Kids are too funny

We've had a busy February as we gear up for Spring. Eli has decided, after much playing with Papa, that he LOVES to be outside, even in the coldest temps. He'd rather build a snowman than sled for the moment, and he'll spend 30 minutes packing snow together by himself. We've had a rather snowy month, which has been fun.

February 14th was the day 7 years ago we signed the papers for our house, and this year it has taken on a new, and more important, meaning. We have publicly dedicated ourselves as parents, in front of our church and family, to teach Eli in the ways of the Lord. This isn't a baptism, or any guarantee of Eli's spiritual development. Instead, this is sort of a further promise of love to our son in a deeper way.

I made cupcakes for the occasion and let Eli lick the spinner.

In front of our church, we answered "We will" to the following questions:

Will you, as parents of these priceless little ones,

Covenant this day before God and these wintesses to read God's word to your children and discuss it with them regularly? (Deut 6:4-7)

Commit yourselves to personally studying God's word in orderthatyou may live according to its principles as a model for your children to follow? (2 Tim 2:15)

Promise to not exasperate your children, but raise them in loving discipline according to God's word?(Eph 6:4)

Agree to continually tell your children of salvation in Christ Jesus and encourage them, when ready, to receive Him as their Savior and Lord? (2 Corinth 5:20b)

Pledge to pray continually for your children and model for them the life of one who is in communion with the Lord? (1 Thess 5:17)

Then the church commits itself to holding us accountable for keeping these promises. We received a certificate, and will get the professional pictures in the mail soon (I hope!)

We had 10 family members from out of town come. It was a BLAST!

The following weekend I went on a BSF Leadership retreat in Looville, KY, which was nice. I was forced to be away from Eli for 3 full days. And I got to hear about some of the amazing things happening throughout the world through BSF, including BSF classes for Chinese citizens!!

While I was away, boy oh boy did the boys play! Eli was exhausted the next day and was put down for an early nap. The snow had almost melted...

When "KABLAM!" Sunday night we got about a foot of snow. Our BSF leadership meeting was canceled so Eli and I had two days to regroup and catch up on some sleep.



Eli's circumsicion is still on schedule for March 3rd, so please pray for quick healing and no torn stiches...that would not be fun!

Here are a couple funny things he's done in the past few weeks:

He's peeing standing now. He tells me to go away, but I don't want to go too far because boys can be quite messy! So I peeked in on him and he was circling the bowl with his pee. Too funny!

We were at church the other day waiting for his class to start (it was Wed night AWANA and we were early), and a friend who has two girls came up to us to chat. Well, the youngest is in Eli's class, so he walks up to her and gives her a hug and a partial kiss on the cheek. She just kind of smiled and stepped back like "Um, what just happened?" The father looks at us and says "I'm going to need to have a chat with his father soon!" We all laughed. Just another example of how sweet natured Eli is :)

More Pics

Eli loves to drink his "coffee".



I change sheets on Wed. I threw him on the bed and played with him for a few, then he got tired and just lay there playing with his car.


He climbed up on the guest room bed and put himself to bed. He called me in and told me "light off." Then he said "Momma, away. Eli sleep." And he laid there for a few minutes while I put the sheets on our bed. Silly kid!

He's Shaving Already!

Left: We finally got enough snow to use a sled, which Eli loved. Right: After a haircut. Doesn't he look so happy?



We got him a kit with a rubber shaver and some bath soap shaving cream...just like Papa.

Some fun recent updates...Eli went to the dentist and has NO cavities. The hygenist kept complimenting him. She said "Why can't all my children be this cooperative?!"

We've had discussions with the school district about getting him in to speech. I'm not sure if there's a waiting list, but hopefully we can get him in for the rest of the year and take a break over the summer. I decided not to place him in preschool this year. We have enough activities for now! So next year we'll enroll him in the preschool at our church (I think we're still deciding in this). P.S. His newest phrase is "cheezy curls coming!" from the movie "Pirates Who Don't Do Anything"

I can tell he's growing...his 4t stuff is starting to look a little short. Geez...would you stop growing already?!?!

And he's really coming out of his shell and gaining confidence. He's no longer afraid of everything, and LOVES balloons. Woohoo! I was told last night at AWANA that he's not very shy ;) Yesssss!

I can also tell that his comprehension is pretty much there. Up til about a month ago, I was questioning whether or not he understands me. He'd look at me with this blank stare, like he was trying to understand but couldn't. Now, I have no doubts that he understands pretty much everything.

On the fertility front, God has been so good to me. He used my great Aunt to give me a different perspective. Perhaps, instead of being the worst parent in the world, God recognizes that Dave and I are great parents to the orphaned. I know many women who would open their homes to an orphan, but not many men. And not only do I have a husband who opened his home to an orphan, but loves him without reservation. You should see those two. When he's giving Eli a bath, all I hear is crazy laughter. It's so beautiful! Someone told me "If I didn't know Eli was adopted, I wouldn't know Eli was adopted." And God has blessed me with the opportunity to hold babies during BSF while mom's attend a Bible study. And I feel so fulfilled by those two hours of loving on babies that I don't feel like I'm missing anything. As I'm dying to my selfish desires, God is filling me with a new life, a life that surpasses anything I could have wanted.