We've been doing our Bible Story time for a few weeks now. The "Good Man who helped the Man-who-didn't-like-him"(The Good Samaritan) was a big hit. Each of us took a turn being the man who was stretched out on the side of the road.

We did another one that really caught on: Baby Moses. Here, Beilnda and her Mom (acting as Pharoah's daughter and a helper) find baby Moses in a basket and take care of him. Belinda then REALLY wanted to be baby Moses, so we let her take a turn. Afterwards we try to teach a lesson and say a prayer, laying it out kind of like Ken Taylor's New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. We've certainly enjoyed it, and we can see Belinda is learning a lot of good things too.

If anyone tells you children grow up too fast, BELIEVE THEM! This is a picture from Belinda's 1st birthday. Now we're going to celebrate her 3rd on Saturday. It's insane to me!

If you come to our apartment home, prepare to have your things chewed on or jumped on!
Leigh really has her hands full as the mother of a hungry baby (Samuel is 3 months old, and is almost too big for 12 month old clothes we dress him in) and a crazeee 3-year-old. Has anyone else experienced the unique sensation of being completely drained by a 3-year-old? The interesting thing is their mercilesness once you reach the state of exhaustion. To be fair, how can they sympathize with something they've never felt (i.e. "I'm too tired to ___________").

Things should look up a bit for the full-time home executive (Leigh) once the illness season is over. It seems to last for only a cycle, but the cycle runs from Sept. to May and involves 300 strains of The Cold and other maladies. Anybody know what we're talking about? If you have time to sit at home and read this far, you're probably home sick and know exactly what we mean.

This is contentment...

A special time for our family at church.
After the service we went to the excellent Chiaro's Pizza of Sellersville with Leigh's family and had a great afternoon too!

This week has been action packed with
colds,
croup (again!),
lots of work,
and the introduction of Family Bible Story Time --
This is where we pick a short Bible story, read it in the picture book, and then act it out in a brief skit.
Well, Jon (writing now) in his brilliance decided to start with the Fall of Man as the 1st Bible story to act out. Belinda (as Eve) refused to disobey and eat the peach (wouldn't we be better off...), she thought the rubber snake was Jesus, and a couple of other minor flaws. Other than that, it went great. Hey, at least we had fun together! And at least I didn't choose the Book of Revelation.

The next day Leigh (who has actually had Childhood Education classes) became the Oversecretary Minister of Story Selection. We did Noah's Ark with all the stuffed animals, and rode on the bed until the rain cleared up. That was a very, VERY big hit.

So let's see, tomorrow's Friday. Could we build a Lego Tower of Babel? I'd better ask Leigh first...

Lookalikes? Is it just my imagination?

Well the time is already here -- Belinda, at a mere 3 years old is already asking the hard questions of life. Saturday, while Jon was at work, she asked Leigh 2 stumpers.
1. "Do ponies eat meat?" Leigh had to think about that, but she wisely said no.
2. "What do grasshoppers eat?" Leigh, again using parental wisdom beyond her years, suggested "maybe grass."

Well, it's official. That pesky critter Phil saw his shadow and cast a shadow of winter (6 more weeks) over the whole state of PA. Well, if it's here to stay, maybe it can be a doozy -- we think 6ft. of snow would be pretty cool.

Otherwise, we're holding our breath (not literally) until Spring!