How to pray like a child

Isabel and I read another chapter in the Jesus Storybook Bible that I was really impacted by. The chapter was from Matthew 6 and included a child-like paraphrase of The Lord's Prayer. The Storybook Bible quotes Jesus as saying to His followers, "So when you pray, pray in your normal voice, just like when you're talking to someone you love very much. Like this...

Hello Daddy!

We want to know you.

And be close to you.

Please show us how.

Make everything in the world right again.

And in our hearts, too.

Do what is best - just like you do in heaven,

And please do it down here, too.

Please give us everything we need today.

Forgive us for doing wrong, for hurting you.

Forgive us just as we forgive other people when they hurt us.

Rescue us! We need you.

We don't want to keep running away and hiding from you.

Keep us safe from our enemies.

You're strong, God.

You can do whatever you want.

You are in charge.

Now and forever and for always!

We think you're great!

Amen!

Yes we do!

I know that I could really benefit in my walk with God, by remembering that I can talk to God very conversationally, throughout the day, using my own normal voice, talking to Him as I would talk to someone I love very much. It is so amazing to me that as a parent, I am learning so much and growing in my own faith journey, by introducing Isabel to Jesus and seeing Him and His teachings through the eyes of a child.

Look out, he's crawling!

About a week ago, it happened. Our sweet boy, who has been trying for months to crawl, managed to get his body coordinated enough to figure it out! Over the course of last weekend, we noticed him crawling two, three, or even four steps at a time. So I decided to take one of his favorite things in the world (Cheerios) and give him enough incentive to crawl across the room. And by golly, HE DID IT! Enjoy the video I was able to capture.



Ever since then, he has been crawling all over the place and even pulling himself up to a stand next to things (the Noah's Ark rocking chair in his room, the couch, his Exersaucer, etc.) He also has been reveling in the fact that he can crawl himself over to drawers, which he is obsessed with opening. And tonight, sadly, he had his first experience of closing said drawer on his poor little finger. :( But he was a trooper, as soon as I rescued him, he stopped crying. He is less sensitive than his big sister is when it comes to owies!

We are so proud of you, buddy!

The Lord is my Shepherd

Every night before bed we have been reading a chapter out of The Jesus Storybook Bible to Isabel as her third bedtime story. We hope to instill a habit in her of reading God's Word every day (a habit we still aspire to ourselves as very busy working parents of young children!)  This Bible was a wonderful gift from Josiah's godparents Jenna and Aaron for Josiah's dedication this past April (we actually prefer it to the Bible that we gave Isabel for her first Christmas!). We love the way that it tells the Bible stories in all their accuracy, in childlike language, and that it interweaves the character and story of Jesus through every story, even the stories that are not actually about Jesus. 

Last night we read the story of David, which includes a paraphrase of the 23rd Psalm. Something about the way this paraphrase was written just struck me, and it brought tears to my eyes as I was reading it to Isabel. This Psalm has held a special place in my heart since I accepted Jesus as my Savior at age 19, and I pray that Isabel will also feel the love and provision of God, as described in this Psalm, throughout the ups and downs she will undoubtedly experience in this life.  Oh, if only we could have the heart of a child and remember the following truths each day. It would truly change our lives!

God is my Shepherd
And I am his little lamb.

He feeds me
He guides me
He looks after me.
I have everything I need.

Inside, my heart is very quiet.
As quiet as lying still in soft green grass
In a meadow
By a little stream.

Even when I walk through
the dark, scary, lonely places
I won't be afraid
Because my Shepherd knows where I am.

He is here with me
He keeps me safe
He rescues me

He makes me strong
And brave.

He is getting wonderful things ready for me
Especially for me
Everything I ever dreamed of!

He fills my heart so full of happiness
I can't hold it all inside.

Wherever I go I know
God's Never Stopping, Never Giving Up, Unbreaking,
Always and Forever Love
Will go, too!

Babble-box

For his first year of life, Josiah was a pretty silent dude (wellllll, unless he was crying). He had started babbling a tiny bit back before he had his shunt placement surgery, but had regressed in this milestone due to the hydrocephalus, and had not gained the milestone back until just a few weeks ago, when all of a sudden he found his voice in a big way. Our days are now filled with the joyous sounds of his baby babble. And, to my chagrin, he started with dadadada, and still has not managed to make a mamamama sound. :( Either way, it is music to our ears!  Listen closely...

The hokey-pokey

Our slightly shy, introverted daughter almost never sings or dances on camera. She will be singing and dancing unabashedly, but as soon as she spies me with the videocamera, she clams up.  So I was very happy to capture the following last week while we were home together! She is absolutely loving the Dora CD player that Grandma & Papa Beach sent her for her birthday. She will spend long periods of time in front of it just listening to her songs, and sometimes singing (or dancing) along.

Daddy and monsters

A couple of nights ago, Isabel had a rare occurrence of waking up crying pretty hard at about 11:30 pm. I went in there to see what was wrong, and the minute she saw me, she said "I want Daddy!" I figured this would warm Luke's heart, so I gladly went back to our bedroom and traded places with him. After he came back to bed, he told me that he asked Isabel if she had a bad dream. She said yes, and he asked her if it was about monsters. She said no, but wasn't able to tell him what it was about. So, the two of them had a long conversation about dreams, that they are only in our heads, and not real.  He told her that dreams are sometimes good, sometimes bad, but they are just things that we "think about while we are sleeping." She seemed to understand this and was pretty awake at this point, so to take her mind off of whatever she had been dreaming about, he told her about Grandma and Grandpa Beach's new paddleboat that she gets to ride on when we go down to Florida for Christmas this year. She got over her bad dream and went back to sleep just fine. 

Fast forward to this morning, when I went into her bedroom to get her ready for the day, and the day began like this:

I walk into her bedroom, and she immediately starts crying (real alligator tears and sobs, mind you). 
Isabel: "But I want Daaaaaddddyyy!:
Me: "Honey, Daddy isn't home right now."
Isabel (still crying): "But where is he?"
Me: "He is at work."
Isabel (still crying): "But is he going to come back?"
Me: "Of course he is going to come back! He will be here right after work this afternoon!"

I managed to get her calmed down enough to come downstairs with me. Much more composed, she continued our conversation:

Isabel: “I had a dream and wanted Daddy.”
Me: “The other night, when he came into your room, and he told you about Grandma and Papa’s new paddleboat?”
Isabel: “Noooooo! I had a dream and wanted Daddy!”
Me (the lightbulb came on that she may have had another bad dream before waking this morning): “This morning?”
Isabel: “Yeah.”
Me: “What did you have a dream about?”
Isabel: “Monsters. The pink one came and when I laid down to the side in my crib (here she demonstrates by laying on the floor on her side), he took me out of my house.”
Me: “But you know monsters aren’t real, right? They are just for pretend, in our heads.”
Isabel: “Right.” (Off she marches to her Tinkerbell chair to watch Barney, and hasn't brought up monsters for the rest of the day).

I sure wish we could get these conversations on video, but they are so spontaneous, I guess my “transcripts” will have to do!

Does she really have to grow up???

Ball boy

Thought you all might enjoy a video of Josiah playing with the ball toy that his godparents Jenna and Aaron got for him for his birthday. Josiah has a "mini" version of this on his Exersaucer and he loves putting the ball in and then watching it go down the track. Jenna suspected he would love this toy and she was right! It didn't take him long to figure out how it works! Enjoy!