It's been a while...

Well, it’s been since November since we’ve posted so we’ve got a bit of catching up to do.  Before we hop in the BBD time machine here are a few current tidbits:

Jack and Arie are incredible little boys.  Surprising comment, right?  Especially coming from their Dad.  However, we are consistently surprised by silly things they say, observations they make, and cute moments they have together.  

Here is a (semi) recent Jack moment:
We were on our way home from our church’s Thanksgiving service (so I guess recent includes events in the past three months...wow) and we were in the car.  At that point Jack had been pretty fixated on my age.  So, he was constantly asking me how old I was.  I would always respond with, “32, Jack.”  However, after responding this time there was a curious silence from the backseat.  After 15 seconds or so, Jack said, “Dad, you’re not thirty-two; you’re ‘farty-two’” Usually, we would scold him for this type of language.  This time, all we could do was laugh. :)

Arie is a fun, silly, smart, strong-willed 22 month old.  His speech is really coming along and he notices things that surprise us often.  He loves the show “Fireman Sam” (so does Jack) which he just calls “FireSam”, loves to read books, and likes to help Mommy or Daddy in the kitchen.  (He will remind the cook what’s hot over and over and over.)  He is quite strong-willed and has not learned to consistently share yet.  He does love his brother (most of the time) and will generally copy anything Jack does.  We were both surprised tonight to observe that he correctly named two of the colored crayons he was using.  He learns at an incredible rate and is putting full sentences together more and more often.

Recently, I took the boys to a baseball game where I teach.  For about five minutes they were both very interested in the game.  In those five minutes they were both standing on the bleachers right next to me.  Any time Jack would yell, “Go Knights!!” so would Arie.  Any time Jack would stomp his foot, so would Arie.  Any time Jack would tell the pitcher, “Nice throw” so would Arie.  It was pretty cute.  

Jack is also a joy and lots of (incredibly worthwhile) work.  He is loving preschool and is doing well.  He’s learning his letters, starting to write and draw, acquiring more social appropriateness (with lots of setbacks :)), and is learning lots of valuable character/faith lessons from his wonderful teachers.  He has a “best friend” at preschool and likes to talk about the things he plays with him each day.  

I am loving teaching, parenting (usually), and general life-doing.  It’s certainly not without challenges.  Betsy and I are constantly learning about patience, discipline (for kids, not each other!), priorities, time management, and general trusting in God.   

Betsy is very busy with full time work and full time wife/mom/friend/meal planner/home decorator, etc.  It’s been quite the juggling act lately, but we keep pressing on.   We are so grateful to have each other as partners in this life.  Sharing the loads of parenting, cleaning, cooking, etc, makes life so much more doable and enjoyable.  We are blessed.

God is good.  All the time.