door (insert record scratch sound here). From the look of things, our car was left unlocked. We usually lock it, so it makes me wonder if this thief had checked our car before and was just waiting for a time when we forgot to lock it. Or did they just so happen to find our car on the one night that we forgot to lock it? Things that make you go hmmmm.

We don’t keep much of value in our car, so the thief certainly isn’t going to Disney World on his findings. We figure he only made out with $15, maybe $20 in change. But what’s funny is that it may have been too dark for him to tell that much of that was U.S. quarters. With the exchange rate the way it is, he lost out on that deal.

“The wicked man earns deceptive wages, but he who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.” Proverbs 11:18

I really don’t care about the money. It certainly could have been much worse. Thankfully, our home wasn’t broken into, and we didn’t have any special things taken. The part that bothers me is that some greedy stranger rifled through our things. His or her slimy fingerprints could still be in there! More than anything, I feel sad for people who do things like this and often without any remorse. I over-analyze things sometimes, but I can’t help but wonder about this person…does he or she steal from others often? If so, why? Does this person “need” money for basic needs or a bad habit? What is their standard of right and wrong? Whatever the case, it confirms in me more than ever that “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; [Jesus has] come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” John 10:10

With a busy weekend ahead, we decided to celebrate Evan’s birthday a little early. And with sickness going around, some of our sweet friends couldn’t make it (we missed you guys!). We had fun anyway, and enjoyed cake and ice cream:

Evan likes cake and trains, so he was one happy boy.

He especially likes Thomas the Tank Engine, and we realized tonight that he likes trains MORE than cake. How can he be my child?! Choosing a weird (in my opinion) train over dessert? That’s crazy! More for me! I bought that train in the above picture to go on Evan’s cake - it’s Henry from Thomas the Tank Engine. “He”turned out to be too big for the cake, so I went ahead and gave it to Evan before the party as an early birthday present…a bit like opening one present on Christmas Eve. Well, most of the evening, we heard, “I want Hen-wee.”

Evan has already enjoyed playing with all of the fun toys he was given,with “Hen-wee” in one hand, of course.

Thanks, everyone, for making Evan feel so special!

How can she be months old already?! Sometimes it seems like I just blinked and 2 months went by! That could be because I’ve been tired enough that it has all blurred together
At 2 months, our sweet girl is:

• sleeping through the night (thank you, Lord!)
• smiling a lot
• talking lots with those sweet baby sounds
• weighs 10 pounds
• not a big fan of tummy time
• loves bath time
• so sweet and content
• still sleeping through the entire church service
• SO very loved

It’s that time again…I’ve been “tagged” by Robin D., so here goes nothin’:

The directions - Share five random and/or weird facts about yourself, and then share the five top places on your “want to see or want to see again list, and finally tag five people.

Randomness:
1. Every time I look at something with a texture or pattern (like tile or carpet), I automatically find a face or object in the pattern.

2. I do not like ice tea. (Yes, I am from the south and do not like sweet tea). Never have. I’ve just begun to like hot tea in the last couple of years.

3. As a child, I could not stand the feel of velvet. I would shudder just thinking of it. I don’t mind it now, though.

4. I never get tired of peanut butter and jelly. And my poor boy is allergic to peanuts. Sad city for him that he cannot partake of the deliciousness that is peanut butter.

5. When I was pregnant with Maren, I craved chips. I ate them most days with lunch (with my peanut butter and jelly sandwich). They don’t taste nearly as good since, so I don’t eat them anymore.

Places to go:
1. Italy - we’ve been once. I would love to go back and spend more time in Rome and see other parts that we didn’t see last time. And I’d like to eat more authentic Italian goodness.

2. Germany/Austria/Poland

3. Africa. (I’m aware that that it’s a whole continent, but I want to go to Kenya and South Africa, so I thought I would combine them.) I want to experience the culture and go on a safari.

This was Robin’s answer, but I’ve always wanted to go there, too; especially since I had a good friend in college from Kenya. He showed me lots of pictures and told me all kinds of stories about his family and his childhood. He also taught me how to say “I like peanut butter” in Swahili. (Of course, they do not have peanut butter in Africa, so he had to guess).

4. The Holy Land. I want to walk where Jesus walked and see the places I’ve read about in scripture. This was also Robin’s answer, but it’s on my list, too!

5. Texas!

If you have a blog and you just read this, then I’m “tagging” you. Do it!