10 years old!

10 years old! 

(and another graduate from the blue chair club!)

 

9 years old

 

8 years old

 

7 years old

 

6 years old

 

5 years old

 

 

 4 years old

3 years old

2 years old

18 months old

1 year old

11 months old

10 months old

9 months old

8 months old

7 months old

6 months old

5 months

 4 months

3 months

2 months

 1 month

 2 weeks old

Dear Elliot,

Happy birthday, my son! What a year of growth and change it has been for you!

Here are a few things you're up to:

- You have shown major growth in your 4th grade year! From your first full writing class to getting a handle on those multiplication facts, you have made big strides. In addition, I see so much development in confidence, perseverance, facing up to tough challenges, and maintaining your composure even when things go unexpectedly sideways. Just as an example, this week was your speech presentation in writing class, and you forgot your notecards at home. But you were well-practiced and pivoted well with using your composition and working from memory to fill in the gaps. Proud of you. 

- You have just a fantastic attitude when it comes to being a willing worker around the house. When we got home on Easter, while Dad and Victor were still at church, you did not click into play mode but rather asked, "Mom, can I do something to help?" since we were preparing for a full house of company. That blessed my heart so much!

- It is so fun to watch you design, create, and imagine with your brothers. Whether it's Lego design or putting together a car from a kit, you have a great mind for engineering and putting the pieces together. (You did not get this from your mother.) 

- You are a crazy, expressive, bonkers kind of guy. Even though you can be on the quieter side most of the time, you are the most likely culprit of the household to spontaneously throw a hilarious google-eyed expression out of the blue, just to entertain and delight. (You also did not get this from your mother.) 

- You're having so much fun in your basketball Upward league this year! Not only do you have great coaches and tons of friends on your team, but you're also gaining more court awareness and skill in ball-handling. You and Calvin were discussing last week how much you love going to basketball practice. What a sweet gift from the Lord!

- Nothing gives me more joy than when we have family devotions together and you (and all the brothers) are keyed in so intently on the Bible text, making good observations and putting together connections with who God is and how He works. I love it that you are gaining consistency of your own time in the word, and you have your own prayer journal going. I pray the Lord continues to cultivate a great love for communing with Him in His word and pouring out your heart to Him all the days of your life. 

- You continue to be such a kind and gentle brother, particularly to Jemima. It just warmed my heart this morning that she was so excited to get up and tell you happy birthday, and then she sat with her arm around your shoulders all through our Bible time. You are consistently sweet and gracious, and it is obvious that she loves and looks up to you so much. 

- Now that Josiah sleeps downstairs, you're the big man with Calvin in your room, and on Wednesday nights, you're the oldest kid coming home with me. It's obvious to me that you are rising to the occasion and ready to keep others on track for getting ready for bed or whatever may be needed. I'm so thankful for the way you reflect a faithful, dependable character, like Jesus. 

We've been reading in 1 and 2 Samuel as a family (which also was the focus of our women's Bible study this semester). Something that has stood out to me so much is David's radical trust and dependence on the Lord, so evident in the years of humbly serving as a shepherd and the "little nobody" among his siblings, in the facedown with Goliath, in the flight for his life from Saul (and refusal to take matters into his own hands and kill him even when he was basically delivered to him on a silver platter), and in so many of his beautiful psalms. Was he over-depending on the Lord, leaning too hard on His character, steadfast love, and goodness? By no means! 

In fact, the only thing that harmed David was allowing his faith and focus on the Lord to slip and indulging sinful appetites instead of earnestly pressing on to abide close to Him.

David's story, like all of Scripture, "was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4). So I pray that we will take to heart the sober warning of his terrible sin and its devastating consequences within his family and the whole nation of Israel. And I pray we will also follow his example, that when we stumble, we will humble ourselves before the Lord, confess our sin, and fall on the mercy of the One who promised the Perfect King to redeem us forever.

One of the verses that has been my prayer in this season is that I will follow David's example at a very bleak point of his life, when circumstances and friends all seemed against him: "But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God" (1 Samuel 30:6). 

I pray that you will find the Lord to be your Refuge and Hiding Place, your source of courage and strength, and your unshakeable Helper, no matter what enemies or struggles you may encounter. We have nothing to fear, if we will fear the Lord and serve Him fully.

I love you so much!

Momma 

12 Years Old!

12 years old!

 

 

11 years old

 

10 years old

(and another graduate from the Blue Chair Club)

 

9 years old

 

8 years old

 

 7 years old

 

6 years old

 

5 years old

(4 year blue chair picture ???)

3 years old

2 1/2 years old

2 years old

18 months old

1 year old

11 months old

10 months old

9 months old

 8 months old

7 months old

6 months old

5 months old

4 months old

3 months old

2 months old

1 month old

2 weeks old

Dear Josiah,

Happy birthday, my son! Every year of life is significant, but right now you are really in such a cool period of growth and change. It's pretty amazing to watch.

You made the leap into middle school this year, which is totally great! Dad loves it that you and Victor ride home with him later on Wednesday nights and get to read through a book together and talk about big things. You've had a great time at the retreats, special events, and ongoing classes so far, and you took home a prize for a pretty epic Reformation costume at the Progressive Dinner in December! I love hearing how your group is wrestling to understand the text as you do Swedish Bible study in class and really stretching to understand God's word for yourselves.

You are carrying a hefty load in your 6th grade classes, adding in some Latin this year with your other studies. I get to teach your Writing class at co-op, and I love getting to be in the classroom with you and seeing your creative, energetic, inquisitive mind in action there. There is no doubt that your homework can really stretch you, and we talk a lot about loving the Lord with all your mind, working heartily for the Lord and not for people, and pushing yourself to do those "mental push-ups" that mean you're gaining strength in your powers of thought. May the Lord continue to give you earnest, faithful, diligent energy in the studies He entrusts to you!

You are definitely growing in physical strength and size as well. You just bumped up to a men's size 9 in shoes (one size lower than Dad, for now...), and you have speed, reflexes, and climbing ability. This makes you a natural choice to climb the tree outside the kitchen window to refill the bird feeder, among other things! I'm also thankful that your fun-loving and creative personality still expresses lots of exuberance, ingenuity, and joy in the world of play.

You've enjoyed the privacy and solitude that come in having your own basement bedroom (next to Victor's). It's also fun to see it take on your own personal flair, with a Lego praying mantis in one of your houseplants, a hanging chair to relax in, and and some cool palm prints that make it feel like a taste of the rainforest. You have a fascination with animals and nature that I pray will deepen your wonder at God's creativity, design, and power. 

You're delving into some new interests in board games, adventure movies (Dad is watching Captain America with you and Victor right now), and escape rooms. It's been fun for the whole family to explore some mental gymnastics with the escape room games lately!

You're continuing to practice and grow in your piano skills, and even though you always feel the jitters before a recital, I think it's a great skill that you are gaining some poise and composure when you have an opportunity to perform in front of other people. May the Lord use those skills not only for your own enrichment and pleasure but also as a platform for pointing others to Him.

It has been such an encouragement to see you take the challenge of a middle school Bible reading plan and really own the opportunity to start each day with time in the Word and prayer. There is no more life-giving and essential pattern that I could pray for you to gain! May the Lord feed your soul on His truth and draw you ever closer to Him through those good rhythms!

You really bring a lot of joy to our home with your creative play with your brothers, gentle spirit with Jemima, your ready laugh, your enjoyment of jokes and fun, and your easy-going attitude. I'm so thankful you're in our family!

This spring in women's Bible study we have been studying 1 and 2 Samuel, and the lesson that stands out so starkly in the life of David is that there is nothing to fear but turning your eyes away from the Lord. Saul's jealousy, the Philistine's giant, the whole armies of foreign nations, none of that posed true danger for David when he walked close to the Lord and sought his face step by step. But what a fall he had when he turned to self-indulgence and the desires of the flesh.

I pray that the Lord will so catch your ear and fill your heart that the enemy will have no foothold to draw you away from the light. 

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith--that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:14-19)

I pray that you will be increasingly awed, humbled, and flooded with joy at the staggering love of God poured out on you! 

Love you so much!
Mom