Catechising

Joel and James are benefitting quite a bit from our family Bible study. It is always amazing to see what children absorb; I don't know why, but we never ceased to be amazed. I decided to begin to teach Joel Psalm 1, and Jason decided to teach him his own first memory verse, Titus 1:2. He is doing so well, and seems to have great satisfaction in knowing the verses by heart. Jason also at times picks certain Bible stories to read to Joel, and they also have influenced Joel's life even at such a young age. The other day while playing with his legos, Joel told me that he was building an ark for Noah. And indeed, there was a very large structure built when he finished. I also heard him saying while "building the ark", "and the Jebusites, and the Perrizites, and the Moabites...."

James is trying to walk. He will walk behind Joel's little mail cart. He does much better on the carpet, of course, as the wood floor is rather slick against the wheels of the cart. He is so proud of himself when he does this. I am looking forward to him walking. He is cruising so well, I don't really think that he will get into anything worse than he can already get himself into. James is needing training to learn about heights, and getting down. He will climb onto anything he possibly can, but doesn't know how to safely get down. This results in many bumps and bruises. I feel so bad for him sometimes, but he really is a go-getter and is not easily discouraged. I know that can be a very good trait and hope that the Lord will help us channel that trait in a godly direction. He is an extremely cheerful and jolly little boy; Jason and I never stop talking about how wonderful he is.

Gardening

Jason and I planted our first vegetable garden together earlier this spring. It has been quite an exciting undertaking for us as well as Joel. He loved planting the seeds and seeing the little plants come up. Now the garden is a huge jungle. Joel has been fascinated by the little (now larger) green tomatoes forming, the blooms of the green beans and squash, and seeing how the cucumber plants wrap themselves around the trellis all by themselves. Just before our trip to Austin for Memorial Day, we discovered our first baby yellow squash. In trying to convince a few people to come back home with us, he asked Oma, "don't you want to come see my baby squash?" Well, a few days ago the baby squash finished growing up and we got to pick it and another squash. Joel carried those squashes around the back yard the entire time I worked in the garden. I was hoping that perhaps he would enjoy eating the squash since they came for our garden, but not so. He still can't stand that texture in his mouth. Next time we'll try what he told me, "Mama, I like it a little bit crunchy."