Dear Eli...

Dear Eli,

You are almost three years old and this nearly breaks your Mommy's heart. I cannot believe that time has gone by this fast. You are such a great brother to Knox. You always include him in all that you do. You confidently interpret all his babble. You also ask me not to pop his hand when he disobeys, stating "that hurts him Mommy." It breaks your heart for Knox to be corrected.

You have an extremely strong will that is just beginning to really reveal itself. You love your Daddy above all others and ask about him often during our days together. I often overhear you telling Knox, "Daddy is in Stanford today." You mean Sanford and you think he goes there everyday. God and Jesus are a part of your normal vocabulary. You ask us to pray for God and Jesus, rather than pray to them. One day you will know the difference and we will celebrate with you!

You also feel that everyday should be spent hitting golf balls and playing basketball. Another love we hope you keep! You are very special to us!

Love,

Your Mommy

Praying for the World

We have begun to pray for the world as a family each night before the boys go to bed. Knox loves to pray. We bless every meal, snack, cup of water, you name it, before he will indulge. He takes his prayer life very seriously! We are using the website Operation World and we are just tackling the countries alphabetically. Eli has used the word "Afghanistan" a lot this week. He has reminded me that he doesn't know those little children's names, but he did pray for them. We hope to never take for granted how much their little minds and hearts can learn at this early age.

Here is the site-check it out-you can learn a lot! www.operationworld.org

Christmas and more...

Our family had a wonderful Christmas. We spent a lot of time with extended family, but we also made some great memories at home with our boys. We talked a lot about Baby Jesus this season and we tried to help Eli really understand why he was born. We want him to know and love the Jesus of Easter. We consider it a privilege to teach our boys about Christ and his gift of Salvation.

Knox is already attempting tricks on the new trike.

Loves the tool belt

The #1 gift of Christmas-a marble set for Eli. This is Knox stressing to him that this gift will be shared.

All Knox wanted for Christmas was a turtle. He was scared of this one most of Christmas Day, but now they sleep together at night.

Christmas Eve with Uncle Ev.

Tanglewood

We took the boys to see the Festival of Lights at Tanglewood this year. Wow-what a funny evening. The Atkinson family were also in tow, so we were not short of comic relief.

These pictures do a pretty good job of depicting this evening of fun. The four adults agreed that we would laugh about it through the ages.

One of the funniest things said by Eli was when we arrived and were driving under the falling "snowflakes." J pointed these out to Eli and said, "Eli, look at those snowflakes!" Eli responded very matter of fact, "Those are not snowflakes, those are Christmas lights."