Family Alive

Thanks for all the well-wishes on our baby boy Toone-to-be:) I’ve got all kinds of chit-chat I’ve been meaning to put into a blog, but I’ve just not had the time to pull it all together. I’ve got a long to-do list this afternoon, but Analise just laid down for a nap, and I’m determined to get something posted. I won’t be distracted by the internet or the laundry basket or the vaccuum… here goes! (Besides, I’ve not let either of the latter two distract me in the last week, so why now??)

A Growing Little Girl
Analise has been a busy girl latey! She turned 18 months old at the end of December, and I’m just amazed everytime I look at her, realizing how much she’s growing up. She’s trying to be very independent. Yesterday I was letting her go diaper-less to give her rashy bottom some air. After a bit, Brian found her in her room, sitting on a diaper, trying to put it on herself:) The other morning, after napping with me on our bed, she woke up snuggling next to me. She leaned over pointing to my eyes, and said “Eyes” and then pointed to my nose, and said “nose”, and followed this linguistic burst with “mof” as she pointed to my mouth. She’s still jabbering all the time, and we’re starting to make out more and more words that she’s trying to use. These were a couple very distinct, thought-out words. She’s enjoying the new Baby Einstein movie, Baby Wordsworth, with words and signs, and she’s been trying her new words out on us, as well as doing the signs with the movie, and when we ask. I’m rather impressed! (I personally thought this Baby E movie was the most boring, but it seems that she’s gotten more out of it than any others!) The word of this week, though, is a very distinct “YAK”, which she learned from the Fisher Price A to Z Learning Zoo, our Christmas present to her. We figured we’d start with the easiest animal to say… she hasn’t picked up flamingo yet:)
She’s also got very distinct things that she desires, and we’re working on communicating those with her limited vocabulary. She’s doing pretty well! She’s eating great too… specially since she’s learned to dip things. Ketchup, ranch dressing, and salsa are all happy additions to her plate, and make every meal more interesting. Another trick to getting her to eat is giving her a fork and spoon. For some reason, things taste better if it’s on a utensil, and she enjoys doing it herself, even if one piece of pear takes 5 minutes to get from plate to mouth!

Our Ultrasound
I just have to recap our ultrasound from last week. It was so funny, because I was really expecting to hear that we were having another girl. At our ultrasound with Analise, the doctor told us she was “80% certain” that we were having a girl, so we kept the possibility of a boy open in our minds, even up to the moment she arrived. At the beginning of this appointment, Brian asked the technician if she’d be able to tell if it was a girl or boy. She promised that she wouldn’t guess, but more than likely she’d be able to tell. Halfway through this ultrasound as the tech was doing all the measurements, Brian excitedly asked, “Do you know if it’s a boy or girl yet?” I chided him, saying, “Let her get the technical stuff done”, but she said, “I think I saw what I needed to see”. !!!!!!!!! Brian said, “YOu SAW something???” “Yes,” she said, “I’m pretty sure it’s a boy.” We were both so surprised, just because of the certainty of “seeing something”, and sure enough, we saw what we needed to see to be convinced as well. 🙂 I was in shock, and still am at the thought of having a little boy, since I had so imagined another little girl and Analise having a sister. But I’m really excited either way, and I hope and pray that they are good friends, given that they’ll be just 2 years apart in age. She’s going to be a great big sister, I can tell already!

Beyond the Gates of Splendor
Years ago, I read a book by Elisabeth Elliot called Through Gates of Splendor. It’s a true account of her husband and 4 other men’s experience in reaching out to a savage Ecuadorian tribe with the Gospel, ending tragically as they were all 5 speared to death. It’s an amazing story of faith and love. A new documentary is out called Beyond the Gates of Splendor, created in part by Steve Saint, the son of one of the men who was killed. It tells the complete story of what happend, from the mouths of the Waodani indians themselves, and shows the tremendous story of redemption that God has worked in their people through these 5 men giving their lives. Last Friday was the 50th anniversary of the tragedy. Next week, on January 20th, a full-length movie will be released in theaters called End of the Spear telling the story in drama format. It looks excellent as well. I can’t reccommend the documentary enough, and I’m sure the movie will be equally as good. Though the men all had guns, they said they would never use them on the indians, even if their lives were in danger. The summarizing quote that remains with me is this: “They’re not ready for heaven… we are.”

I think that’s all my chit-chat:) I’d better post this before it gets lost or I get distracted. Hope everyone’s well!