Springtime Fun

One of the great joys of spring, at least for little kids, is the abundance of caterpillars crawling everywhere. The boys were so excited to see them when they first appeared, and everyday they go out collecting more. Malachi is constantly hollering, "Look, Mommy! I found a attapeeler!" (I'm going to miss all those funny mispronunciations one day!)
Here are some pictures of the boys collecting their living treasures with their friend Emma who lives across the street from us. Everyday, all day long, Caleb asks me when he can go see Emma. He keeps constant watch for her arrival home each afternoon. Both the boys love her, and she is really a great girl. She puts up with my two rambunctious little boys like many girls would not. She's a real sweetheart, and my boys sure love her!

Easter - Jesus has risen!

Spring is in full force, and signs of new life are all around. The trees are budding with flowers and new leaves, bulbs are blooming, eggs are hatching, baby animals are everywhere, and even the sidewalks are teeming with life waiting to be transformed into something new as the caterpillars crawl around. How perfect that Easter falls at the height of the spring season! As we see signs of new life all around us in God's beautiful creation, how can we not accept the gift of new life God has given to us? I am so grateful for a God who loved me enough to give His only Son up to suffer in my place that I may have new life through Him. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!!! As my precious little son, Caleb, said on Easter morning - "Jesus is alive today! He was dead. The bad people killed him, but now he is alive!" Thank you, God, for all the many blessings You have given us, but most especially for the gift of new life through Jesus Christ our Savior!

We were blessed with a beautiful Easter day to remind us of God's amazing love for us. Church was packed, and the service was great. Afterward there was an egg hunt for the kids. It was divided into groups by ages, and both my boys fit into the 3-5 year old range. Unfortunately, though Malachi is 3, in many ways he is more like a 2 year old. We have him in the 2 year old Sunday school class where he fits in perfectly. Not only was he much smaller than most of the kids in his group for the egg hunt, he didn't have a clue what to do. After all, while most of the kids had been on an Easter egg hunt before, this was Malachi's first Easter. When the go ahead was finally given, all the kids took off running to get the eggs. All but Malachi that is. After I scanned the group looking for his dark little body running with the other kids, I finally found him back at the starting line crying his little heart out! My poor little boy!!! I felt so bad for him. After comforting him for a minute I led him along to find some eggs. When he finally picked up an egg it fell open revealing a nice tasty piece of chocolate. At that point he became so absorbed in that one piece of candy it was nearly impossible to convince him to move on and collect more eggs. Needless to say, Malachi did not collect too many eggs! I think we will soon be doing an egg hunt at home so he can actually hunt some eggs!

Malachi models his Easter outfit my mom made for him. He seemed to know it was special just because Grandma made it!

See how little Malachi looks in comparison to the other kids in the group?

After Mommy wipes away the tears from his initial confusion Malachi finally joins the egg hunt...

...but as quickly as he gets started, he is overtaken by a single piece of chocolate!

Daddy tries to help him out. Look at how full the kid's bucket behind him is as opposed to how many eggs are in Malachi's basket.

Oh my, more chocolate!

Like most of the other kids in the group, Caleb knows the game and quickly fills his basket with eggs.

Wow, Malachi is actually getting another egg, thanks to Daddy's help!

Caleb gets an egg alongside his friend Jonathon. Not only are Caleb and Jonathon in the same classes in church, the same t-ball team, and the same soccer team last fall, the boys are also neighbors. Jonathon has wonderful parents (and a great big brother, too!), and we feel very blessed to have them as neighbors.

After the hunt, Malachi's basket is overflowing with eggs! Well, perhaps not!

Oh well, he only got a couple of eggs, but at least he is happy!

Baby Kitties!!!

A few years ago we got a baby kitten for the kids (Christina was 13 and Caleb was 2 at the time). Sadly she didn't live, and Caleb kept asking endlessly for months when she would come back. He never did forget her even though he was so young. Last year a little cat showed up on our doorstep looking very much like the little kitten we once had. Of course, Caleb immediately expected us to keep it. Though we were guarded at first, we soon realized this cat didn't belong to anyone - it seemed to have just been dropped off in the neighborhood with another cat (the neighbors rescued that one). It was very pretty and even more importantly it had a wonderful personality and did well with the kids so we decided to keep it. We have yet to give it a real name. Because it was so little we've all just been calling it the "baby kitty." Recently our baby kitty became a mommy kitty to 4 precious little kittens. She has been a good mother to them, and quite naturally they have gotten plenty of loving from us as well! We have been holding them since they were first born. Caleb especially spends lots of time with them, holding them, petting them, and giving food, cat milk, and water to the mom. He even lays in the box with them! He was so disappointed he cried when I told him we couldn't keep them all. Christina almost tricked her dad into keeping 2 by telling him I had said we would. However, we will be giving 3 away so if you are interested let me know. There are 2 creamy white ones and 1 gray tabby, all with short hair. The kittens seemed to have inherited their mom's loving personality, and they sure are cute!

Gymnastics Playdate

One of the best parts about going to a great church with great people is the great playdates we get to have. Recently we had a playdate at a gymnastics center. It worked out great for me since Caleb has been begging to take gymnastics and this particular center is where I'm most interested in going. Both the boys had lots of fun and are eager to get enrolled in a class. Since we are busy now with t-ball, soccer, and lots of other spring activities it will be a little longer before we start, but the boys can't wait to start going regularly.

Sleepy Boy!

Lately our days have been quite full. All of the activity has been good for Caleb who functions best in a nonstop blur of action. However, little Malachi just can't quite handle these busy days without a nap. Sometimes he manages to pull off a short one in the car, but even then it's just not enough. Combine that with a child who can take literally hours to eat a meal if allowed (and he doesn't even mind sitting at the table for so long, he will happily spend hours just sitting there talking to himself and singing) and you have a boy who has a hard time finishing his meal before the fatigue sets in.




Lest you think it's only at the table he falls asleep, here he is on the playroom floor, favorite toy in hand.

Cowboys and Indians

Okay, before you blast me about politically incorrect stereotypes and how inappropriate it is for me to dress my white son in a cowboy hat as he shoots his toy gun towards his much darker brother from India, let me just say that I had nothing to do with their play. They are simply two brothers out having fun like little boys do, and for them the term "Indian" means soldier as much as it does either a Native American or a person from India (even though Malachi himself is from India). I know that sounds strange, but somewhere along the way, perhaps from overhearing the television while his Daddy watched the History Channel, Caleb made a connection between "Indians" (as in Native Americans) and soldiers, and ever since he has referred to soldiers as Indians (though he has lately started to use the term soldier as well). So, being little boys, Caleb and Malachi love to get out with their toy guns and play pretend games, and being sons of a military officer, they love pretending to be soldiers, or in their own terms "cowboys and Indians." Oh, and Malachi has a cowboy hat also, but on this particular day he chose to be Annakin Sywalker from Star Wars instead, with the "lifesaver" as his weapon of choice.

A Family Resemblance

Last Saturday after Caleb was done with his baseball evaluations I let the boys play on the church playground. At first I didn’t see anyone else I knew to talk to so I decided to watch the boys more from a distance and see how they did without me. I sat down on a bench a bit away from the playground itself. After a few minutes a couple of ladies started walking away from the playground, and I could hear them talking about how cute a certain little boy was. Then one of them said, “His name is Malachi.” As they passed by they casually looked toward me as I happened to be in their line of sight. I don’t think they knew I was the mom of the child they were just discussing, after all there isn’t any family resemblance. It made me feel good to hear others talking nicely about my precious little boy, and at the same time it was interesting to think about the fact that no matter how strong the emotional connections we have, there aren’t any biological connections to tie us to each other, nothing that would ever make people think he was my child without seeing our interaction.

On the way home later that day I passed a church sign that read, “A child of the King should bear a family resemblance.” It was interesting, especially in light of what I had just been thinking on the playground. We have 3 children who are all 3 different races from 3 different countries, only 1 of which is our biological child. Future adoptions will probably only add to the beautiful rainbow within our family. With such a mix as that can there possibly be any family resemblance among us? I hope so. I hope people are able to see our family as a beautiful representation of the miracle of adoption, of the love that binds our children to us far more strongly than genetics. I hope we are able to pass our values and morals on to our children, that they will choose to be men and women of God, and that they will seek to live a righteous life following His Word. I hope we are able to teach all of our children, biological and adopted, of God’s love for us, of his ADOPTION of us (“He predestined us to be ADOPTED as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will.” -Ephesians 1:5).

The Bible says we “are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26) Indeed, we as Christians are children of the King, and we should seek to bear a family resemblance to Him. Others are looking at us, and our words and actions can either make them want to join our family of Believers or turn away. Seek to show them God’s love, to show them the joy that comes from knowing Christ as Lord and Savior of your life. Encourage them to become a part of our family of Believers, to become a child of the King.

Of our 3 children, only 1 has a biological connection to us. Our adopted children not only have no biological connection to us, they even differ in race from us. Ethnically one is Vietnamese and the other is Indian. They bear no physical resemblance to us, and yet they do resemble us in so many other ways – our words, our actions, our values, our morals, etc. As Christians we have all been ADOPTED by the King, he is our FATHER through the spirit of ADOPTION (“You have received a spirit of ADOPTION as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” -Romans 8:15). We are children of the King, and as such we should seek to bear a family resemblance to Him, to be like Him so that others may see Him in us.

“The Lord is God, and He has made His light shine upon us.” (Psalm 118:27) “In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16) God's light shines upon us, and we are to let our light shine before men that they may see Him, our Father, through us. Are you a child of the King? If so, do you bear a family resemblance to Him?

Baseball Evaluation Day

On Saturday we had evaluations for Outward baseball at church. Caleb is pretty excited about playing, but the best part is that Daddy will be coaching! There were several different stations for the evaluations, and when we first started Caleb's evaluation Ernie was no where to be seen, which bothered Caleb. I told Caleb he was probably just helping out on the other field, and sure enough when we were sent over there for the batting station there was Daddy! It was pretty cool that of all the different positions in which the men were helping Ernie was the one helping the kids with batting. Of course it made the pictures of Caleb's first time batting that much better, but it was also sweet to see him coaching Caleb on how to bat. When Caleb's evaluation was done I let the boys play on the church playground for several more hours (yes, hours), while I had fun talking. Later I went down to watch Ernie coaching at the batting station. It was sweet seeing how he interacted with all the kids, and it made me realize just how much being a dad has changed him. I was really proud to see him there stepping out of his normal role in the career world into a new role, and I know Caleb is going to love having his Daddy coach his team!

A Few Old Favorites

I took these pictures of Caleb when he was just 6 months old. It's hard to believe how big my precious little baby is getting. Though life has been way too busy for us during his nearly 5 years, I do my best to treasure every moment with him. I don't fuss about him sleeping with me, about carrying him, or holding him because I know all too soon the day will come when he no longer wants to sleep with me and he's too big for me to hold. I miss those sweet baby days with him, but I also enjoy these crazy preschool years with him where every day is a new adventure waiting to be filled with fun. I love that I am the lucky mom who gets to share these days with him. I know when he is big I will miss him being little, but I don't want to regret not spending time with him. I have been immeasurably blessed by God with my precious little Caleb, and I pray I am able to be the mom he deserves and give him all the love and attention he needs.