"Cousins are the Best"....

7:00am "golf cart ride" around the neighborhood in PJ's!  

I love this picture - hate it's so blurry.   Wyatt and Elijah Brooks. 

What sweet babies...., only 3 months apart! 

6 precious feet.  This image was better in my head than it actually turned out...., hey at least I tried! 

Bradford and Elijah Brooks

Bradford (21 months), Wyatt (4 1/2 years), Elijah Brooks (17 1/2 months)

"You Decide"

Yesterday while at my mom's house, Elijah Brooks was playing with this counting toy by Leapfrog. When you press one of the numbers, a different style of music will play - either opera, country, reggae, jazz, or barbershop.  I am sure most of you have seen this toy. When you press the # 1 (bluebird), the "voice" sings the words, "bluebird, bluebird number 1, sing your bluebird opera song"....., and then it sings some sort of vocalise, which is just a vocal warmup of about an octave.  It's not really "opera", but rather just a vocal warmup -  but to most people, it sounds "operatic" I guess.  These are the types of warmups I do almost every day to keep my voice in shape.  Anyway, when Elijah Brooks pressed the # 1 and heard the "song", he looked up and very assuredly said, "MOMMY"!  My mom and I both about died laughing and I asked him, "is that Mommy singing"?  to which he nodded and said, "uh huh". 

Either this was a great compliment or a huge insult that I might sound like an electronic toy bug! 

Smart kid regardless that he put that together.  He really is listening more than I think he is. 

"Random Pictures of my happy boy"

He turned the "push mower" into a riding mower. No clue how - and yes, I know this is not safe. He is not allowed on the mower. Made for a cute picture though :) 

Driving mommy's car 

Silly boy laughing with a mouth full of food. 

I have kissed these feet at least a million times since he was born. Barefoot in the grass = Springtime! 

Sweet - just so sweet. 

"As only a child could"....

Our family is sponsoring a 5 year old little boy named Daniel, who lives in Uganda.  For a year, we are helping this child get medical care, 2 hot meals a day, a school uniform, and proper schooling. It has been the biggest blessing to our family - I only wish we had the resources to sponsor a hundred more children. Daniel's picture hangs on our refrigerator and every time we walk by it, it reminds us to pray for him.  We have been praying for him with Elijah Brooks before meals...., that too is such a good time to pray for him because Elijah Brooks and I talk about how Daniel doesn't have much food etc......   

Elijah Brooks is 17 months old (yesterday actually), so I never really know how much he is comprehending, but I keep talking to him and we keep praying for Daniel.  Today Elijah Brooks was SO tired at lunchtime, so I was rushing through his lunch to get him down for his nap. I confess that I forgot to pray before he ate. About halfway through his lunch, he started pointing to the picture of Daniel and saying, "Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan, Dan", and then folded his hands on his tray in his very own most precious way.  I said, "Oh no! Mommy forgot to pray for Daniel today. Would you like to pray for him"?  Elijah Brooks nodded his head and said, "uh huh", and we prayed for Daniel. 

He seemed satisfied and finished eating his lunch. 

I was humbled, amazed, shocked that he had not only comprehended this, but that he could actually tell me what he wanted to do, and so very thankful to the Lord that God is already at work in this young child's tender little heart of 17 months. 

"Easter Lunch with Family"

"Easter Sunday 2010"

"Easter Egg Hunt"

Elijah Brooks attended his very first Easter Egg Hunt this weekend at our church. He was so excited and actually understood the concept.  I really appreciated that our church had the kids divided up by ages so that the little ones didn't get trampled and were able to "hunt" at their own pace in their own special section of the lawn. He did so well picking up his eggs and putting them in his basket. These are the moments that I dreamed about doing with my children whenever God chose to bless us with a family. I waited so long to be able to take my child to an Easter Egg hunt. I know that may sound silly, but it really was everything that I had envisioned it would be. We had a wonderful time together and definitely made some precious memories to hold on to.  Oh, and Jay did a children's sermon dressed up like Peter!  

"My Handsome Boy"

My sweet friend Anna, her daughter Addie, and twin girls (in-utero), met Elijah Brooks and I at the zoo yesterday. We had a wonderful time spending some long overdue time with each other. Anna is an amazing friend, amazing mother, and amazing photographer. She not only agreed to meet us at the zoo in the heat of the day (33 weeks pregnant with twins), a 2 year old in tow (who was an absolute angel by the way), but she took some beautiful pictures of my sweet boy because I realized my camera battery was dead when I tried to take the first picture. 

Anna, you rock and are super-mom for sure...., and the pictures are beautiful. 

Love you friend.

Blowing kisses on the train