4 years ago

4 years ago, my life changed in a big and precious way...my first child was born! Eleanor's birthday was the 29th, and we had a wonderful few days of celebration. This past year Eleanor has become such a wonderful helper. She demonstrates kindness to and affection for her brothers, has grown greatly in obedience to Todd and I, shows a great sense of humor, and has a tender heart towards the Lord. She is sensitive and has remarkable insight. She loves pink as much as ever, loves doing crafts, and enjoys being outdoors. She makes us laugh often! She can be incredibly silly and loves to laugh herself. She has an amazing vocabulary and is good with letters and numbers.

For her celebration on Saturday she chose cinnamon rolls for breakfast, hot dogs for lunch, and pizza for dinner (actually she wanted pizza for lunch AND dinner but settled for hot dogs!). She asked for a pink cake with purple m&m's, which is what she got! Todd decorated with pink crepe paper and everyone showered her with gifts. She has been excited about her birthday for at least 2 months, asking about it most days! The anticipation was so fun. And she was not disappointed! She remained sweet even with all the attention, and after opening her gifts gave everyone a big thank you and a hug. "Thank you all for everything, I love all my presents so much!" she said when she was done. On Sunday her 3's class sang to her and she told me it made her feel very happy. On Monday, her actual birthday, we sang again and she opened one more gift. On Tuesday she got to go the zoo and invite a friend (anf of course grampa and gramma) along for viewing animals, riding the carousel, and eating cupcakes! Will was such a trooper. He did ask at one point, "Mommy, when is my birthday coming up?"

Just last week Eleanor and I had an amazing half hour conversation about salvation. She asked where people go when they die and do not know Jesus. I told her they go to Hell, which is a real place, the opposite of Heaven, where there is sadness and hurting and separation from God and His Son. She disolved into tears and cried that she did not want to go there. I reminded her that if she loves Jesus and trusts Him to save her from her sin, then she has nothing to worry about! That God's words are true and that He has promised earthly joy and a home in Heaven to those who love and trust in Jesus. I read to her John 3:16, and Romans 10:9. She interjected during Romans - "Yes, I confess Jesus is Lord! Yes, I believe in my heart that God raised Him from the dead!" She had so many questions, some that made me cry and some that made me laugh inside! What a precious thing to see her responding in this way to what she knows about the Lord.

Eleanor enriches my life in countless ways. Happy Birthday, Eleanor, I love you!

a conversation

I went to pick Eleanor up from Cubbbies a couple of Sunday nights ago. She usually bounces out with a big smile and lots to tell me, but this time she was standing against a wall with a quivering lower lip. In the hall I asked her if something was wrong. Holding my hand, "I'll tell you when we get home, Mommy. I don't want the other kids to hear me." My heart went out to her! I had never heard say something that would indicate self-consciousness in that way. I took her down the back stairs and asked if she wanted to tell me, since no one else was there. She looked at me with big eyes and in a trembling voice said, "Mommy, is it true? Is it true that wicked men put Jesus on the cross and killed Him?? Did that really happen?" My eyes filled up with tears! That was the last thing I had expected her to say right then. I realized that although I talk almost every day about "Jesus dying to save us," I have never talked about Him being KILLED. "Yes, Eleanor, that is true" I told her, and she began to cry, like a friend had died. She asked, "Is that going to happen to me?" I told her that she would not be killed on a cross, but that her body would die someday, because everyone dies someday. And most likely that it would not be until she was very old, but that we never know when we will leave this earth - only the Lord knows. And I reminded her as we have talked about before, that those who trust in Jesus Christ to save them from their sinfulness will spend eternity in Heaven with Jesus. "I don't want to die and go to Heaven, I want to stay here and live in my home forever!" *sigh* Sometimes I feel like that, too, I told her. But we have to trust what God says, that Heaven is so much more wonderful than anything we can even imagine here. No more sin, no more hurting, no more sadness or tears! Being with Jesus! I told her, "Eleanor, Jesus died for your sins so that you would not have to. " "But Mommy, He didn't do anything wrong!!" That's right, He didn't, but you did! I did! We talked about one of her Awana verses, "While we were sinners, Christ died for us." And I reminded her that Jesus didn't stay dead! He rose up from the grave! He is alive now! Then we were back in the church gym, surrounded by people, walking out to the van to sobbing, tired brothers. It was a conversation I'll always remember! I was so touched, and reminded in a precious way of the sadness and enormity of our sins, of Christ's death in our place. I was reminded to pray earnestly for tender hearts for all my children, for the seeds of the gospel to find fertile soil in them. I am so thankful for the tender heart of Eleanor!

Ain't That the Truth!

Mommy's Work

"Mommy, juice!
Mommy, sleep!

"Mommy, books!
Mommy, sheep!

"Mommy, bath!
Mommy, ball!

"Mommy, shirt!
Mommy, doll!"

Bring it, find it,
See it, wind it.

Help me, show me,
Tell me, hold me.

From morning's dawn
To setting sun,

A mommy's work
Is never done.

~Steven L. Layne

Ain't that the truth!
But isn't it wonderful "work"?! Look at these faces!

some recent favs

every day these kids do and say things that are hysterically funny, or sweet, or otherwise memorable in some way. sometimes i am seized with the fear that 20 years down the road - or 10, or even 2 or 3 - i won't remember these things. i have a little journal i write some things down in, and a few things i put on this blog, or even facebook, but it is such a tiny portion of all things i desperately want to remember! *sigh* here are some recent memorable moments:

ELEANOR - listening to a worship CD with the lyrics "the Word of the Lord stands forever", says to me, "but mommy, the Word of the Lord isn't for forever; F is for forever!!" and this girl is a master in the art of debate. a reason for every idea she has, for every request that she makes. and often a pretty logical reason! and she loves princesses. and when her daddy brought her a long stemmed rose on valentines day, she was so enamored that she hauled it around with her for hours. no vase of water for that baby! she held it in one hand while she ate lunch. she unwittingly wacked people with it. finally the blossom broke off and it is now floating in a bowl of water. eleanor loves the name "kate." most anything she can give a name to, it is kate. often "kate jane faris." but recently she had a breakthrough with a tiny toy dog that looks a bit rodent-like....she named it "mousy"!

WILL - his most recent thing he is into is the movie "cars." todd bought it a couple of weeks ago and the kids have watched it in half hour segments a couple of times since then. (side: this is how we usually watch the few movies they see. eleanor was talking to our friend miss amy recently about a movie and asked, "did you get to watch it ALL AT ONCE?!" what a novel idea!) the movie is full of things william loves - most especially orange cones, tires, and tractors. when todd's parents were here this weekend, they bought him some "car" PJ's, toys, and swim truncks. what a hit! will is talking so well. i love his sweet voice. he can be quite expressive and i'm sure has learned a little drama from his sister! when he started his little gymnastics class a few weeks ago the instructor had the kids introduce themselves and who they were with - ie mommy or daddy. when it came to us, will very serisouly said, "william robert faris"...and looking up toward me, "noelle faris." it was SO funny! we have had some real struggles with william the last couple of months....whining, tantrums, etc. but prayer and persistence have paid off, and last couple weeks we have experience the full return of "SWEET william"!! he has been so joyful, so obedient, so helpful....what a blessing to my heart!! a couple of days ago he told me, "my buddy mommy!!" what a precious boy.

JACK - well, i guess i just did that little 7 month post. but i will say again, this baby is HAPPY! so content, so snuggly, so sweet. my little friend. his first two teeth have broken through. he waved bye-bye for the first time this past weekend, to his mimi ruthie! my heart melts when he reaches for me.

okay, at least i got a few things down in writing!

Jacky at 7 months

Jack remains our "smile-boy" - he is an amazingly content baby! He enjoys being held and entertained, enjoys watching Eleanor and Will and playing with them, enjoys playing by himself. He had a shot last week and didn't even cry! He's my buddy, my little friend, a snuggler. He reaches for his Daddy and Mommy. And he's becoming a little ham! He does peek-a-boo, "so big", pat-a-cake, and loves to imitate head-shaking. Pat-a-cake is his favorite! He rolls and scoots a lot; I know crawling is in our near future! He sits perfectly steady and loves holding on to our hands and standing. Strong boy!! He sleeps most often on his tummy, snuggling with his tiny blankie. His first tooth is JUST breaking through. He is eating some solid food along with nursing - rice cereal, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, squash, green beans, avocado, banana, applesauce, and cheerios. I just started letting Eleanor and Will feed him cheerios under supervision, which they think is so fun! Can't imagine life without this sweet boy.

the past 24 hours (or so)

yesterday i wore pink ballet flats. william told me all day, "mommy, that's BEAUTIFUL shoes!!" my sweet boy! we drove to castle rock and met my mom, who was at a conference in denver, for dinner. eleanor was very excited and made up a song about it earlier in the day. *grin* we had a great time together! hhhmmm, somehow mom and i squeezed in a tiny bit of shopping at the outlets, too! at the restaurant our server seemed vaguely familiar to me, but i didn't say anything. after we left, todd told me she looked familar to him as well. we figured it out and looked her up on facebook - we went to college together! funny. eleanor and will got to watch "curious george" on the way home last night - they were thrilled and GLUED. they hardly noticed when their beloved mimi said goodbye! we didn't hear a peep from them the whole way home, other than the laughter of comradery now and then. this morning the two of them both had gymnastics, back to back classes. todd took will, eleanor and i stayed here a little longer while jack napped, we woke him a little early and headed to her class. hand stands, forward rolls, hula hoops, balance beams... while jack and i watched eleanor, todd and william went to costco and bought all the flooring we need to do our downstairs! i am so excited! they also ate chocolate cake, i hear. quick lunch, the boys went down for naps and eleanor had her rest time. we woke william a bit early to head to jcpenney's for pictures - jack's 6 month portrait (yes, he turned 7 months today), will's 2 year portrait (uummm, his birthday was october), and eleanor's 4 year portrait (march - see, i'm ahead of the game!). we wanted close up head shots, to match what we already have, for a wall collection. i brought one from home to show the photographer, to make sure we got what we needed. the kids were sweet and cooperative, although will was quite stoic and jack "smile boy" was too puzzled to do much smiling! 45 minutes later we had some cute shots....but, well, NO HEAD SHOTS. and a family of 6 was waiting behind us, and we had to leave without ordering ANY photos. and so of course i cried! i had gotten the kiddos clean, the clothes washed, jack was fed, i had woken will up early. so my wonderful, understanding husband went back in (after we had driven out of the parking lot, of course) and worked his magic! we had to wait until the family of 6 was done with their photo shoot, but we got back in and got our head shots. 2 and half hours after we had started, and almost an hour after jack's dinner time, we finished! so we decided to go to chick-fil-a to grab dinner. eleanor and william scarfed their food, they were SO excited to go in the play area! but of course there was vomit in there. gross, gross, gross, and quite the disappointment! after the tears, will said "what's throw-up means??" eleanor helped explain. boy, what a day!

phone calls

The last few nights at the dinner table Todd has been working on having Eleanor memorize my phone number. She has it down pat. So tonight he let her call the cell phone from the home phone - by herself - and hear it ring. Can we say excited?! She loved it! Todd explained to her that she could call it in an emergency.

"Like maybe when I'm 10, and it's Thursday night when you're at choir, and Mommy goes to the store and leaves me home with the boys and I'm in charge because they're only 7 and I get hurt really bad and I can call Mommy and say 'Mommy, I'm hurt really bad, I'll see you when you get home!'"

Yes, Eleanor, I think that would qualify as an emergency on a few accounts!