Well, Eliana turned three on sunday, which is hard for me to believe. Everyone always tell me that parenting goes so fast, and they grow up too quickly; I'm actually starting to believe it! At first, it was hard to believe I'd make it through the night when they're waking up frequently, and I would forget that life actually would exist where I could get sleep and function as a normal human being. But it actually was much shorter than I imagined it to be in my mind (even Asher seems short in my mind, and he was still getting up at 4:30am at 12 months). Yet now Nathan is almost 5 and will start school next year, can help with the chores around the house, helps me keep an eye on the baby, and is really fun to hang out with and talk to on dates:) I can only imagine how quickly the next 13 years are going to go, if the last 5 have gone so quickly.
So, here are some pictures of Ellie's celebration. The first one is ellie sporting her artistic job putting on her new chapstick from the grandparents;} Jon's parents came into town to surprise her, and she was SHOCKED. Her jaw dropped open, and she just stared at them in amazement and disbelief. We had been asking her if there was anybody she wanted to come over and eat cake with us for her birthday, and she kept saying, "nana and papaw!" I don't think she ever believed they would actually come. I wish I had a picture of her face when she saw them. Anyway, we all had a great weekend together.
Jon starts school today. He's really looking forward to his classes this semester (preaching, greek 3, hebrew 1, and psalms). Should be a much quieter semester than last spring, which we're looking forward to.
Well, I better go get breakfast ready, so I'll leave with a quote from Edith Schaeffer's book, The hidden art of homemaking:
"There is no occasion when meals should become totally unimportant. Meals can be very small indeed, very inexpensive, short times taken in the midst of a big push of work, but they should be always more than just food. Relaxation, communication and a measure of beauty and pleasure should be part of even the shortest of meal breaks. Of course you celebrate special occasions - successes of various members of the family, birthdays, good news, answered prayer, happy moments - with special attention to meal preparation and serving. But we should be just as careful to make the meal interesting and appealing when the day is grey, and the news is disappointing."
What do you think? Do you agree with this idea?
