Dear Evangeline (3 Years)

Dearest Eva,

Happy third birthday, Evangeline!  You are our little gem, our cuddle-bug, our big bundle of sweet sensitivity.  We celebrate your life and how God has grown you this past year.  Our prayer for you is that Jesus will be your everything, that you will find life and purpose and rest and joy in Him.  We thank God for you, Eva-lein.

Your greatest developments this past year are definitely verbal!  You enjoy your new-found freedom in being able to speak your mind, and the things that you say and the ways you say them make us smile all the time.  You have more recently been using "because" clauses (which often are not quite logical), and you vacillate between trying to keep up with your brother verbally and simply letting him take over.  Before we came to the States, you didn't prefer one language over another, mixing the two all together in your sentences.  Then you began speaking solely English with German sentence order.  Now you seem to have adjusted to speakoing full, mostly correct, English sentences.  We are curious to see how that changes as we return home to Vienna in August.

We've had quite an odd last five months, traveling all over the States, with little routine or predictability.  You've always been our flexible, go-with-the-flow girl, but one way we've seen you grow these past months has been in your willingness to push past your shyness to engage with others.  You really do love being with people (as long as you're not the center of attention), and you've enjoyed all of the new kids to play with on the road and all of their interesting toys!  You'd had enough of all of our church visits about halfway through our travels though, begging us every Sunday morning to not leave you at another Sunday School again.

Your favorite activities currently include:  swinging, sliding, any type of water play, riding a balance bike or tricycle (yea for pedals!), dancing and twirling, and walking to keep up with bigger kids. :)  You've recently really taken to dressing up, love picking out "pretty dresses" to wear every day, and will wear high heels or dress shoes around all day if we let you.  You love Minnie Mouse and Winnie ("Honey"), and you're currently really into watching Curious George and "Bob Builder Fix It."  Filling and carrying bags, playing "doctor", listening to music, building train tracks, solving puzzles, stacking legos, and having a tea party all bring you great delight.

Nathanael, whom you currently call "My Hanael," remains your all-time favorite person ever.  He is your best friend, your hero, and the one who can make you laugh the hardest and cry the hardest.  He sure loves you too!  Sometimes his high energy and talkativeness can be a little too much for you, at which point you either come to Mom for quiet cuddles or try to find a corner to be alone for a bit (good luck with that!).  In addition to a few friends from Kindergarten, you've gained a couple more best friends, "Yosiah" and "Nomi" topping that list.  You love praying for your friends in the morning.  It sounds something like this:  "Jesus. Amen. Des. Jesus. Amen.  Yosiah. Nomi. Jesus. Amen. Amen."  Your bedtime worship songs often sound like this: "Jesus, you love me. My mom and dad love me.  I love you, Jesus.  I love my mom.  I love my dad."  Your sweet and simple spirit combined with your depth of feeling are so adorable.

In addition to all the extra time we've had with extended family this past year, which you've loved completely (you sure seem to sense how special family members are!), you loved our family beach vacation to Side, Turkey last summer, soaking up every moment at the sea, playing in sand, and at the pool.  You also loved Nathanael's birthday visit to Legoland in Boston, the ferris wheel type ride being your favorite!  Anything your brother does!  (You think you're six too.)

Our sweet Evangeline Elif, we love you, sweetheart. We celebrate you with delight.  Happy birthday!

Lovingly, your mommy and daddy

Last day as a two-year-old

In your Minnie Mouse birthday outfit