Parables!

This week I worked through the parables in the synoptic gospels, and created this document. It was fun.

Anna is 2 (cont.)

We had a nice party with the family for Anna's birthday this weekend and we are now toy central over here. From a shopping cart to a letter puzzle to a wooden horse, we have it all.

Oh, a wooden kazoo too! Musician here we come!

And me, one of the most non-creative people God has created, did step up to create caterpillar cupcakes - brown though they may be.

Anna wasn't sure about it, but did eventually eat some!

Anna got a Elmo Orchestra cd to which she enjoys dancing. And yes, she did fall RIGHT after I pressed stop.:) One gets dizzy running in circles!

Anna is 2!

Happy birthday to our eldest daughter!

During the day today we spent time rocking in the chair singing the "circle" song from storytime, taking ALLLL the stuff out of a desk drawer (batteries, post-its, chalk, and rubber bands all in one activity!), and getting pictures taken at JCPenny.

(If you want to check out the pics, click here and put "Katie Willemssen" as the customer name. Very very cute.)

Anna opened a doctor bag with all the necessary essentials this afternoon and now likes to "listen" to every part of one's body with the stethoscope (Elizabeth's arm is her fav).

This evening we had a mini-party at McDonald's with Heather, Aidan, and Brennan Post. We had Anna's first juice box experience (yes, she squeezed it)

a little mini-cake,

and Anna's first playplace adventure. Great fun.

Precious Smiles

What can I say? I love the gifts God has given us in Anna and Elizabeth!

The love...

The musicality...

"The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places..." Psalm 16:6

Guest Post by Anna & Bethy

With Mommy being out with Aunt Kim & Aunt Julie tonight, we thought we would stay up past our bed time and post a little bit on Mommy's blog!

We are so thankful for our mommy. She provides everything we need. She teaches us things like cooking & cleaning up after ourselves. And she loves us unconditionally. And she even makes life fun along the way with cookies, songs, storytimes, coloring, and play-doh. We heard that kids as young as we are don't really understand God yet, but we do understand our parents. Well, we think Mommy is doing a great job with that! After all, God provides for us, teaches us, loves us unconditionally, and gives us joys in our everyday lives, too. What a great mommy:)

We are also thankful for the example of a godly woman that Mommy is. We know that as we grow up, even though we might not ever tell her, that is one of the most important things in our lives.

Sometimes when Mommy & Daddy pray for us at bedtime, they pray for good influences in our lives. Well, here's a shout-out to all you blog readers out there who influence us so well - family and friends.

We've been having a fun Daddy-daughter night at home tonight. We did the usual running, jumping, and legos. We also did some piano playing!

We are learning to take self portraits like Aunt Julie taught us. Sometimes Daddy doesn't look at the camera, but we caught him in this rare find tonight.

Mommy, we hope you're having a fun night with Aunt Kim & Aunt Julie. We are having fun, but we miss you, too. We can't wait to see you in the morning!!!

Love, Anna & Bethy

OneWay babies!

Out of our core OneWay team of 15 or so, of the 9 ladies, 4 of us had kids between July-October 2009. On Monday nights when we meet all the babies get to look at each other.

Praise God for such miracles as these!

Choo-Choo Willie

I am told that my sisters and I played "train" oftentimes when we were younger. Line up all the kitchen chairs and pull away from the station!

It seems to be genetic.

All aboard Choo-Choo Willie!

Checking in with the passenger...

Keep your hands inside the train...

A pat on the head for being a good passenger.

Lizzy the Jumping Lizard

She is a true lizard. Tongue EVERYWHERE!

Time to eat? Press tongue down with spoon to get food in mouth.

Tongue ready for food...

Tongue also ready for feet.

And today she jumped for 45 minutes straight. And when I say jumped, I mean active jumping, not merely standing.

She is a cutie.

Maybe she got it from her sister...

Praise God for such blessings as these.

Pray for Sung

It's not every day I get an email of which I need to take such notice.

A brother in Vietnam named Sung became a Christian just this past November. When he was recently threatened with a fatal beating and the loss of all his property (which would leave his family destitute), he signed recantation documents, saying he recanted his faith in Jesus. His is supposed to prove his recantation by offering sacrifices to ancestors this Saturday. For the full story, click here.

I read Luke 9:23-26: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him..."

And so we, who do not face the daily trials of being a Christian in a hostile land, can and should hold up this brother and the many many others like him in prayer. It's the least we can do from our comfy chairs and computers that can provide us with constant information about God's people around the world. Surely I can't be too busy to pray for those whose faith in Jesus endangers their lives and the lives of their families.

Each Friday I have signed up to receive prayer updates from Voice of the Martyrs, where I heard about Sung. You can sign up too, by clicking here.

Father God, protect and equip Sung and his family to deal with this situation by clinging to You. Give him a special assurance of Your love, faithfulness, and trustworthiness even this night. Be his mighty rock and refuge, his fortress so that he cannot be shaken (Ps 62). Through Your divine power, provide for everything he needs in these days (2 Peter 1:3). Our eyes are on You and we look forward to Your answer!

The JumpZone

Last week we visited the "JumpZone", which hosts many huge inflatable jump-things, many of them with big slides. The Posts invited us to join them for a fun night of jumping, and that we did! Anna now talks about jumping constantly, or "dumping".

Anna jumped on her knees.

There was a big Sesame Street area.

Anna watched Aidan, Brian, and Daddy go down the big slides.

One day last week I was a little stir-crazy in the morning, so we spent about half an hour in Bed, Bath, & Beyond: Anna held onto Elizabeth's stroller and "ran" while I walked quickly around the nice circle of the store layout. Anna kept saying "Run, run, RUN!" while we went around the store so many times I lost count.

During one of our loops, I noticed the Rice Krispie Christmas Houses Kit marked done from $9 to $2. We brought it home (Anna doesn't know it's not Christmas) and it has been such a hit! Anna helped me make the houses and then decorated one of them all by herself - she was very proud to show Steve when he got home. All in all, a good amount of time was taken up by the whole process, which for me, was the best part of all. The day ended without me going too crazy:).

Things we like

Anna likes chapstick.

Bethy likes Sophie the Giraffe and her Bumbo.

Bethy also likes to sit up.

That's the update!