only you fellow brook hillers will be able to fully appreciate this...
izzy(reading her testimony from inside the storage ottoman/baptism pool): my name is izzy lewis, and i'm almost four years old. i came to know christ not long ago. when i met him he said, "izzy, what are you doing here?" and i said, "jesus, i need your help finding the gruffalo."
abby: well it's now my privilege to baptize you - my sister in christ - in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit.
it's not just a book...it's a place. and i can say with complete certainty now that it's in pine mountain, ga. on our visit to marietta over labor day, josh's family took us on our first "wild animal safari", and we all came home disgustingly filthy...but full of smiles.
if you ask izzy what her favorite part of the day was, she'll tell you with an excited flair that it was the gruffalos. ironically, she'll also ID that as the part she didn't care for so much. but who can blame her? i was thrilled/terrified as well when the massive monsters moved from outside our van window to head-completely-in-breathing-and-slobbering-in-our-faces...
this is when izzy and i almost made a run for it...
sometimes, though, massive heads or expansive horns got in the way of the animals being able to put their whole heads through the window. no worries, though...that's why god made two-foot-long tongues. EEEEK!
and if you're wondering about micah, he wasn't such a fan of the whole mess at first. for all you fellow adoptive parents out there, i know what you're thinking, and in my defense, i had no idea the gruffalos would actually try to get inside the car with us. there was no turning back once we had entered the gates...
but he eventually calmed down in my arms and was content to work the finger-of-much-soothing while he cuddled with grandpam.
you know, now that i think about it, i think the squeals of delight might have been as "exciting" for him as anything else. see for yourself - and enjoy jack's bull's-eye at the :32 mark (or should i say bull's-nose)...
izzy has wanted to be a "ballewina" for as long as her big sister's been donning slippers for her weekly class. and after an entire summer of asking if it was time to go yet, izzy's big day finally arrived and she had her first ballet class this week.
i loved hearing abby encourage izzy and share in her excitement. if only i had a nickel for each time i heard her say, isabel, only ____ more days until you get to start ballet!!
but ballet wasn't the only first this week. we were ecstatic to be asked to join in a homeschool co-op with a couple of sweet friends for this year, and yesterday was the kids' first day at "miss bwook's house".
(please excuse the direct-sun-freak-out my blue-eyed little ones are doing in that last photo.) :-)
jack got his red guitar fixed this week, and our ears are all bleeding a little now because of it. we finally decided to take him out in the yard so the whole neighborhood could partake in the joy, and i shot a couple of minutes of concert video. in loading the video into my movies folder, i saw a bit of a theme that i'd like to share with you. please enjoy music appreciation: lewis style.
my favorite moments:
the acrobatic feat at 0:46
the sudden burst of hunger at 0:54
jack's transformation from 1:14 to 1:25
and finally, the lumberjack-esque dance at 1:42.
