Favorites from May

 

 

 

 

Dear Evangeline (11 months)

Dearest Evangeline,

Happy eleven months, dear!  It seems that each month we find our hearts more and more stolen by you.  You are such a sparkling gem, full of sweetness and gentleness, sensitive yet incredibly flexible, beautifully vibrant yet also contentedly sedate.  You bring immense amounts of delight to our family, dearest.  We thank God for you.

You are measuring 73 cm in length (about 28.75 inches, 55th percentile) and weighing 9.3 kg (about 20.25lbs, 55th percentile).  Eating is becoming a bit simpler as you eat almost anything and are a bit more into finger foods now.  And it seems you may be moving out of the stage where everything goes into your mouth, as you played in the sandbox today for an hour without attempting to eat any of it!

You are mobile now, though your method of mobility is scooting, definitely not crawling.  You no longer spend more than a few seconds on your stomach before pushing to sitting, and then you scoot yourself around a room, exploring items and grinning hugely with new discoveries.  You can self-entertain for remarkably long periods of time, especially if Mom, Dad, or Nathanael are in site and can look at you and smile or say a few words now or then.  Remarkable!

You love to dance, and family dance parties bring out your giggles.  When you hear music, you often begin to bob up and down or sway back and forth, sometimes clapping your hands.  And it is all accompanied by an adorable smile.  Books, blocks, and puzzles seem to be your favorite toys lately.  The more textures to explore or pieces to pull apart, the better.  And you have begun to attempt to put items into objects and understand the concept of puzzle pieces belonging in certain spots.  It is fascinating to watch you develop.

You have taken some strides forward towards moving out of stranger anxiety, though it is still quite an issue for you at points.  You reserve most of your vibrant personality for those with whom you are very comfortable, and to the rest of the world you are mostly pensive, hesitant, and bashful.  You have begun to show us your silly streak though, especially in the game of pretending to hand us an object and then taking it back with a sweet and silly grin.  You love to laugh.  And no one brings out your laughter quite like your brother.  You absolutely love to splash in the bathtub with him, giggle together in the elevator, flail about together in silliness after naps, play together under the kitchen table.  You try to imitate his sounds and actions and have begun driving his cars, complete with the vroom vroom sound!

This last month was a big one for your brother as he began expressing his need for Jesus and his desire to believe in Jesus and have Him live in him.  We are delighted and hopeful about this step for him and pray every day that God would also show you how you can know Him through Jesus.  We long for you to know love and forgiveness, grace, acceptance, joy and contentment in Jesus.  Only He can offer these fully and eternally.

We love you, dear Evangeline.  Your life is such a God-given blessing to us.  Happy eleven-month birthday!

Lovingly,
your daddy and mommy

Evangeline Elif - 11 month old

 Compare these to her 10 month pictures here.

Compare Evangeline and Nathanael's 11 month pictures here.

Daily pleasures

It is rare that Eva sleeps in my arms without being strapped into a carrier of some sorts.  But I had the honor at a meeting earlier this month.

Here is our big girl waving!

Nathanael, being silly?  No.

 Fun with play-do and blocks.

 I almost cried when i put this hoodie on Evangeline.  Nathanael wore it a lot when he was this age. :)  I will be keeping this one...

Residence permit photos, year 3

To continue with our tradition of posting our attractive residence permit photos... (see our 2012 photos and 2013 photos)

Here are the actual submitted ones:

  I think they improve every year!

And here are my favorite failed attempts with the kids:

Eva-doll 

Our ham, Nathanael