oh, Anna!

If you could peek into my living room when Laura is nursing these past few days, you would see me re-reading Michael & Debbie Pearl's book "To Train Up A Child". And, once you take a look at these pictures, you'll start to understand why.







Our little Anna is a case! She's been caught standing in the bathroom sink and sitting inside the toilet more than once too, and her latest facination is washing her "softy" (silky blanket) in the toilet and then walking around the house leaving a trail of potty water dripped behind her. She's one of the most troublesome, adventurous, inquisitive, intelligent, adorable, sweet, and precious little girls I have ever met - let alone lived with. She always giving somebody a hug or kiss, always climbing something, always getting into something, and always grinning that impudent, adorable, head to toe smile of hers. She's just a mess.

Speaking of smiles, Laura finally started smiling at me last night. I was talking at her, just like good parents are supposed to do, and she actually started staring in my face, and then started grinning and smiling at me like I couldn't hardly believe - for a good 10 minutes or so. Same thing again today. It's so cool when a baby finally begins to interact and develop some personality. It's especially nice to get smiled at by this little one, since the last three weeks of nursing her has been excruciatingly painful. Makes it hard to love having a newborn in the house when it's all work, pain, and lots of screaming baby in the background. Poor kid, being baby #3 she is so often just left crying because it's physically impossible for me to do everything and keep her happy all the time too.

Anna and Reuben are continuing to bond with her with each passing week. Anna's forever pulling blankets off of her so she can see what she's hugging and kissing, and Reuben very compassionately puts blankets on her when he hugs and kisses her, particularly when she's crying and he wants to comfort her.













Reuben turned three a few weeks before his cousin Katie turned four, so we had a combined family party for the two of them on March 6th. Sadly, Reuben threw up on the way to his own party, fell asleep right before we ate, and when he woke up he still felt sick enough he wasn't even interested in birthday cake or ice cream. He was pretty excieted about his presents though, and has been having loads of fun playing with them ever since.





I used birthday money from Reuben's great-grandparents to get him all set up with some pre-school activities. A whole year ago I got some books on teaching pre-school at home, made great plans, but never actually got the stuff to do it. So finally I made a trip to Wal-Mart and Goodwill, and I am amazed at how totally facinated and engrossed Reuben is with simple scooping, pouring, and pinching exercises. Next we get to do colors, shapes, and matching; once I finish assembling the stuff to do it anyhow. He's gotten so much more interested in books lately, finally! It's so awesome watching him grow beyond toddler to being a "real boy."







Today is the most beautiful day out! And it's not the first either, it's slowly been warming up and turning Spring-like around here, and I'm THRILLED! Right now all the windows are open, it's bright and beautiful outside, and I've gotten to take my kids outside to play several times in the last week or so.







Business has been picking up a bit for Jeremy lately. With the weather warming up we're putting together marketing materials to target houses that have paint peeling off of them. Seems like a worth while plan, just praying that God will bless it with good success. Asside from work, Jeremy's also been preparing for the Norwich PD physical agility test coming up March 27. The Haiti Benefit concert he organized turned out beautifully (or so I'm told, I was home with sick kids) though Jeremy was extreamly dissapointed he didn't get the place packed out. We're also working on a website with one of our town councilmen who is runnng for state assembly. So, keeping busy, which is always good.



You know, I once wrote down a list of things I wanted to do before I died:
-do the Texas Water Safari
-hike the appalacian trail
-become a bush pilot
-etc.
I no longer want to hike the appalacian trail, and I don't even enjoy riding in planes anymore, but I did complete the Safari four times. I don't remember what else was on that list, but I do remember that "become a baby factory" wasn't even a runner up. Yet, here I am...three children in less than three years.

Lately I've been reflecting on just how much my life has turned out different than I expected it to as I was growing up. The wonder of it all, is that the life God has given me is perfect. Not perfect in the sense that it's problem free - quite the contrary. Perfect in the sense that this is what God made me for, and it's hard, and so much of the time I totally suck at it!, but... I can't really put it into words, but somehow the life God is laying out for me is so much better for me than the life I had dreamed up for myself.