Joshua in the Snow

Can you find Joshua?

November Update

Joshua is learning more everyday it seems. He is a thoughtful child, though sometimes it takes awhile for those thoughts to formulate so that he can verbalize them. He is learning addition and his penmanship is so much better than it used to be. What a difference six months can do! He is reading out loud to me (Renee) each school day, and is getting better at sounding out the letters of unknown words. He enjoys our Read-a-loud time (where I read a story out loud to him). Some of you older folk might remember Uncle Wiggily with his red, white and blue striped rheumatism crutch. Well, Joshua really enjoys it, listening to Uncle Wiggily's adventures and how he helps the boys and girls with their various troubles. Our previous book was Milly-Molly-Mandy. I wasn't sure if Josh would like it because it's about a girl, but he enjoyed it very much.

Joshua is proving to be a caring big brother. He looks out for Madelynn frequently, helping her up onto chairs, helping M with her shoes, or zipping up her coat. Sometimes without me asking! When Joshua is helping M, he's gentle and uses a baby voice with her. Very cute.

Joshua is thoughtful, yes, but he is a boy and his energy levels prove this. He likes to sing, dance, be silly, run, play dress up and pretend, play with cars, trucks and excavators as well as watch the real thing, he likes to play his ukulele along with Daddy and his guitar.

He and Rachel both have taken an interest in the snow: Josh likes to shovel, sled and make snowballs, whereas Rachel wants to build snowmen and make snow angels (or snow princesses as she calls them).

That brings me to Rachel now. She likes the color pink, wearing dresses, and loves to dance and sing. Rachel likes little things and keeps them in her pink purse or basket and will carry them around the house, making sure Madelynn does not touch her "pink things". Rachel is the "nurse" or "mommy" of the family- she will make sure you have a pillow and blanket if you lie down for a nap. She also is usually willing to help Mommy with things. Like today for instance, I asked Rachel to find a "wipe" for Madelynn's dirty hands after lunch. Rachel finds one and does a thorough job of wiping every part of Madelynn's face. Not sure if she got M's hands but the face was clean!

Rachel likes hugs, pink clips in her hair, and likes to color pictures. She can recognize most letters of the alphabet and knows all her colors. Rachel's taken an interest in finding out what letters words start with. Including the letters themselves! For example: Rachel will ask me 'what does Cat start with?' I'll say "C" and then she'll ask what "C" starts with.

We are working on learning her shapes now. And I'm hoping to sit down with her in a few months and see if she'll start writing some ABC's on paper. No pressure, but she is learning fast and I want to be able to keep up with her and challenge her at the same time.

Rachel is looking forward to having a baby brother, I think she wants to hold a baby again. Madelynn is no longer a baby- though Rachel probably wishes her to be. It's fun to see the two sisters interact. They are young yet but it is amusing to see them relate to each other. Josh likes dolls, but only to a point. Madelynn will ask me (or Josh sometimes) to swaddle her own little dolly or teddy bear and she'll cuddle it and push it around in the play stroller. Rachel will join her either by fighting or by playing nicely and I'll put Rachel's dolly(ies) in a little sling for her and Rachel and Madelynn will sort of play together by walking around the house cuddling their "babies". Or by putting them in baskets for a nap. Or... you get the idea. It's cute.

So Madelynn is 17 months old. She has all her teeth minus one (which just poked through yesterday). She uses a fork and spoon and feeds herself (mostly). She has words now: Mommy, feet, teeth, up, please, help, Da-da. She recognizes many words and will usually do what I tell her. Like: "put your shoes away", or "put your clothes in the hamper". There are other phrases which I know she recognizes but throws a fit anyway: "Wait please" or "Just a minute". Yes I did say throw a fit. She is growing up fast, and with that growing up comes the "Terrorific Twos". Seems we just barely finished that stage with Rachel (except for the occasional "yikes! where did that come from?") and then Madelynn starts.

But enough of that, how about I tell you that Madelynn is taking an interest in the potty? Now some of you are happy for us about this, but I have to say that as much as I enjoy a child going to the bathroom themselves, I don't like the process- the potty training process that is. It's messy, frustrating and takes up a lot of time. So that's it, I'm done complaining.

Bean Sprout is growing and kicking and riding a bike. Well, it feels like he's riding a bike anyway. He weighs about 3.3-4 lbs (just by things I've read about being 31 weeks pregnant). Our due date is January 22, 2011. Everything is fine so far. His head is down so now we ask you all to pray that he'll be facing the right way. If he's facing my back bone, we shout hurray! If he's facing my belly button, we hope he doesn't get stuck which will result in the delivery being more complicated.

As for Joel and I, we are doing well. We are in the midst of a few situations which will affect the future (how more vague can I be?!). We'll let you know as things pan out a bit more and things are more solidified. For the time being we are waiting and praying and trusting.

I was finishing up the book of Proverbs when I came across the phrase, "She can laugh at the days to come." I chuckled to myself. That's exactly what I needed to read. The woman who fears and trusts the Lord will have no anxiety about the future, even if she's going to have a new baby in the midst of it all.

Time With Daddy

Our kids love time with Daddy.

On one of the nice Autumnal days, Rachel and I went to a rummage sale while Daddy, Joshua and Madelynn had a donut run. This was (I think) Madelynn's first and last bike ride this year:

This week Daddy ended up staying home for a couple days due to a bad storm. We made the most of it, getting some stuff done (like lots of baking-yum!), some Bible study, and of course, some snuggle time with Daddy:

We enjoyed our time together, it was a treat to have him home. The storm is over now, so Thursday Daddy went back to work. Thank you Jesus for a little surprise weekend!

Welcome November!

Here along Lake Superior November winds (yes I know it's still October...) remind all of us how powerful God is and how powerful wind and water really are. And how helpless we are in comparison. The wind picks up, our electricity goes out and we can't do much about it. So what does our family do? Well, we are one of the fortunate ones who did not lose electric power but we did hear the rain and wind all night just like everyone else. Joel's been home from work for two days now. Today we decided to bundle up and take a stroll (a hike?) downtown to look at the damage done, the wild 20 foot waves, and feel the wind on our faces:

The waves out in the lake (beyond the break wall) were supposedly 20 feet tall, a record. When they finally rolled in and crashed into the wall the spray would rise far beyond the lighthouse, higher than what you see here. Then the waves would keep coming in and crash onto the shore, onto the sidewalk and land upon the side of the road. We couldn't walk on that side of the road!

There were also a couple of boats that had been beached by the wind and waves, here is one:

A smaller boat was on the west side of the harbor. It was almost in the parking lot of a local restaurant!

Our town's municipal pool, though, I think had the worst damage that I could see:

The rubber roof was torn right off along with the white insulation. It's a pretty big mess, with chunks of insulation strewn about, and the rubber roof hanging over the side. Josh wanted to go inside and see if the roof was leaking. I asked Joel what would happen if it leaked and Joel replied "The pool would get wet!"

Good Marriage Book

I (Renee) just finished reading the best marriage book I've ever read. It's entitled "Created to be his Help Meet" by Debi Pearl. I was a little wary of the book due to the extreme conservative beliefs the Pearls hold. But it came recommended so often and from trusted friends that I finally picked up a copy. Wow! Such a great book, it is so refreshing and so, so very biblical. I highly recommend this book for every Christian wife out there. Even if you have a great marriage, there are great nuggets of wisdom about the kind of man you have married (because you know not all men are the same!!) and how you can meet his needs with a joyful heart.

(Order it through the library if you don't want to buy it.)