Isaiah is now 4 months old!

As of yesterday, Isaiah is four months old.  The above picture is of him in one of his favourite spots.  He loves to play on his mat.  The bright colours and the many things for him to chew are very entertaining to him.  He can spend up 30-40 minutes exploring.  Because he only knows how to push off of his left leg, within that time frame he will go in a complete circle to the left about two times.

This past month Isaiah learned to roll from back to front (but again, only to the left) and he cut his first two teeth.  Being that the girls didn't get teeth until 9 months, I was surprised to find two little, sharp white things in his mouth at the age of 3 1/2 months but the buckets of drool should have been my clue.

Thankfully cutting teeth did not interrupt his sleep pattern.   Bedtime is at 9p.m. and he will sleep until 5/5:30a.m., eat, then go back to sleep until 8a.m.  This is a gift to mommy and daddy.

His drs. check-up isn't until next week so I don't have any stats on his growth.  But unofficially he is weighing in close to 17 pounds.  I would say 5 of those pounds have got to be in those cheeks.  LOL!  But the weight of his cheeks does not keep him from smiling.  Isaiah loves to interact with people and anyone willing to talk with him he will be sure to reward them with a huge smile!

Four months!  Time is going by so fast.  Can we push pause and enjoy this stage for just a bit longer?

Teaching eyes.

Due to our car being nice and compact, the two car seats and the one booster seat do not fit in the back seat.  Therefore, according to our local police, it is better for Sofia to sit in the front seat with her booster seat than to sit in between the car seats sans a booster.  Go figure but that is what they told me and Sofia doesn't mind one bit.

Sofia loves being able to see the world in a new way.  And she LOVES reading the signs to me.  She reads EVERY sign...even asks me if I'm going Xmph because that is what the sign said...and will many times ask me why a certain sign said what it did.

The other evening while in the car, I was struck by how much I was learning because she was reading the world.  I found myself thinking, "I didn't know that sign was there.  I don't know why that sign is there.  Hmmmm...I 'm not sure what that sign means.  Ooohhhh, why did that sign catch her attention?"

That's how my marriage works as well.  I am so grateful for my husband.  His eyes have helped me to see the world in ways I hadn't before.  His eyes have helped me to read people aka understand people better.  His eyes have helped me to understand God in a deeper way.

When you saw the above picture you might have thought how it isn't a very good picture because it is dark and fuzzy.  And you are right.  But what you don't see that I saw, was a little girl posing for the 3 year old photographer who desperately wanted to take a picture of her big sister.

How do you see things, people or God?  What are you teaching those around you because of how you see the world?

Smile...all three of you...at the same time please!

I thought it was difficult getting both girls to look at the camera at the same time and smile.  Whoosh!  That was easy.  It's trying to get the two girls and a 3 1/2 month old baby boy to look at the camera at the same time, let alone SMILE!  

But I don't mind taking a million, kazillion pictures of my babies.  Last week we had fun having a photo shoot...

u

...until this.

Then we knew it was time to stop.

Yeah.  It was really time to stop.  

Their eyes.

Sofia took this picture of herself and Selah the other day. I thought it captured how different their eyes are yet the closeness they have as sisters. They are always playing together whether it be make believe or getting into mischief (such as using mommy's camera without asking).

We are amazed at the beauty of Sofia's chocolate brown eyes and the beauty of Selah's brilliant blue eyes. Eyes that watch everything we do as parents. Eyes that smile, eyes that cry. Eyes that can give you a look that melts your heart yet give that "other" look that lets you know trouble is brewing. Ha! We love it! We love those eyes. And we love these girls.

PopO.'s Visit

Last week PopO (the "O" is for Overstreet) came for a visit.  PopO lives in SoCal and had yet to meet his new grandson.

Here he is meeting Isaiah for the first time.  Isaiah was all smiles.

PopO arrived on Tuesday.  The next morning we drove over to Michigan to visit my sister Kelli and her two kids, Caleb and Hannah.  We watched Caleb's tennis match then went out for dinner to Bob's Big Boy.  It was fun.  PopO with his two daughters and five grandkids.  Sadly I didn't get any pictures.

Thursday morning we packed up and drove back to Illinois.  On the way home, however, we took a detour in Indiana and stopped by the Notre Dame campus in South Bend.  Here is PopO and the three kiddos at the football stadium in front of a statue of an accomplished coach, Ara Parseghian.  We did see "touchdown Jesus"

PopO comes to visit every September on his way to one of his national meetings.  This means he has been able to be here for every one of Selah's birthdays.  Pretty special.

PopO's visits aren't always about the grandkids.  This big kid loves having her daddy around even if it is for just a few days.  My dad knows how to encourage, challenge and affirm who I am as a person and as a child of God.  One thing about my dad, "It is all about Jesus".  And it is.

Thanks for coming to visit, PopO.  We love you!!!

The Birthday Celebration.

What I love about a child's birthday is how simple yet special it can be.  Seriously, I think what Selah enjoyed most about her birthday was that she turned three.  But of course, she did enjoy some other things...

...like waking up to presents.  She loved eating this present from Aunt Kelli.

And she really loved this Dora doll.

Her wish to eat Dora cupcakes at the beach came true.

And she got to eat another cupcake with neighbourhood friends after they all got home from school.

She even got to hang out with her PopO. who was visiting from California and wear her new Dora pajamas.

It was a pretty fantastic day for this three year old.

Here's to year four!

Birthday Prayer for Selah

Our blonde hair, blue-eyed girl brings so much joy and adventure to our life.  She loves to make people laugh, she loves to read books, and she loves to try and keep up with her big sister.

We know that all of our family and friends can't join us for Dora cupcakes at the beach today but we do invite you to pray for Selah on her special day.

Pray that…

Selah will continue in good health and grow developmentally.

Selah continues to adjust to being a little sister AND big sister.

Selah’s love for singing will always be a sweet sound in our Savior’s ear.

Selah will continue to be curious, and that someday her curiosity will be satisfied by knowing Jesus.

Selah, whom God put on this earth for His enjoyment, will bring glory to God by enjoying Him.

Selah's Sayings 1.1

The girl just makes me laugh.  Here are a couple of things from this past week.

Mommy:  Selah, what should we do while Sofia is at school?

Selah:  (whispering into my ear)  Let's eat CANDY!!!

Selah playing with Isaiah's toes:

"One little piggy bank.  Two little piggy bank.  Three...."

First first day.

Today was Sofia's first day of Kindergarten.  And being that she has never attended school before, this was her first first day of school.  Sofia would notably point out when hearing a "Back to School" commercial that she wasn't going back to school, she was "just going to school".

Sofia has afternoon Kindergarten but this didn't stop her from getting up earlier than normal.  She was so excited to go to school.  We started the day with a breakfast of pancakes with whip cream and blueberries.

For lunch she had her favourite Mac n Cheese.  

And then it was time to get ready to go to the bus stop.

Ahhh....

...this is where mommy and daddy had the tears flowing.

Daddy prayed a special prayer over Sofia.  

The precious 5 pound baby we brought home from the hospital was going to school.  Yes, it's just for a couple of hours but she's our baby!

We wanted to take some pics of the girls together but as you can see, Selah wasn't all that thrilled that her favourite playmate, best friend, and big sister is going off to school without her.

Sofia, however, was thrilled as can be to begin her school career.

These three girls (Miranda, Sofia, and Simi) were pretty cute waiting for their first school bus ride to school.

Then they were off.  (I could not get this pic to turn for the life of me.)

Sofia has been waiting to ride a school bus since she was 2 years old.  Seriously, this has been a lifelong dream of hers.  We were so proud of her as she got on the bus with a smile and a desire to go to school.

And we knew she was going to be okay.  One of the reasons why is because yesterday we had a welcome meeting with her teacher, Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Jones is a reading specialist and has been teaching at this school for 20 years.  We think she will be able to challenge Sofia as well as continue to grow her love for learning.

Due to it being the first day of school and needing to triple check kids at each bus stop, along with an auto accident in front of the school,  the bus didn't arrive back home until 4:45 p.m. (school was out at 3:30 p.m.).  Sofia wasn't phased a bit.  She LOVED riding on the bus.  She LOVED her first first day of school.  She enjoyed reading, playing freeze tag, drawing, and telling stories. 

Then the day ended with a popsicle.    

There will never be another one of these days.  We know many of our family and friends were praying for her and for us today.  Thank you!!!  

Isaiah at 3 months.

Yesterday Isaiah celebrated turning 3 months old by doing the cabbage patch.  Oh yeah!  Oh yeah!

He is such a laid back baby who loves to smile and giggle.

But don't try to give him a pacifier.  He'll just spit it out and find his thumb.

 

Selah goes to the dentist.

Selah had her first dental check-up this past week.  She was a great patient.

Of course, it helped that big sister was right beside her letting her know that everything was just fine.

Sofia prepares for Kindergarten.

This past Saturday we attended the Sneak Preview at Sofia's school.  It was a time for us as a family to tour and become acquainted with her school.  She will be attending Woodland Primary.  It is a building purely for Kindergarten.  This year they have 28 Kindergarten classes.

One of the things we did on Saturday was attend school bus orientation.  This was very beneficial to both Sofia and mommy considering mommy never rode the bus to school.  The bus driver went over the rules, expectations, and safety information.  The cool thing about this orientation was that it was done while riding the bus around the neighbourhood.

We then took a tour of the school and located Sofia's classroom.  She will be in room 83 and her teacher's name is Mrs. Jones.  We will meet Mrs. Jones on Thursday for a family meeting.

 

After the Sneak Preview Sofia shared with me that she was feeling a little bit scared.  I let her know that she can always pray to Jesus to help her.  To that she said, "Can we pray right now?"  And we did.

And we will keep praying as Sofia begins her school career on Friday. 

Five years in Illinois

Five years ago yesterday we moved to Illinois.  Five years ago this is what our family looked like.

This was our apartment on campus at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield.  Sofia was 9 months old.  Kevin enrolled in the MDiv program and I worked on-campus in Graduate Admissions.

That first year was not an easy one.  Kevin became student and stay-at-home dad.  I became the main financial provider even though it wasn't much.  We were away from family and friends.  But God was our sustainer.  We trusted Him and He did not disappoint.

Here we are five years later.

We are still in Illinois.  And our family has grown.  Sofia is 5 3/4 yrs old and will begin Kindergarten next week.  Selah will turn 3 yrs. old next month and Isaiah is almost 3 months old.  Kevin is on staff as the Children's Minister at Crossroads.  Crossroads was the very first church we visited.  We knew it was going to be our home church as soon as we walked in the door and saw the map on the wall (behind us in the picture above).  Singing "Be Still My Soul" and having the pastor preach a solid theological sermon helped as well.:)  And me, I am being stay-at-home mommy.  The best job I've ever had.

We don't know what the next five years have in store for us but what we do know is that we will continue to trust our Lord.  

Destination...who cares?

Monday night after dinner we loaded the family in the car and took off on a drive.  A drive that we weren't quite sure where it would end.  But we really didn't care.  It was a gorgeous, cool summer evening so we decided to head east to the lakeshore of Lake Michigan.  The bummer part about being on the west side of the lake is that the sun does not set over the water.  But that is okay.  Because after heading east we then headed north and ended up on the waterfront in Kenosha, WI. 

This was the view.  So peaceful and relaxing.

We found a lovely park that had a flower garden.  Here the girls are enjoying the bench swing.

 Mommy and the girls enjoyed the beautiful colours of the flowers while cuddling on the benchswing.

Daddy and Isaiah enjoyed walking around the flower garden (Isaiah slept the entire trip).

Daddy and mommy enjoyed some time on the benchswing.  

Then of course the girls couldn't just look at the flowers but needed to smell them as well.

Our Creator has made such a beautiful world.  We enjoy getting out and enjoying His creations.

Thank you, Lord, for the beauty of Lake Michigan and it waterfront.