Read as Kari reflections on the sacredness of playing .

Yesterday he put four books in my book bag, thinking I needed to meditate on the Gospel.

He selected one paperback each from four great authors: Andrew Murray, H.A. Ironside, D.L. Moody, and J.I. Packer.

Thanks son, your exhortation is heeded!

(The yellow duct tape hold together my DIY laptop case.)

Before we left, Dutch grabbed a basketball and did his first dunk ever, without any instruction or an example to follow. He dealt with the rim checks pretty well. Persevere my little boy! Here’s his second and third dunks …

And being silly

In other news, Dutch has started to wrestle with me. Makes a daddy feel oh so good.

In the last month he has learned how to sit still and ‘read’ on our laps, and learned the difference between apples and ducks and trains and shoes and balls and dogs and cats (all in one picture book). Still waiting on talking with actual words, but those will come; no hurry! In the meantime, his motor sounds are in high gear. Plus he’s getting so terrifically awesome at following directions, like putting away his cars (mine when I was a boy, and I don’t think I ever learned to put away), and stacking books that have been scattered on the floor. What a precious boy we have! Happy 16 months Dutcher boy . We’ll be home from class soon to play.

Dutch the hiding boy

We woke up to Winter

Came home and it was beautiful Spring again

Dutch the preacherman; he likes the ESV

Mommy + Dutch playing …

Mother and son reading … (kept still for 45 minutes!)

Praise Jesus for simple pleasures like running around the yard under the bright sun with our bright son.

Kari took this picture of Dutch with her phone…

Kari started her one-year no-new-clothes fast today (read about her LiveDifferent challenge #1).

Truly, I married up (!), and miss Kari already. As much fun as Dutch is and as much as I love Him, I could not live without my Karina.

I think it was J.C. Ryle who wrote: “The great thing I always desired to find was a woman who was a Christian, who was a real lady, and who was not a fool. Whether I was successful or not, others must judge the better than I can, but I call God to witness these were the three points I always kept steadily in view.”

Before dropping her off at PDX I asked her to send me lots o’ pics, so I could at least "see" how they were. A whole bunch were waiting in my inbox tonight when I arrived home. Uncle Kris taught Dutch how to throw rocks, our precious boy giving cousin Jennika a kiss on the cheek, then giving her a little frightening, and then one of his beautiful blue eyes.

May God be the glory for all His mercy in our lives and the abundant ways He lavishes us with His love, in practical evidences of His grace.

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Nothing deep here … I just wanted to reflect on the joy of mommyhood.  Yesterday Dutch got a new toy–a green John Deere truck from my dear friend Crystal.  Dutch flipped!  He loved it. Usually snack time is the most exciting part of the day and when I pull out the special Dutch muffin and start breaking off pieces and putting them on his high chair tray, he just about goes crazy.  He loves muffins. But yesterday, he totally ignored the muffin as soon as he saw the tractor!  Then later, the boy who hardly ever plays on his own, took his tractor over to the stairs and played for 30 minutes, all by himself, making the engine sounds and loading and unloading special imaginary bucket-fulls of dirt on the stairs.

Dutch’s other favorite thing right now is to sneak into our bedroom and go through Jeff’s nighstand drawer.  He usually goes for the “No More Fungus” bottle (yeah, gross) and hides things in our bed.  So last night, about 2am, I woke up and couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t comfortable, the realized something hard was under my back.  I reached back and there was a deck of playing cards … from our special little boy.  Too tired to get up, I tossed them down to my feet and fell asleep smiling.  What a little boy.

Today at church, I was the proudest mommy ever because Dutch ran to Pastor Dale and jumped into his arms.  Then I said, “Dutch can you give Pastor Dale a kiss?”  And he leaned up and planted a huge kiss right on our pastor’s cheek.  Yeah, it was pretty sweet.  Of course he might be a terror at home for me, but at least he’s sweet at church. 

That’s all. Just savoring mommyhood. 

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We’ve experienced unique weather during the first week of Spring. Yesterday and the day before last we had rain, snow, sleet and hail, plus clear blue skies intermingled at various times of the day. Much of the same today — it’s snowing as I type this. Here are some pics of Dutch and me on some adventures.

Even still Dutch enjoyed his slide during the break in the weather…

He also enjoyed roaming around the grass with his Daddy… can you tell there’s something in my hand he wants?

Pray for us as we persevere in the joyful seminary journey.

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You can join in a community of those attending seminary, those curious about it, and those praying for students and professors at GoingtoSeminary.com.

Papa had connections to some tickets in the best possible seats for bringing a 14-month-old boy — and Dutch loved every minute of it (see video at bottom).

Dutch was so attentive to the game…

All smiles with Daddy…

He was rockin’ to the band…

Dutch took advantage of the sunshine on his new slide and playground equipment. Many more adventures await him!

Notice what’s left of his car … he so content to play with a little flat car with four wheels but no body. What a creative little boy!

Dutch has become quite the walker you know, and loves to strut his stuff. With a clear day, Dutch took his walking show on the road…

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For those interested, the following video was from two weeks ago (1/27) when we had the majority of our snowfall (at least 6″ on the ground), a big event for this part of Oregon.

The other day we backpacked around the yard and driveway, trudging through the snow…

Dutch’s newest skill is to walk, then sit down and then get back up on his feet without help or using any object for leverage. This morning was the first time I’d seen him do it, and then tonight he let us watch him do it over and over…

Perhaps we should call him a walker who can crawl, rather than a crawler who can walk. While he can really move on all fours, walking is quickly becoming his favorite mode of transportation these days…

What a growing little boy!

He also found the 80’s demo on the old Casio keyboard. Rockin’ out…

The trike Nana gave him is a source of great fun — he figured out how to make the bell ring…

(Click on any of the above pics for an enlarged view.)

As he takes a nap this morning we’ll gaze at one of his one-year pics…

Special thanks to Bethany for the photos.

(After my the engine in my car seized up last weekend, my Saturn essentially becoming a paperweight,  I joked that we simply needed to hook Dutch’s little motor up to make the car run again.  Our little boy certainly has a strong little motor in him.)

In the morning we plan to take a drive into town across the bridge that re-opens 12/21. It has been down for construction since April and the current detour makes the trek almost 20 minutes instead of 12. Having a new bridge is a big deal! Yes, we are totally ridiculous, and our whole family will be there to drive across the new bridge first thing.

Family is coming from all over to celebrate Dutch’s first birthday, and then be together for a few days for Christmas. We’re blessed to have such wonderful family and support, and that school is out for a bit to free us up for this family time.

But he is not only quick to find little snacks on the kitchen floor … he’s also quick to learn things. These days he is really fascinated with the vacuum cleaner. He loves to push the buttons and play with the (unplugged) cord.

Here he is this morning, playing…

And pushing the vacuum around…
Maybe he has The Knack?