CHRISTmas
is just around the corner, and I'm enjoying seeing CHRISTmas thru the
eyes of Josiah. The excitment he has each morning as he sees the
CHRISTmas tree never gets old. This year, we have given him the
responsibility to turn on the tree lights each morning and let me tell
you he takes it very seriously!! He even remembers to turn off the
lights when we leave the house for an errand---I think he is taking
after his Daddy on this one!! 
I love how he says, "Daddy's favorite one," as our 1996 Olympic
ornament plays the Olympic theme song. There are times throughout the
day where he will stand with his arms behind his back just gazing at the
lights and ornaments. One of his favorite ones to look at is a church
that lights up. He takes great responsibility in making sure Sophie
isn't getting any of the ornaments, and he is quick to let me know if
she is heading towards the tree. I have to praise the Lord that we
haven't had any big issues with her attacking the tree. Honestly, I
thought it was going to be a lot worse than it has been--she wasn't
given the nickname "The Beast" for nothing!!! 
This
year, we have been doing advent on a more consistent basis. The last
four Sundays, we lit four small candles. The first one was the Candle
of Hope, the second was the Candle of Love, the third was the Candle of
Joy and the last one was the Candle of Peace. The last week or so,
Josiah has really had a desire to light the tall white candle--The
Christ Candle. Each day, we tell him, we don't light it until CHRISTmas
Eve. The next day, he is ready to light it again. His excitement to
light the Christ Candle is challenging to me because the excitment he
has as he anticipates the lighting of this candle should be the same
excitment I have as I anticipate CHRISTmas morning. Josiah has
challenged me to slow down and remember the real reason for
CHRISTmas--the coming of our Savior.
I have also enjoyed his
sensitive spirit. He is so willing to go and do things for others.
This year, we have donated money in honor of our family to help four
kids get adopted. We gave Josiah three options--to buy shoes for boys
& girls, to buy diapers for babies or to help some boys & girls
get a Mommy and Daddy. His immediate response was, "Help get Mommy and
Daddy." I pray that this spirit to take care of others continues to
grow within him.
In just a few days, CHRISTmas will come and go,
but I look forward to the tradition of The Twelve Days of Christmas we
started last year. I took the box out tonight to look at it, and I
can't wait to go over each of the symbols with Josiah and Sophie. Last
year, Josiah really enjoyed having our Twelve Days of Christmas
devotional, but this year I look forward to him being able to
communicate what each item symbolizes about the Christian faith. This
year I will try to take pictures from each night and post in the album,
so you can get a glimpse of how we live our life.
Two
years ago today, God blessed us with a sweet baby boy. Never in a
million years would I have imagined how much this little boy would
change my life. I'm so thankful that God chose us to be his parents. I
find myself overwhelmed with emotion as I think about our Sweet
Josiah. He brings so much joy to our family.
We had a fun time
Saturday celebrating his second birthday with friends and family. We
had his birthday party at our church and decorated with a jungle theme.
It meant a lot to have our friends and family there who love Josiah so
much. One thing that is hard about being in the ministry is the fact
that we will more than likely never live down the street from any of our
family. Our children will never have their grandparents, aunts, uncles
and cousins in the same town. We have been blessed to have people who
have adopted Josiah and Sophie as their grandchildren and nephew/niece.
It means A LOT to Chris and I to see our children being loved on by
others who truly do care about them.
So I've gone off on a
little tangent...let's get back to the party. We had quite a few kids
there and they LOVED that they could run around the sanctuary and throw
balls. A few of the adults even got in on the fun!!!
Sophie did a super job considering that she didn't have her morning
nap. Josiah got LOTS of new toys. We only let him open up a couple of
them and have put the rest down in the guest room closet. Can we say
that it looks like a toy store!?!?! He got A LOT of bubble items which
were a BIG hit. Chris and I had to chuckle because all of the bubble
toys came from people who serve in the nursery on Sundays where Josiah
is constantly asking for bubbles! He got a bubble gun and a bubble lawn mower--two gifts that Daddy seemed a little excited about!!
I will post some pictures some time this week when I have some down
time--Chris is on a mission trip for the week. A couple of the grandmas
are coming to stay throughout the week, so I'm not all alone. I'm so
thankful that they are able to take some time off from work and willing
to travel here, so I wouldn't have to be all alone.
I want to take a minute to reflect on all that our two year old can do.
*He
can now run, feed himself, speaks words that we can understand, knows
12 shapes, knows all his colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue,
purple, pink, white, brown and black), can identify all of the letters
when I ask him to point to them, can name almost all of his letters, can
tell us that he is 2, can read 36 of his words from his reading
program, he is eating the same things that we eat, loves to draw, loves
to play with play dough, he loves to swim, loves his little sister and
is so very gentle with her, loves to sing songs--especially, The Wheels
on the Bus, he helps set the table, helps with the laundry, loves to
help vacuum, helps put the dishes away, loves to help me cook, loves
putting puzzles together and sleeps in a big boy bed.
I know
there is a ton more that he can do, but these are just a few things that
we've enjoyed watching him learn how to do over the last year. We look
forward to watching him learn a whole bunch more things this coming
year. Happy Birthday, Josiah!!! Remember, Mommy and Daddy love you
very much and consider it a great honor to be your parents!
Well,
I just feel like I need to write a special journal entry for our first
born. Today, he is 23 months--WOW, where has the time gone!?! Last
year on this day, Chris and I found out that Josiah was not going to be
our only child anymore. I can remember being excited about having
another baby, but at the same time a little sad. I didn't feel like I
had enough time with just Josiah. I worried that he would feel
neglected one the new baby got her. Well, I can say now that those
worries where just worries, and I wasted a lot of time fretting. Josiah
has done a great job adjusting to having a baby sister and has learned
so much! In the last year, he has started walking (and "running"),
talking, sleeping through the night and eating table food. He has
learned how to read some words, recognizes shapes and letters. He has
become a tremendous helper by putting the silverware on the table,
helping us get drinks for our meals, takes his own rag to clean and even
helps push the vacuum clearner. But the things that make our hearts
melt is the way that he loves life and the people around him. He has a
contagious laugh and a silliness about him that makes us want to be
silly with him, too. The way that he loves and protects his little
sister is so precious, and I pray that this relationship will last the
rest of their lives. The way that he asks for his Bible and devotional
in the morning or after dinner how he wants to pray for the next person
on our prayer wall. I'm so thankful that I've been able to stay home
with him every day to invest in his life. I pray that one day when I
stand before the Lord, He will tell me that I've been a faithful
servant by raising our children in way that glorifies Him. I can't
believe that in one month we will be 2 years old. We look forward to
watching him grow over the next year and be a part of all that he
learns. We will continue to praise the Lord for choosing us to be his
parents. We love you, Josiah Potter, and we are so honored to be your
parents!
Well,
Josiah is really getting to the fun stage. As he is learning more and
more words, we find ourselves laughing more and more each day.
*This
week, we were out running some errands. Chris was putting Josiah into
the car and was fussing about the sunshade on his window. I bought some
stick on sun shades months ago. I then made the comment that he just
needed to go ahead and hang them up. Chris then said that he wasn't
going to do it until the weather was above 30. Then out of Josiah's
mouth, "Do it! Do it! Do it!" Chris and I both started laughing so
hard! Then Chris started playing with him and saying, "I'm not gonna do
it!" Josiah's response, "Do it! Do it! Do it!" I guess I will hand
over the reins and let Josiah do the nagging for me!
*Earlier
in the week, Josiah and I were working some with his letters. I
decided to go ahead and see if he knew any of the letters. By the time
we went through the alphabet, he pointed out 16 of the 26 letters! He
didn't tell me the names of the letters, but he could point to the
letter after I placed three letters for him to choose from.
*The
other day, I was cleaning the bathroom. I had my rags out on the edge
of the bath tub. I sprayed the inside of the shower and closed the door
to let the cleaner sit for a few minutes. I turned around and there
was Josiah with a rag "cleaning" the shower for me.
*At the
beginning of the week, we went to finish up Josiah's H1N1 shot. He was
such a BIG boy because he didn't even cry when he got his shot.
Well, that is it for now. We'll keep you posted on the latest antics of Josiah.
Well,
this is a little late for his 18 months, but better late than never!
Josiah continues to grow each day. We are really enjoying these last
few days with him before his sister arrives. As Chris has said many a
times, "It won't be just the three of us for very much longer." As
ready as I am to have Sophie here, I try to cherish each moment I have
with just him.
Josiah is really learning leaps and bounds. Here are some of the latest Josiah things:
- His
newest things are recognizing shapes. He quickly learned circle,
triangle, square, star and heart. For Christmas he got a clock that
also has shapes. He can now recognize pentagon, hexagon, octagon, oval,
diamond, rectangle, parallelagram and a quatrefoil. For those of you
along with me who had NO idea what a quatrefoil was until we got this
clock--it's a clover shape. Chris picks on me because I continually use
the word quatrefoil when we play with the clock. He says I'm probably
one of five people in the world who knows what a quatrefoil is--now we
have six--seven if you count Chris!
- He
continues to do well with his reading program. We have really started
working with him to read the flashcards on his own now that we have been
through all the videos. He is starting to show us the words that he
has learned, but it's hard getting an active 18 month old to sit still
long enough to go through all the cards. He is also doing a great job
with his animal sounds. Our newest favorite animal sound is the camel.
Some of you might be wondering, "What sound does a camel make?" Well,
we have taught him to chew like a camel and then "spit." For those of
you who have a Facebook account, feel free to go look under my video
section to see Josiah showing us his animal sounds.
- We
also bought him some great Melissa and Doug toys with some of his
Christmas money. We have some wooden cards that have words on them and
then there are some wooden letters to spell the words. Well, he is
doing a great job picking out the letters he needs to use to spell the
words and placing them in the appropriate spot.
- His
knowledge of words is just astounding. We can put a pile of pictures on
the floor (around 15 different pictures) and ask him to find a certain
picture and he does.
- He is also doing a great job with
his body parts. He knows his head, hair, eyes, ears, mouth, nose,
tongue, teeth, feet, toes, hands and fingers.
- As a family
we have started doing a devotional together in the morning before we get
our day started. He loves coming into our bed to "talk" about his
night. So we listen to him for a few minutes and then we start our
devotional. We tried to get a devotional that was kind friendly, but at
the same time had some depth to it. We got one that has some colorful
photographs to it in hopes to keep his attention. Well, he is more
interested in my Bible that we read the scripture from than the
devotional. It does my heart great joy to "struggle" with our 18 month
old son to get the Bible so I can read the passage for the day. Chris
and I took some more of his Christmas money and bought him his own
Bible. He will sit there a flip through the pages. We just pray that
as he gets older, he will still have this passion to read his Bible as
he does now.
- He is doing a better job eating. He is
starting to expand his taste buds and eating more of the food that we
eat. It's amazing what he will eat with a little mashed potato mixed
with it!
- He
continues to be a very social child. I have a feeling that I will have
many conversations with him about NOT talking ot strangers. When we
are at church, he has no problem walking around saying hi to people.
Maybe we need to get
- We have also discovered how "messy" we
truly are. Josiah will find all kinds of little pieces of lint or
crumbs and tell me "trash." One night we were eating dinner and all the
little pieces of crumbs on his plate, Chris' plate and my plate were
all "trash." I guess in a way it's our fault because when he was
smaller anything that he would pick up and try to put in his mouth, we
would tell him "trash."
- The
other day we were saying our blessing for our meal. Sometimes, Josiah
is a little hungry so he will start to whine while we are praying.
Chris will say, "Shhh..." and then continue with the prayer. Well, this
particular day, Josiah decided he was going to "Shhh..." Chris while he
was praying. The best part was he started laughing after he did it. I
think this child knows comedy already--I think I should be very scared
has his mom and future teacher--I think I will have a class clown on my
hands!
Well, that is about all that is going on
with Josiah. We are so truly blessed to be his parents and each night
during our bed time prayers, we make sure to thank God for blessing us
with such a wonderful little boy.
