Family Update

Well, we are on the mend. Sorry blogging has been so light. This is a tough bug to shake. Elizabeth woke up this morning and said, “I’m better.” There was such relief in her voice! Fortunately the cough and congestion never turned to bronchitis. Just a nasty cough. We’ll keep dosing everyone till we’re well.

I don’t remember if I posted about our new house or not. We’ve sold our old one (in the old location) and we’re buying another! God keeps giving me big houses. I was honestly expecting and looking forward to downsizing, but since God seems to have had other plans, I’m rejoicing and looking forward to filling our new home with guests. Hospitality, what fun! We have had a lot of people over to our (rent) house lately and it’s such a joy. One night we had about 50 20-somethings. That was great.

Elizabeth has grown so tall this summer. Her reading skills have exploded and I am so happy that I now have to pry her away from books at times to do other things. Her comprehension is improving and she is starting to ask questions about what she reads. “Hey, Mama, you know the judgment? That doesn’t sound like much fun.” We have never talked about the judgment that I recall. She just read about it. She is really enjoying cooking. She plans to start a cookie business as soon as I get my act together enough to kick it into high gear. Of course we had to wait till we were well too…Perhaps in the next few weeks. In time for Christmas, maybe? The kids were chopping veggies for soup the other day and Elizabeth told Silas, “By the time you are a teenager you will know all the skills of cooking!” Hey, sounds great to me! As long as he has all the skills of cleaning up his cooking mess as well!

Silas must be on a growth spurt too. He wakes up ravenously hungry in the mornings. He just begs me to fix him some breakfast. He’s always eaten well, but not obsessively. Lately he has been HUNGRY. He’s such a thoughtful little guy and he comes out with questions that blow my mind. He is thinking through the whole salvation issue, and while he is not there yet, he is close to getting a basic understanding. The other day I was having my quiet time and he asked me to read the Bible out loud. I was in Romans 7. As I was reading he kept interrupting with questions (between play) . "Did Lazarus make the law go away?" (He meant Moses.) When I said no, he said, "But Jesus did, right? Why did Moses have to fire [burn] animals? Why did Jesus die on the cross? Jesus was not sin. But we sin." I was amazed that he made the correlation between sacrifices and the law, especially since what I read did not specifically address sacrifice, and that he grasped the fact that someone came to set us free from the law. He also grasped in some fashion that there was relationship to sacrifice, the law, and sin, although I don’t think he quite understands just what yet.

Sarah’s favorite activity is eating. When she sees that it will soon be meal time, she goes to the table and waits as long as half an hour for her food to show up. I am trying to encourage and establish healthy habits, since she loves food so much. She can be quite obsessive in a lot of areas. She will carry around the same small toy or paper for weeks…To church, outside, to bed. She keeps everyone laughing with her funny little antics. Her latest sayings are “I’m happy!” and “That’s punny!” (funny) She really is a happy little girl. It takes a lot to get her bent out of shape for more than a moment. She has an imaginary friend named Bakah (like Baker, but with ah at the end). The other day she “called” Bakah on the phone. “Hey, Bakah? Are you at your preschool? OK. I LOVE YOU!!! Bye.”

I'm feeling lots of little flutters and kicks from Tiny One. Sixteen weeks now (I think ). We'll find out if we have a little boy or a little girl next month.

Now that I’ve written about the family, it’s time to go spend time with them. School, laundry, and dishes call. We’re having steak for supper, thanks to the beef my parents raised us. Doesn’t that sound good?