The Biggest Decision!!

Ethan made the biggest decision of his life tonight. He prayed and asked Jesus to come into his heart! He has been really thinking this over for the past month. We have been going through this great book "Helping Children Understand the Gospel". It is great because it goes through alot of the characteristics of God. We have also been working on our verse (look to the side) about the "Devil prowling around" and Ethan is has really interested in "why the Devil would want to devour us". He was really broken up about his sinful behavior tonight at bedtime and was in tears when I got to his room. "I don't want to obey the devil any more", was what he was crying. So, we talked with him about salvation and how when ask Jesus into our hearts. He really seemed to understand what he was doing and really wanted Jesus to come into his heart. He said he wants to obey God and to try not to sin anymore.

As we were leaving the room he said (pointing to his heart) with a big smile"Jesus is in there and
you know what he is going to be in there in the morning too".

"Blessed assurance Jesus is mine"

Look I'm Mommy...

Ethan put on my slippers tonight and said, "look I'm Mommy" with a big smile. I told him he was a silly boy. Then he turned to me and said (shaking his finger), "Ethan get back in bed right now". I guess he has heard that one a few times.

Ethan's trying to read

We got a library book which was about trains. It has just a few words on each page like, yellow tanker car, blue boxcar, black steam locomotive. I read it to Ethan today and of course he loved it. After I read the book I told him I thought he could read it all by himself. He said "no I don't know how to read". I said "just look at the pictures and say the words mommy did". So he thought he would try it. He did really good, and "read" the whole book. I know this may not seem like a big deal, he is 4 years old, but it is for Ethan. He loves looking at books and loves to be read to, but has never sat and "read" a book by himself. He has always said "I don't know how to read". Hopefully he will try "reading" other books now.

Not the Best Person to take Christmas Shopping

Andrew took Ethan with him yesterday to finish his Christmas shopping. Ethan is not the best person to take Christmas shopping, well not if you want your Christmas presents kept secret. Ethan was helping me cook dinner last night when he very proudly said "mommy guess what we got you a new pair of pj's...I picked them out." I said "oh no no honey don't tell mommy what you got at Walmart, it is a surprise." I guess he forgot. This morning he was turning on the Christmas village (turning on the all the Christmas lights is his job) he said "mommy we got...(and before I could stop him)...you a new tree for your village." Christmas better get her quick before Ethan tells me all my gifts.

Oh well!

Staph Infection....Really

For 3 days we have been watching this rash on Ethan's face spread. It showed up on Friday will just some red bumps around his mouth. I thought it must be related to running a high fever all week. Since the fever dropped I thought he was getting better. Yesterday after we saw it was moving from just around his mouth up towards his eyes, we decided it was time to call the doctor. We had a 3:30 appointment, but when he woke up at 2:30 crying unstoppable from pain, I loaded up everyone and headed to the doctor. Andrew was hunting, which was planned because neither of us thought it would be as bad as it turned out to me. He was crying from pain all the way to doctors, in the waiting room, in the little room, even when the doctor was in there. His lips were so swollen that he couldn't even close his mouth, it looked like he had been punched in the face a few times. The whole way I heard, "I don't want to get another shot (IV), Mommy I cann't close my mouth, Mommy it hurts... and so on. Poor little guy.

Lucky for us the doctor was on time and they even took us in early. He said he has a staph infection and put him on a 10 antibiotics and some steroid cream. They gave him some motrin which helped with the pain. When we were waiting for the RX I got him an milkshake, which helps with the pain too I guess. He is very contagious though, so we will be spending Thanksgiving home. He is doing much better today and it looks like the cream is helping, but the rash is still there. Poor Ethan, 2 rough weeks in a row.

So since we are spending Thanksgiving here, I went out and got all the fixings. I have never cooked a turkey, but I think I can handle it...we have a fire extinguisher just in case. :)

Well that was a LONG night....

So we ending up taking Ethan to the ER last night. He had been throwing up since Sunday night and started to run a high fever (104). We gave him some Tylenol and water and waited a hour, but the fever didn't come down. As we were getting him ready to go to the hospital he threw up again. That was another sign that it was time to go.

It has snowed a little bit and Andrew said the roads were slippery. They were a little icy and I ran into an accident on 469 which blocked all the traffic both ways for about 30 minutes. Now I was doing fine and trying to be really patient, praying for the traffic to free up. I started to panic when 10 minutes turned into 20 into 30 and then Ethan started to fall asleep. It was 11 o'clock and he really hadn't slept all day. But I was also thinking he was running a fever of 104.5 and he threw up the Tylenol before we left. Just about the time I was ready to do some off roading, God answered our prayers and the traffic started creeping.

We finally arrived at Dupont Hospital and had about 10 minutes in the waiting room. They took us back and checked Ethan over. His fever was down to 102. They did a swab to get a white blood cell count and started an IV with fluids. The nurse was so good and was talking to Ethan about what she was going to do, but he had no idea, until she stuck him. He looked at me and said "mommy ouchy it hurts" and of course started crying. It was so hard to watch my little boy be in pain and not be able to do anything about it. He did so good and only cried for a little bit, the new Thomas train I brought might have helped. Of course we had Bunny there to help too. He did complain for a little bit about it hurting but went to sleep about 10 minutes after that.

They came back (around 12:45) with the results of the swab and said his white blood cell were very elevated. They wanted to check for his appendix. This would involve getting a sleeping 4 year old to drink half of a water bottle mix with stuff that tasted bad. As you can image it didn't go over very well with Ethan. He did pretty good and really tried hard to get it down. It took him about 10 minutes and he had it almost down, when he threw it all up. I thought if we have to start it again, we are leaving. I couldn't go through that again. It was so hard to see him struggling and just wanting to go home to his bed. After we got him cleaned up and they gave him a nice warm blanket, he settled down and went back to sleep. He didn't have to drink any more, just wait 1 and 1/2 hours and then they would do a CT scan. So I grabbed a Diet Coke (with caffine) and watched some HGTV. The time went by pretty quick.

Once again the poor child got woke up this time by his bed moving and going into the bright lights of the hallway. Then to a room with a huge CT machine (thankfully it was like a big donut, open kind). He was so tired and really didn't want to lay on the bed, but he tuffed it out and they got the scan they needed. Then back to the room and back to sleep for Ethan. Out to the refrig and another Diet Coke for me as we waited for the test results.

They came back with a normal appendix and said he has a bad case of a stomach virus. His fever did go back to normal and he was feeling pretty good with all the fluids they gave him. So home and to bed for both of us.

Andrew was nice enough to stay home from hunting this morning so I could sleep in, even though I told him to go. It was a long night since we got home around 4:20 am and Elisea was just waking up for her 4am feeding. I feed her and then headed to bed around 5am. I got about 4 hours of sleep and then right back into the day.

Here we go again.....

Ethan woke up from his nap throwing up. There is good news and bad news about him throwing up. Good news it only got one him and the the leather couch (wipe it off). Bad news we went to Pizza Hut for lunch and he had red jello. No pictures needed. So Ethan, Elisea and I are home from church and Pioneer Clubs tonight. To bad it was their award night and he did all his verses. He is asleep on the living room floor.

Hopefully the rest of us will stay well again. Elisea woke up really grumpy and just wants me to hold her. Oh no, not her too. I don't think that would be fair???!!

"I'm the king of Egypt...."

In BSF this year we are learning about the life of Moses. So there has been a lot of talk about Pharaoh. The other day Ethan sat in the little rocking chair straight up with his has on the arms. In a very commanding voice he said, "I'm the king of Egypt and I won't let your people go".



He also loves singing the "Pharaoh hymn". I have gotten several videos of it.

God's Word Answers Every Question

So the other day Ethan was asking me how God made him.

Ethan: "How did God make me?"
Me: "The Bible says that God knit you together in your mother's womb, which mean he made you and you grew in Mommy's tummy until it was time for you to come out."
Ethan: "Oh"
Ethan: "Why am I so big"?
Me: "The Bible says that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, that means that God made you and you are just the way that God wanted you to be."
Ethan: "Oh"

It was so funny usually everything has a ton of follow up questions with him, one answer is never enough. But when I said the Bible says this or God says this, it was like oh that was all I need to know. It was like he believed it because it came from the Bible and we tell him all the time that everything in the Bible is true. Awesome, I love that his heart is so tender and open to receiving the truth from the Bible. I also love that God has given me the correct words and wisdom in those moments.

Some Updates

Elisea:


She is so close to being able to sit up by herself. Although it does make for a harder fall with Elizabeth pushed her down.


Roll around (from back to tummy and back again) on the floor.


She can grab just about anything now and into the mouth it goes.

She is eating some solid foods; oatmeal cereal, butternut squash, and applesauce. She is really enjoying the squash.




Elizabeth:



She is such a monkey, climbing on everything (Elisea's bed, the table the list is endless). In fact on Sunday when I picked her up they asked, "does she climb on things at home". They had to get her off the picnic table, baby changing table, tables, ect. Pink cast here we come.


She is a stinker. We have to tell her no constantly and multiple times, for everything.


She is starting to really talk.

She loves pink. Anything pink is "Bibeth's". So I guess there is a little girl in there.

Ethan:


He is getting really good at riding his bike and can go pretty fast.


He likes "spiking" the big pink ball when I set it to him. He is getting good at this and can hit is pretty straight.

He loves taking care of his sisters and has really taken on the role of older brother.

3 Check Ups

It was time for well child check up. so I thought I would knock them all out at once. Andrew was on vacation which worked out good for me, maybe not so good for Andrew. They all did pretty good, since it was getting close to lunch and nap time. He said Ethan and Elizabeth look to have the same head cold and were running a low fever, which we already knew. They all checked out normal. Elisea got 3 shots. She only cried when they were giving her the shots and then stopped as soon as I picked her up. Good girl. She is a littly ouchy tonight though, hopefully she will sleep o.k. tonight. Here are their measurements:

Ethan (when the Dr. came in he said he is probably the biggest 4 year old that he sees)
height: 43" (93th %)
weight: 44 lbs (95th %)
head: 20 3/4


Elizabeth (2 year)
height 36" (90th %)
weight 32 lbs (80th %)
head: 14 1/4


Elisea (6 months)
height 25 1/2 " (40th %)
weight 15 lb 12 1/2 oz (45th %)
head 16 1/2 (30th %)

After the doctors, Andrew treated us all to a Pizza Hut buffet for lunch. Yummy. It was a rainy day so we spent the day just relaxing around the house. The kids took naps while Andrew watched a movie and read his new magazine. I finished my BSF and other Bible study and did a little laundry.

......and for the train yard

So I have been having trouble getting Ethan to pray for anything besides "thank you for the food on our table". Jeanne gave me the idea of just having him repeat what ever I'm saying. It has worked really well and he is so proud of is prayers. "I did a great job Mommy", he will say after we finish.

Yesterday we were praying after our Bible story and he was repeating what I was praying.
"thank you for our story about Ester and her willingness to be bold"
"thank you for the rain yesterday and the sun today"
"thank you we get to go to the library today, give us safety"
This is were he took a little creative licensing; "and that we get to go to the train yard"

Trains are always on the brain!

Ethan's new bike

Ethan is doing a great job on his bike. Yesterday he rode all the way to Mr. Man's house and back on the road. I told him that if he pushed the pedals harder he would go faster. So, of course wanted to try that and he was pretty excited about going fast. He is still a little uncomfortable with turning and going down the "hill" into the driveway, but I bet it won't be long before he is building ramps and jumping.

Elizabeth spent yesterday enjoying her new sidewalk chalks. She just loves chalk.

We all got in some games of kickball and ran around the yard having fun.

Ethan's Birthday Party

We had such a wonderful day celebrating Ethan yesterday. The weather was perfect. We spent the day around the house and then had the Woods (just Lisa and the kids) over for his party around 4:30. It was a nice relaxing evening of visiting while the kids played, well till the party started. Andrew grilled out and we had a typical buffet of food. The big hit was Lisa's jello shaped like cars and footballs. Elizabeth was saying something over and over (lello, lello) , then I finally figured out she was saying Jello. Ethan wanted more, but with cake coming we thought he had enough. Lisa told him "Ethan I will leave it here and you can just have it tomorrow for lunch". Callan turned to his mom in horror saying "Mom?". You would have thought she was giving away the house or something. The train cake was a hit and I think everyone helped to blow the candles out. The candy on the cake was the first to go and then they were off to play. Ethan was super excited about opening his presents and since it was getting cooler we decided to take the party out the camp fire. With all the presents sitting around him it was hard not to jump the gun. A few got opened before Grandma Becky made it out. He did enjoy opening his gifts and playing with all of them. What a fun day!Elizabeth even got some new sidewalk chalk

from the Woods!

Handsome new shirt and tie.

His first Bible

A new cargo flatbed car.

First Bike!! Big Boy!

Ethan got a lot of nice things for his 4th birthday:

• Thomas game, Thomas flashcards, animal puzzle from Jon and Clarice
• Thomas train from Carolyn and Ron
• Police car with lights and sounds from the Woods
• Rings for the swing set and 4 new shirts from Grandma and Grandpa Harris
• Bible, David and Goliath movie, 2 Thomas DVDs, shirt and tie, car carrier, and 2 new Cars Movie cars from Grandma Becky and Amy
• huge frisbee, green kickball, 3 new books, train pills that turn into sponges, Thomas cargo car, and a bike from mom and dad.
• $23 between all the Great Grandparents
  

Ethan is 4 !!!!!!

Today is Ethan is 4! Where did the time go? I was telling Andrew this morning, can you believe that this time last year we were sitting in Einhaus' office. We had no idea going in that she was about to say "pack your bags and head to the hospital". How our lives have changed!

Day old.

4 years old

We are having his party tonight. He is sooooo excited about his presents and cake and just party in general. It is a nice fall day so we are looking forward to celebrating him. It will be a little different then most of our parties, since have of our family is in Australia. We will have Grandma Becky and Amy and then I invited the Woods. Ethan is excited about having his friends come.

I had to get big to fit into these boots...

I asked Ethan today "when did you get so big, I remember when you were a little baby". He replied "well I had to get big to fit into these boots". They are some camo hiking boots, but he calls them his "wood boots".

You can still play with me....

I was telling him the other night he was getting to big and then I won't have a little boy any more. He said "don't worry mommy I will take care of you. You can still play with me."

What a sweet little boy!

Updates...

Here are some updates of what the kids have been up to lately.

Ethan:

He is so excited about turning 4 because "then I will be in the four year class" (at church). In fact last week he came with us to big church and then went back for Kids Time. He did great sitting in church.
He still loves playing with his trains.
He says that red is his new favorite color, not orange.
He likes to dress himself and pick out his own clothes. He will were a blue short and blue shirt and come down saying "look I match". He especially loves his fun socks, even if they don't match. He says "look I'm a cool dude"! Well maybe not.
He is giving up the nap.


Elizabeth:
Is talking more every day. She will repeat about anything you say. Some of her new words are; thank you, blue (every color is blue), purple, pink, hop (help).
She is also a monkey. Hanging on everything, climbing up the slide, all the way to the top. Ethan can't even do that.
She also still loves the train table.
She still loves her babies and blankie.
Not doing a real good job staying in bed at bedtime. She will go running for those stairs when we come in and find her out of bed. Like, the gig is up run for the hills, retreat!

Elisea:
She is doing so much better during the days.
She will finally take a pacifier and it will calm her down.
She is going to sleep on her own now, with just a little bit of crying.
She still isn't real happy with the carseat, but does good about 60% of the time.
She love watching the kids and having them around her.
She does good in the exersaucer.

I'm sure there is more but that is off the top of my head. They are such good kids.

Laundry Day

Ethan was my little laundry helper today. He was really excited about being my big helper. Even though it take twice as long, I always encourage him to help. Ethan helped me sort the clothes and pushed the clothes basket ("like a bulldozer") across the house to the laundry room. He poured the soap in, put the clothes in, and threw the downy ball in. Then I shut the lid because "thats to hard for me to do mommy". After we got that in he was ready to get another load in his basket, so waiting for the washer to finish was a little hard for him. After the washer finished he pushed all the clothes in the dryer and started another load in the washer the same as before. When they were finished in the dryer, he even helped me fold them. He is such a great helper and very exact in what he does. He kept asking me "how do you fold this one". He so wants to do things the right way and be a great helper. I just love that about him.Well maybe a little bit of fun

Elizabeth was a helper in the laundry room too. She tried on Ethan's sandals and played with the baskets. Not bad for a 2 year old.

Elisea was a wonderful helper, she took a nap!

I want to be a Servant

Over the last month, I have been talking to Ethan about how he should think of other first and himself last. I told him we should have a servant heart.

Tonight at dinner I said "Ethan come in and get your milk please". He came running in from the table and said "Mommy, I want to be a servant, mommy I want to be a servant" "Let me take Elizabeth's cup to her first!" I wanted to jump up and down, Yeah for you Ethan. Sweet little boy.