Birthday Wishes from Gideon's Cribmate

This picture is just way too good to not post.  As yesterday it was Gideon's birthday, he got a shout-out from Siah.  Gideon and Siah shared a crib together for the month they spent at the Gilgela Orphanage (with most likely 2 other babies, as when Kathee and I went to Gilgela Orphanage and saw where Gideon lived for a month, we saw that each crib had 4 babies to it).  The day that Gideon was moved out of the orphanage to our adoption agency's transition home, Josiah and Gideon moved together, and shared the same crib at the transition home for a while.
Kathee and I were with Josiah's mom and dad (Sam and Ana) during our time in Ethiopia, so the boys new parents got to meet and get to know each other a bit.
So the picture below is of Josiah, Gideon's crib mate in Ethiopia, giving him a happy birthday shout out.

  

Daughter "talks"

Baby Girl is beginning to make noises like she is talking with you. She's growing up so quickly!

Daughter smiling

Sorry about the fake hiccuping for the duration of the video. Before I started filming she was smiling and screeching when I did it. I guess I went to the well one to many times. I still love how much she smiles.

Singing to Gideon

Who doesn't get their first round of birthday cake right after breakfast? We've decided it's a new tradition in our home to do so. He seemed to enjoy it!

Gideon's Birthday Breakfast

Here is Gideon's first interview as a 3 year old. He's so old now, he's already forgetting things.

Gideon being sung to

Tonight our family was invited to celebrate Matt Williams' birthday. Matt is a great friend of mine, an elder in our church (he was the elder of the youth committee this past year), and one of my youth leaders. It was a pretty special deal for us to be invited since it was mostly a family gathering.

Although the celebration was for Matt, Matt and his wife Laura were insistent that Gideon be sung to also. Everyone sung to him and made his night.

Steak for Birthday Lunch

Gideon wasn't really given an option for what he wanted for lunch.  So Kathee decided what she wanted, and we celebrated his birthday.  

Grilled steak, baked potatoes, and corn... just what every 3 year wants for his birthday.

Kathee ROCKED the angel food cake.  Frosting was amazing.

Gideon Playing With Deja

Deja is one of the neighbor girls.  She's been coming to play in our backyard for years.  She used to come over and ask to play with Riely and Solomon when she was younger.  She's also adopted (through foster care) and is in a very religious family.  She's a joy to have in the neighborhood and I love seeing her play with Gideon!

Playing with Deja

I think Gideon likes the sandtire.

Then, when it was time for lunch, he got his second "bath" of the day.  The first was an actual shower (after the whole sand-in-the-hair thing).  

The bad part was, the water was just above freezing that was coming out of the hose!  No complaints, however!

Gideon's Highlights

Normally Gideon likes to be clean (takes after me, I guess).  However, today he REALLY got into the sand.  

He loved the whole sand-in-the-hair-thing!

However, we soon learned how difficult it is to get sand out of black, tightly curled hair.  

Gideon's Birthday Present from Mama and Papa

My brothers and I had a tractor tire sandbox as kids when we lived on Brunswick in Dubuque.  I thought Gideon would love having a sandbox and seemed to be about the right age.  So I called Mark Kruckenberg, the father of a former teen in my ministry and a current teen in my ministry about where to find a tractor tire (they are farmers in Port Byron).  When I called Mark, he was actually out in the field seeding.  Upon asking him where to look, he laughed and said that my call was a God-sort-of-thing.  He said that a few weeks ago he had the tires on his seeder changed and that the guys who changed the tires left one tire, leaving him asking, "why would these guys leave just one of the tires?"  He told me that it was obvious that they left the tire so Gideon could have it.  So Austin, Mark's son, brought the tire with him when he came to our house for dinner and Bible study THAT NIGHT!  So cool.  

Gideon LOVED playing in his sandtire today!

At first he wasn't sure why we gave him the sand toys for his birthday!

He seemed to love them once he got out into the sandtire.

Just playing...

Opening Presents

Thanks to Jim and Julie Quandt, Gideon had a ton of presents to open today for his birthday!

He "got it" this year that today is his birthday.  It was so fun celebrating with him all day today!

LOVE the smile!

Tearing into a package with books, clothes, and puzzles!  Thanks Quandts!

Gideon's Birthday Breakfast

Gideon turned 3 today!  So we decided that we are going to celebrate the kids' birthdays all day (not just at one meal like "normal" people do).  

So Kathee made eggs for breakfast... followed by birthday cake!

Even Hope and Solomon got into the action this morning!

Gideon shares Philippians 1:1-2

Gideon and Hope's children's pastor's name is Rusty. And I LOVE working with him. He's fantastic! About a month ago as we were discussing ministry, we decided to work together and work through weekly Fighter Verses for the children's and youth ministries and their families. That's where it started, but now it's expanding throughout the church.

Each Sunday a new verse is assigned. Each participant has a week to memorize the passage. We decided to do the extended memory set pack (these are available through Children Desiring God Ministries), where we will memorize the entire book of Philippians and other larger sections of Scripture.

This past Sunday was the first day of memorizing Philippians 1:1-2. By Tuesday, Gideon had it down. Just prior to this video, Gideon did it by heart 3 times! We are going to be showing this video at our church on Sunday to share more and hopefully get more people involved in this 5-year memorization program.

Enjoy this video! God's Word is so good! And don't give me the "I just can't memorize, Isaac, my brain just doesn't work that way!"