Happy birthday, son! What a wonderful four-year-old son God has given us! I don't know how I will capture some of this past year's adventures and who you are becoming in this letter, but I will attempt it. You are such a joy, Nathanael!
This year, you became a big brother!!! You were so excited to welcome Evangeline into our family and have done incredibly well with this huge adjustment. To our delight, you love sharing a room with her and seem to handle the interruptions mostly well. You are a wonderful big brother, looking out for her, getting excited about her developments, carefully teaching her new things, expertly attempting to calm her when she is upset. We are so proud of you. And no one can quite make her laugh like you can!
This past year brought all of our families to visit us in Vienna, and you loved the unique time with each special person. Although you enjoyed the fun outings that came with their visits, you simply soaked up as much time as possible being with them, laughing together, sharing in Nathanael silliness, and making countless memories together. We are so thankful.
You are a seemingly never-ending bundle of energy and excitement. You love to talk, and you try not to leave out any details! You are full of questions and love learning, often taking in more than we expect, as we later discover when you "teach" the other parent the new information. You love people, helping them, talking to them, playing with them, and making sure they are a part of your life. That said, you also have a pretty strong tendency towards shyness, especially with people you don't see often or spend much time with. That generally translates into silly noises and actions but a refusal to say intelligible words. Haha! You get excited every time you see one of our neighbors with his huge dog, and you want us to stop whatever we're doing to go over and say hello to them both. (The neighbor loves it as well!) When we drop you off or pick you up at Kindergarten, you often want to tell all the caregivers what we are going to do that afternoon or evening. You simply love to share your life. We adore that about you, son.
Just after your third birthday, you expertly transitioned from diapers to the toilet. It only took one accident to convince you to make it to the toilet in time! Shortly after Evangeline was born, you began staying longer at Kindergarten. You loved being able to stay for lunch (you love the warm Austrian meals!) and eventually transitioned to taking naps at Kindergarten as well. Simultaneously,
this year saw a huge change in your communication as you began to understand and speak German comfortably. Your Kindergarten teachers often comment about how clearly you speak. You began attending and adjusted to the kid's program at our church (with the help of M&M rewards for staying there on your own), and every week you look forward to getting together with our small group, two families who are becoming a significant part of your life.
You love to play outside--run around, be loud, explore nature, play in sandboxes, kick a soccer ball, ride your balance bike, climb, go down slides. Indoors, you love to build with Legos, play with cars, solve puzzles, read books (especially your word books and dictionaries), play with pillows, play in the toy kitchen, and of course, play with whatever your sister has at the moment. You love to sing, singing songs in German from church or the kid's program at church, from Kindergarten, or English songs we play around the house. And you enjoy making up your own songs as well, often a funny combination of German and English. You are our big helper, assisting quite well with making your bed, emptying the dishwasher, setting the table, folding clothes, taking out the trash and recycling, getting items for Evangeline, and washing dishes.
We took our first vacation as a family of four this past year, flying to Antalya, Turkey, and spending over a week at a resort near the sea. You loved playing in the pools, the sea, the sand, and soaking up lots and lots of time just to be together as a family. We also flew to Germany for a conference last summer, and you enjoyed the opportunity to experience a "Kindergarten" in English! (It was really just a group of volunteers who put on an awesome kids' program during the week conference.) And finally worth noting, you and Dad held down the fort for four days on your own while Mom attended a women's conference in Italy. We all missed each other quite a bit!
Nathanael Alim, we love you so much, but as we talk about often, God loves you even more. It has been amazing to see how much you are learning and taking in from our daily Bible stories, from experiencing loving discipline and grace and thus understanding the consequences of disobedience. You are asking a lot of good and difficult questions about what it would mean for you to believe or not believe in Jesus. We see God at work in drawing you to Him, and we pray for you every day, that you will know God and experience the all-satisfying, great and glorious life in Jesus! You are an enormous delight to us, son. We thank God for the gift of you. Happy birthday!
Lovingly,
your daddy and mommy
Here are a few pictures I took of you both on Easter (two days before your birthday).
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