A Letter to My Boys

Dear Victor,

These days have been so busy and growing and great. Now that you are 4, we are doing a little "school" at home. You are a sharp cookie, and you enjoy learning. So often you surprise me with how quick you pick up new ideas! Our normal schooltime looks like this right now:


Sing a hymn with Josiah
Exercises (stretches or races or animal actions or something)
Bible time (memorizing your verse for Sunday class) and pray
Read a book on Mom's phone
(Josiah goes to crib to play/rest)
Workbook page in Explode the Code
Independent learning activity (Mom works 30 min)

A note you wrote to me: "To Mom From Victor" Great job!

 

Buttons on pipecleaners

Probably your favorite thing since we started school has been reading through The Complete Tales of Winnie-the-Pooh, a few pages at a time when you are up from your nap before Josiah (especially if Daddy is home to read!). You just love sitting and looking at the small illustrations and seeing what characters are coming up in the next chapters.

In addition to school, your latest interests interests have been washing dishes (you really ask to do this quite regularly) and "fixing things" with your little screwdriver. You and Josiah (with his hammer) have found and "fixed" every single screw that you could locate in our apartment, including those on all the chairs, door knobs, vents, hinges, windows, and toy cars and trucks.

You've been increasingly drawn to books, sitting on the couch reading or looking at Richard Scarry books for long stretches. It reminds me of me when I was little, reading anytime I wasn't required to be doing something else!

But you and Josiah are also great buddies, playing cars and trucks together, or taking turns hiding and finding each other, or playing "tag" running through the hallways. You have grown so much lately in showing kind and gentle consideration to Josiah, even when he may snatch away toys that you were playing with or mess up something you were building. It gives us such joy to see evidences of grace in you!

We love you, big man, and we are so thankful for you in our family!

Momma


Dear Josiah,

You are growing so much too, my son! You'll be 2 years old in just a month, and how you are learning and changing. You are my animal lover and delight to visit the zoo, observe squirrels out the window, or spot ladybugs in a book. 

You are always watching your big brother, and normally eager to join in with his play (even if he is calling most of the shots). You love standing on a stool next to him while washing dishes or helping him set the table.

Play-doh is one of your favorite things to play with, and you're a great helper when I bake things, dumping in cupfuls or spoonfuls of ingredients and putting dirty dishes in the sink. It's easy to see that your independent will is growing strong, and some days may be tumultuous, but you also can have a sweet and tender heart.

Daddy and I love when you first get up and meander over to Victor and have a cute little conversation together. You'll kind of lean next to him on the couch, with your blanket draped over your arm.

"Hi, Victor." (sounds like Wictor)
"Hi, Joey. How are you?"
"Good."
"How was your snooze?"
"Good."
"That's good."

We've had lots of fun times together lately, playing outside in the snow, building a mailbox at Home Depot, baking muffins, playing with your little animals, reading stories, playing Play-doh, running races, and playing with cars, trucks, trains, and planes. 

You challenge and delight us, and we're so excited to see you continue to grow as God shapes and strengthens your heart in knowing Him.

We love you!

Momma

Adventure at MOA

Before Christmas, our neighbors across the street surprised us with all-day ride passes to Nickelodeon Universe at the Mall of America--not just for us but for Ben's brother and their kids as well!

So at last this Friday was our day for the adventure. It was the first experience of its kind for our boys, and they both had loads of fun! And it was very special enjoying the cousins at such an exciting place.

Thankful for such a generous gift and special time!

On Romans 8:38-39

God is sovereign over death.

The moment the cord is broken is never accidental, whether it comes by a long-fought battle with cancer, a freak accident, a ferocious attack, miscarriage, or sweet, silent sleeping into eternity.

God is sovereign over life.

He governs the womb, can close it or open it (even at 90 years old), chooses the moment of new life, weaves every strand of DNA together, sets each family in place with the shape, color, and combination of people He desires. He can preserve life at no effort or expenditure of labor, regardless of any human diagnosis. Near-death experiences are not near anything to Him. Life expectancy is a merely human notion.

God is sovereign over angels.

They do His bidding absolutely and always. They are the mighty ones who do His work, obeying the voice of His word. All the hosts in all places of His dominion are fully under His control. They are ministering spirits, who do what He sends them to do.

God is sovereign over demons.

The enemy forces are strong and thick. They manipulate human hearts and plant lies. They wreak deception, death, and destruction. But if He determines it is time for them to leave a place, they will go. If they would desire something otherwise, they must implore Him (and perhaps He will mercifully send them into a herd of pigs, but only if He so desires).

God is sovereign over the present.

Look around you, at the combination of struggles, pleasures, personalities, gifts, and limitations you experience right now. God has set you in this place. He determines the red lights we hit, the flu virus picked up on a cart handle, the moment of sweetness in a toddler, the pile of dirty dishes that ceaselessly advances, the computer glitches, the pot of hot coffee, the food in the fridge, the pants that are getting a bit too tight.

God is sovereign over the future.

Our imaginations can paint a million pictures of what tomorrow may bring: horrific nightmares of all that could befall us and empty daydreams of how it will go if we have things our way. But our story is written in God's book already. He knows the precise turn of plot that we will face. No experience or struggle will catch Him off guard. No difficulty will come without its predetermined grace and purpose. There are new mercies for each morning, and He knows and holds them all for precisely the right moment.

God is sovereign over all powers.

The manipulations of a boss, the eye of a hurricane, the empty promises of a politician, the repentance of a spouse, the tide that pulls you under or sends you back to shore, the dripping water that slowly erodes, the forces that swirl around us, so far beyond our ability to control or even understand. They are each in His hand. No wind blows except at His bidding. The clouds are the dust of His feet.

God is sovereign over height.

The space shuttle that exploded, the plane that soars, the stars that dance in unfathomable space, the lofty plans of aspiration and ambition, the day when everything just goes right.

God is sovereign over depth.

The secret fish at the bottom of the ocean, the pit of despair you can't even imagine crawling out of, the lost treasure that slowly rusts away from any human eye, the crushed and heart-broken.

God is sovereign over every created thing.

Did something get missed? God is sovereign over it. If it exists, and He made it, then it falls within His realm of authority. The tiniest molecule and cosmic expanses.

And you, the movements of your heart, the secret longings, hidden sins, ability to hunger and thirst after what is good or what is evil. All is in His hand.


And if God is indeed sovereign over all that, then none of it can intervene with His determination to love those whom He has chosen. 

To My Valentine

Dear Benjamin,

"All acts of love done in faith are small pictures of the gospel" (Miller, The Loving Life, 41).

You apologized somewhat sheepishly last night that you didn't have anything to give me today (but you're planning a dinner out next weekend).

But you were wrong.

You have given me many gifts today. Gifts that were costly, sacrificial, and uniquely fit to my needs.

Thank you for being on "wake-up duty," being the first smile and hug for our boys this morning, reading them their Bible story, getting them dressed for church, feeding them bananas.

Thank you for starting the car early, so it would be warm and ready to go to church.

Thank you for laboring to make the Sunday dash out the door as smooth and peaceful as possible... wrestling shoes onto wiggling feet, hats onto heads, mittens onto fingers, buckles on carseats, kisses on noses.

Thank you for praying as we drove, for asking God's help that we would each hear from Him and seek Him today.

Thank you for worshiping in spirit and in truth as we sang in church, for helping our big boy sit quietly, for giving him paper and pencils when he got fidgety, for escorting him up to his Sunday school classroom.

Thank you for holding my hand while we drove home, for sharing about your ministry (amid excited interruptions from the backseat), and for helping everyone get settled for naps.

"When I was explaining to a man I was discipling how death is the center of love, he recoiled from the thought. Then he laughed and said, 'Loving my wife with a dying love is like asking me to drown myself in a bowl of water on the kitchen table.' To put energy into the dying of self feels lousy. That is one of the many feelings of authentic love" (The Loving Life, 42).

Thank you for picking up your cross daily and following Jesus. Thank you for dying to self to love me.

Happy Valentine's Day.
I love you.

Wuv, Twue Wuv

Thought for today:

She may say, "I used to be so energetic, but all these people take, take, take from me and now I have no time to just be me!" And the world gathers around and comforts her and says she needs some time to follow her dreams.

But the Christian woman needs to see, "I used to be so boring! Now my character has some depth, some people to love, some hardships to bear. Now I have some material to work with." (Loving the Little Years, Jankovic, p. 61)

In anticipation of Valentine's Day, how thankful I am for the noise, the mess, the unrelenting needs, the general challenge and gift it is to have people in my life (in fact, in my very home), who are precious instruments of grace and growth to me.

Victor's Birthday

Before it totally escapes my memory, here are a few pictures from celebrating Victor's birthday (a month and a day ago).

 A fun, early celebration in Iowa

Grammy made chocolate chip cookie dough stuffed cupcakes!

Fun celebrating at McDonalds with the Kattersons

We had two special friends come for lunch

And Pop-Pop and Mr. Kevin were able to come for supper!

Many special moments and special people!

Gallery Wall

Tonight, at long last, our living room wall is complete. Those of you with a discriminating eye (i.e. anyone) will notice that the writing on the canvases is ... very homemade. And everything is not as straight and symmetrical as it could be. And it may be evident that my motto regarding this wall has been, "I don't care! I just want something up on the wall!"

Idiosyncrasies aside, in the life of this Katterson family, it is a happy moment. :)