October 25-29 marked the last GYC Board of Directors meeting that I’ll chair as the president.  I’ve been doing some reflection and here are the things memories I’ll cherish most.

5.  Her Condition
We were at our first Board meeting in Country Life at Oak Haven in Michigan.  Andrea and I were at it again during lunch, and Mike was with us.  I forgot the details of our conversation together, but somewhere along the line the impression was given that Judy and I were expecting–I said we were expecting, but I didn’t say WHEN we were going to start making an effort to get.

The day ended with the start of Sabbath and we took a break from business.  No one brought up what was discussed in our lunch conversation…until

Saturday night.  We are electing new ECOM members for two-year terms.  I was elected president and was allowed in the Boardroom to help select the rest of the committee.  During our discussion, Judy’s name was brought up.  Up to this point, she served as our Executive Secretary, Programming and Logistics Vice President, and Standing Committee Chair (Steve Waterbrook made up that title: creative, but…interesting).

Mike starts off: “I don’t know, Israel.  Do you care to share some thoughts?”

I’m thinking, some people are thinking about the wisdom of having a married couple be on the ECOM together, and Mike wants me to open things up.

I say: “No, go ahead Mike”

Mike, speaking VERY slowly: “Well, regarding Judy’s…condition”

I’m thinking, condition?  That’s an interesting way of looking at marriage.  No wonder he’s not married yet 🙂

I look at Mike with a funny expression on my face…

Mike, acting kind of stressed: “Seeing that she’s… I don’t know how public this is…pregnant?”

The Board responds — but Dr. Pipim’s “ISRAEL!” was the funniest of all.

I explained, and we laughed.

4.  Food
I love food.  And never have I tasted any better vegan food than at Oak Haven’s Country Life.  It was ridiculously good!  Having a small event?  Ring them up–there food is not only out of control, they’re prices are also very affordable!

3.  “Five minutes”
Our first GYC was pretty intense.  First meeting was a 6 am, had workshops on Friday, almost until sundown.  Everyone was tired.  I was rooming with Justin Kim, Steve Waterbrook, and James Kim.  Can you believe that one of our ECOMers was not going to make a morning meeting because he was too tired?

Good thing we had Judy and Justin.

Justin convinced all of us that if we prayed the night before, God would get us up.  I think he forgot to pray the last night, because he failed to get up on Sunday morning.  Hahaha.

But Judy, every morning, would faithfully knock our door.  Justin would open with his big glasses on.  Judy would immediately start yelling and talking at speeds of a jumbo jet about to take off.  In the middle somewhere, we always heard “lalalalallalallalalala FIVE MINUTES!!!! (Judy shows five fingers in case Justin is a visual learner)  lalalalallalalaa” — that was her telling us that the program was about to start (in five minutes) and that Israel should head up since he was platform chairman every morning.

The funny thing is that Justin would close the door during the last part of Judy’s…compelling plea to hasten.  And after we got dressed, we opened the door just to see Judy waiting for us.  She walked with me from the room to the platform giving me the details of all the announcements that I needed to make.

2.  3ABN?
I’ll never forget when 3ABN called me to ask if they could come and broadcast GYC live.  It was a crazy experience!  I won’t forget the crew that came–such great people!

1.  Chatting
It was like 2 or 3 in the morning and I couldn’t sleep.  I was in California at that time living at home with my parents for the semester.  The thought came to start GYC and I needed to share it with someone.  I got online and saw that Justin Kim was logged.  I thought that his computer was left on and he’d gone to bed.  I messaged him “please be on, tell me you’re on…” and he responded.  We got excited about the possibilities and divided up the contacting of the rest of the group.

For the next year, our ECOM meetings were to be done online through chatting.  People would type whole prayers on chat.  It was interesting and comical.  Thanks to Staci for introducing the free conference call website.  It’s used by a bunch of different ministries and is the preferred choice of teleconferencing that I know of!

A special thanks:
Everyone on GYC has impacted my life.  But I wanted to thank a few people:
1.  Justin — seems like we’ve been twin brothers in ministry through this whole thing.  GYC and CAMPUS and all the other things.  Pretty crazy!  It’s been a blast.  We’ve gotten mad at each other, we’ve been frustrated with other people together, and we’ve enjoyed the shocking moments of seeing God granting success together.  I’ve appreciated this journey with you and will be praying for you as you continue with it.

2.  Andrea — If JK’s my brother, you’re my sister.  I can’t think of a better diplomat.  Hitting up those meetings with you was always fun.  Watching your gentle yet significant presence take control of discussions always made my job a lot easier.  We’ve been like partners together in a lot of things and I’ve enjoyed it very much–especially the times I succeeded at making you lose your composure!

3.  The Doc — if anyone really believed in young people, it was Dr. Pipim.  Blasted us a bunch of times, but in the end he was the first to put his reputation on the line for this thing.  May other leaders rise up for God’s cause as he has.

October 25-29 marked the last GYC Board of Directors meeting that I’ll chair as the president.  I’ve been doing some reflection and here are the things memories I’ll cherish most.

5.  Her Condition
We were at our first Board meeting in Country Life at Oak Haven in Michigan.  Andrea and I were at it again during lunch, and Mike was with us.  I forgot the details of our conversation together, but somewhere along the line the impression was given that Judy and I were expecting–I said we were expecting, but I didn’t say WHEN we were going to start making an effort to get.

The day ended with the start of Sabbath and we took a break from business.  No one brought up what was discussed in our lunch conversation…until

Saturday night.  We are electing new ECOM members for two-year terms.  I was elected president and was allowed in the Boardroom to help select the rest of the committee.  During our discussion, Judy’s name was brought up.  Up to this point, she served as our Executive Secretary, Programming and Logistics Vice President, and Standing Committee Chair (Steve Waterbrook made up that title: creative, but…interesting).

Mike starts off: “I don’t know, Israel.  Do you care to share some thoughts?”

I’m thinking, some people are thinking about the wisdom of having a married couple be on the ECOM together, and Mike wants me to open things up.

I say: “No, go ahead Mike”

Mike, speaking VERY slowly: “Well, regarding Judy’s…condition”

I’m thinking, condition?  That’s an interesting way of looking at marriage.  No wonder he’s not married yet 🙂

I look at Mike with a funny expression on my face…

Mike, acting kind of stressed: “Seeing that she’s… I don’t know how public this is…pregnant?”

The Board responds — but Dr. Pipim’s “ISRAEL!” was the funniest of all.

I explained, and we laughed.

4.  Food
I love food.  And never have I tasted any better vegan food than at Oak Haven’s Country Life.  It was ridiculously good!  Having a small event?  Ring them up–there food is not only out of control, they’re prices are also very affordable!

3.  “Five minutes”
Our first GYC was pretty intense.  First meeting was a 6 am, had workshops on Friday, almost until sundown.  Everyone was tired.  I was rooming with Justin Kim, Steve Waterbrook, and James Kim.  Can you believe that one of our ECOMers was not going to make a morning meeting because he was too tired?

Good thing we had Judy and Justin.

Justin convinced all of us that if we prayed the night before, God would get us up.  I think he forgot to pray the last night, because he failed to get up on Sunday morning.  Hahaha.

But Judy, every morning, would faithfully knock our door.  Justin would open with his big glasses on.  Judy would immediately start yelling and talking at speeds of a jumbo jet about to take off.  In the middle somewhere, we always heard “lalalalallalallalalala FIVE MINUTES!!!! (Judy shows five fingers in case Justin is a visual learner)  lalalalallalalaa” — that was her telling us that the program was about to start (in five minutes) and that Israel should head up since he was platform chairman every morning.

The funny thing is that Justin would close the door during the last part of Judy’s…compelling plea to hasten.  And after we got dressed, we opened the door just to see Judy waiting for us.  She walked with me from the room to the platform giving me the details of all the announcements that I needed to make.

2.  3ABN?
I’ll never forget when 3ABN called me to ask if they could come and broadcast GYC live.  It was a crazy experience!  I won’t forget the crew that came–such great people!

1.  Chatting
It was like 2 or 3 in the morning and I couldn’t sleep.  I was in California at that time living at home with my parents for the semester.  The thought came to start GYC and I needed to share it with someone.  I got online and saw that Justin Kim was logged.  I thought that his computer was left on and he’d gone to bed.  I messaged him “please be on, tell me you’re on…” and he responded.  We got excited about the possibilities and divided up the contacting of the rest of the group.

For the next year, our ECOM meetings were to be done online through chatting.  People would type whole prayers on chat.  It was interesting and comical.  Thanks to Staci for introducing the free conference call website.  It’s used by a bunch of different ministries and is the preferred choice of teleconferencing that I know of!

A special thanks:
Everyone on GYC has impacted my life.  But I wanted to thank a few people:
1.  Justin — seems like we’ve been twin brothers in ministry through this whole thing.  GYC and CAMPUS and all the other things.  Pretty crazy!  It’s been a blast.  We’ve gotten mad at each other, we’ve been frustrated with other people together, and we’ve enjoyed the shocking moments of seeing God granting success together.  I’ve appreciated this journey with you and will be praying for you as you continue with it.

2.  Andrea — If JK’s my brother, you’re my sister.  I can’t think of a better diplomat.  Hitting up those meetings with you was always fun.  Watching your gentle yet significant presence take control of discussions always made my job a lot easier.  We’ve been like partners together in a lot of things and I’ve enjoyed it very much–especially the times I succeeded at making you lose your composure!

3.  The Doc — if anyone really believed in young people, it was Dr. Pipim.  Blasted us a bunch of times, but in the end he was the first to put his reputation on the line for this thing.  May other leaders rise up for God’s cause as he has.

This evening was special. 

This morning was chaotic.  Israel had to catch a flight to head downstate at 5pm and my parents are coming tomorrow to visit with us for about a week (while Israel has his meeting and then goes to Germany).   We spent  the whole morning doing chores, and getting things together before Israel left.  On the way to the airport to drop Israel off, I was so hungry I thought I was going to faint.  So, I knew that I wanted to eat something soon.  We saw Israel off and I decided to pick up some food.

Imanuel and I drove over to Quizno’s (-thanks, Steph for the tip!).   After pulling into the plaza, I decided that we might as well eat in since we didn’t have much to do at home and Israel was gone.  So, we went in, just the two of us (-technically 3, but you understand what I mean).  I ordered:  1 large veggie sub, 1 small bag of original Sun Chips, and a drink.  I got Imanuel his high chair, we said a prayer together, and we began to eat our little dinner.  Then it hit me that this was the first time that just the two of us went to eat at a restaurant together.  It was our first date.  Our conversation was more muted than usual since there was no dog to reprimand, no daddy to add to our conversation, no friends to talk with.  We would occasionally be interrupted by customers who wanted to say “hello” to Imanuel or tell me how cute he was.  But in so many ways, it was a special time where I could just look into my son’s eyes, as he’d smile at me and ask for another slice of olive, and not think of anything else in the world, but him.     

Every time Israel leaves on a trip, it’s easy for me to go into work-a-holic mode and try to keep myself occupied to pass the time.  But tonight more than ever, I realized the number of days I had with Imanuel as my only child were numbered.  In less than a month, I would be spread thin with the newborn and Imanuel’s world would be turned upside down.  So, I decided that we’d do something special together this evening.  We stopped by the video store and got “Homeward Bound – The Incredible Journey” (- I figured he would like watching the animals).  At home, I popped some popcorn (-it was Imanuel’s first time eating it and he LOVES it), and we snuggled up in the basement and watched as Shadow, Chance, and Sassy found their way back home.   And of course as Imanuel got tired of watching, we played with some of Imanuel’s toys that I had packed away for a few months.  He was very excited.

It was nothing big, but we both had a blast just being in each other’s company with no distractions.  We did a lot of playing and laughing together.  We ended the evening with worship together and now as I reflect on the evening, I’m so thankful that we had this time alone.  A time completely dedicated to being together and enjoying it.  No dishwashing, cleaning, or emails to compete with.  I’m not sure when the next chance we’ll have to spend an entire afternoon/evening with just the two of us, but I hope it’s something we can do more especially as he gets older. 

So, this entry is especially for Imanuel and our special times with just the two of us.  I know you won’t remember this evening.  But when you grow older, I will tell you about this special night when I realized that there aren’t many more things that I’d rather be doing than spending time with you.  Only God knows the love and joy you bring to me!

Imanuel sings his heart out as Bentley looks pensively out the window.

A couple days ago, as I was letting the dog in, I glanced across the street to the large open field that’s there and I thought I saw sheep running through the field.  And then, as I looked more closely, I realized that there WERE sheep running through the field, and a sheep dog herding them, and a shepherdess making whistling calls.  Yesterday, they were there again, except this time they were almost directly across the street from us.  So, naturally, Stephanie and I walked over there to see what was going on.  The shepherdess is actually a dog trainer too and she was traning her 3 border collies for a competition that they’d be participating in in Wisconsin this weekend.  It was so crazy!  She had 6 sheep and both the sheep and her dogs would obey her as she would whistle different commands.  Israel and Imanuel joined us right when Imanuel woke up from his nap.  It was such a nice outing!

We found out that the lady owns a kennel that’s fairly close by and trains other dogs…so we might have her give Bentley a few training sessions.  🙂

So…last night Stephanie helped me set up a facebook.  And right now as we speak, Stephanie is helping Israel update his facebook.  It’s pretty amazing how many people have facebook.  Anyhow, we’ll see how it goes. 

Last night, I helped Sikhu wash out her ears.  HAHAHAHA.  It was so funny.  I was inspired by when I got it done with the help of Justink, Jen, and who else was it?  One of the missionaries…
Anyway, I think by the end, Sikhu thoroughly enjoyed it, right?  I think it had been at least a year since I last laughed as hard as I did last night. 

We did something crazy this past weekend.  Israel had a meeting with the presidents of the regional YCs and decided last minute to drive down (and I won’t tell you why to save his reputation).  We, (us and Sikhu), decided to go down with him last minute.  So, we drove the 9 hours down to Ann Arbor on Saturday afternoon, got there at 4am Sunday, and left to come back up on Monday afternoon.  It was a lot of fun, though.  We were able to see and surprise lots of people (like the ASCercisers, my family, the Mendezes…).  And, when we came back, we brought Steph along with us.  🙂 

That was, FOR SURE, my last big trip. 

Anyhow, I need to get going to my doctor’s appointment.  Here are some pics that I stole from Hyun-June from the trip down:

 

They’re little and I don’t know how to make them any bigger…

It’s been a long time since we last posted so I figured now would be a good time to catch up on what’s been happening.  Imanuel turned 18 months earlier this month and the baby turned -2 months (meaning that in 2 months, he will officially be 0 – aka: born).  The weather is getting chilly up here and the leaves have begun changing colors which is nice.  We were able to spend a lot of time outside especially in our backyard.  Imanuel loves going outside and eating our apples from the trees. 

Some of his favorite words/phrases now are: 
crocodile, apricot, pasas (raisins), Uncle Bjorn, outside, gone, pray, (za)patos (shoes), and again
He can also repeat prayers after us which is exciting.   “Amen” is his favorite part though. 

As for the little one, he can pretty much just swim around and occasionally gets the hiccups.

The pets are also loving it outside although we have been more cautious about letting them out since we spotted a few coyotes hanging out in the tall grass behind the apple trees.  A couple Sabbaths ago, Israel let Bentley out in the morning and he ran straight for the backyard barking.  Israel thought it was a deer (bc he loves chasing deer), but he saw a couple coyotes back there.  They obviously didn’t run away from Bentley and crouched low instead.  To cut the drama, Israel had to run out there with a broom and start yelling to scare them away (and save Bentley’s life).  The next morning, they were out there again and we obviously didn’t let the pets out.  We haven’t spotted them since so hopefully they were so traumatized by Israel’s waving broom that they decided going after our pets wasn’t worth it.  (They eat dogs and cats, you know.) 

We just back from England a couple days ago.  It was a nice trip but I wish it would have been a little longer.  Israel spoke at the Adventist Student Association’s Student Weekend with Eugene Prewitt.  It was so nice and refreshing to see/hear Eugene speak!  Anyway, we stayed with the Hushes and we fell in love with them!  They are such incredible people.  They have a 5 year old son named Adriel, a 2 year old named Lea (pronounced LAY-uh), and a newborn that was only a couple weeks!  His name is Lukas.  They also have a Jack Russell Terrier who is a sweet-heart.  Her name is Katie.  Anyway, very kind and godly people.  We really enjoyed spending time with them.  They took us around sight-seeing for the one day we had off.  If you could just imagine what it was like with the 4 kids, us 4 parents, another couple (Manjit and Emma), and the dog, Katie, all in one mini-bus for an all day trip…it was crazy, but fun.  They lost my luggage from the flight over, (which is still lost now BTW), so that was a pain.  Anyhow, it’s nice to be back home though.  Traveling when you’re so pregnant isn’t the most comfortable thing.  It was definitely worth it though.  It was my first time in Europe.

Okay, I think that’s enough updating for now.  I’ll post some pictures up (which is probably what people want to see the most anyway).  God has been good to us as always even through the good times and the seemingly bad. 

PS:  What’s with the Facebook boom?  I’m feeling the pressure to join…

In our backyard

(I decided to swallow my pride and include a picture of me.)

At the park

Walking by the canal
     

Israel’s first baptism :  Lindsey Sutton on August 11, 2007

Eugene Prewitt preaching on Sabbath in Birmingham, England

Israel & Imanuel in John Wycliffe’s church

And right next to this….

By the decree of
the Council of Constance, more than forty years after his death his bones were
exhumed and publicly burned, and the ashes were thrown into a neighboring
brook. “This brook,” says an old writer,
“hath conveyed his ashes into Avon, Avon into Severn, Severn into the narrow
seas, they into the main ocean. And thus the ashes of Wycliffe are the emblem
of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all the world over.”– T. Fuller,
Church History of Britain, b. 4, sec. 2, par. 54. Little did his enemies
realize the significance of their malicious act. – GC – the chapter on John Wycliffe.

This was that stream where they dispersed his ashes.

Checking out Robin Hood’s old stomping grounds…

The oak trees are almost 1,000 years old.  They were huge.  Supposedly Robin Hood hid in the trunk of this one.

Pastor Hush and Adriel

We visited Oxford and also did some shopping there.

Aren’t they adorable?  With their english accents, they were even cuter!

A picture I snuck early one morning.  Imanuel slept in the bed with us one night there.  🙂 

This last picture epitomizes our trip.  We suffered from jetlag and right when we were adjusting, we headed back home.  We’re adjusting well now, though.  Wow, this was a long post.  I’m hungry.

On Thursday night, I (and two others: Royce & Taylor) had a two-hour live interview at 3ABN.  It was pretty fun. 

Since most of you will not watch it (and those who do will get the edited version), I’ll let you know some highlights. 

1.  I confessed to pirate other preacher’s sermons!

I was trying to prove that the power was in the word and not in the preacher.  So I confessed that I had…you konw, used other people’s materials (there’s not copyright on truth!).  And I told the audience that my churches thought some of my presentations were powerful (usually the ones that aren’t my own).  Today at church, several of my church members said “Nice interview, pastor”.  Didn’t realize so many of them would be watching (I didn’t tell them I was going to be on).

2.  I tried to call out Yamil and I cracked up on TV and couldn’t finish my thought.

There was a Q&A part and people were sending in emails and calling in.  Yamil tried to be sneaky, sneaky.  But I knew that one of the questions (regarding networking opportunities) was from him.  My answer to the question started off “I have a friend named Yamil…”  The camera was focused on me, so no one knew that everyone on the set was laughing.  I couldn’t hold it in.  I put my head down, paused, and tried to regain my composure.  I don’t think I’ll ever get invited again.

3.  We all shared the same cup of water.

Out of the three of us being interviewed, I was the only one who got a cup of water by my chair.  During one of the musical presentations, I got a drink and told the guys they could get a sip.  When we were back on the air, Taylor tried to be smooth and kept on “sneaking” sips out of my cup.  It was hard to hold in the laughter…but I’m pretty strong.

4.  We fumbled with the web addresses.

Towards the end of the interview, they put the web addresses up.  The camera people put them up as supers while each of us were talking about our ministry.  But we were talking so fast (and short) that by the time the super was up, the next person was talking.  You had to see it.

5.  C.A. Murphy (interviewer) called Royce & Taylor my sons (and their parents were watching); I tried to disown them; a viewer emailed in and made me re-adopt them!

At first, he called me their mother.  I think he meant that GYC was the mother.  But it sounded like he was saying I was the mother.  So I said I was the father.  But I shouldn’t have said that…cuz I’m not their father!  And so when I realized that I had just made myself their father, I tried to say that I wasn’t their father.  And then a viewer from I don’t know where gave some nice comments that ended up being like a gentle rebuke. 

6.  I made Al look bad (but not on purpose).

They asked me a logistical question that I didn’t have the answer to.  So I said that my logisitic people didn’t keep me up to date on that one…but it came out a little wrong.  I tried to correct it, Al.  But I’m not sure how good of a job I did.  I may have ruined your reputation for life.  But don’t worry, if you want to come out on TV, you and I can start our own…4ABN (it’ll feature people who have been banned for life from 3ABN). 

The interview turned out nice.  But these were the bloopers that will be taken out so I thought I’d keep you informed. 

-IR

I’m currently 25 weeks pregnant (translated into months, that would be 6 and half months).  Because I live up in the boonies, my hospital is small and so they don’t offer VBACs (vaginal birth after cesarean).  So, I will be having another c-section.  The date has been chosen:  NOVEMBER 19, 2007.  Unless I go into labor earlier, we will be celebrating a birthday on this day.  This delivery is going to be completely different from the first one so in many ways, I feel like it’ll be my first all over again. 

This time, there is a scheduled date and time.   I don’t know how I feel about that yet.  I’m definitely a planner so I feel like I’ll be more in control.  But I feel like the anxiety building up to the DAY and the HOUR and the final moment will drive me nuts!  I know for sure that as that date draws closer, I’ll be a frantic mess – trying to clean the house, getting everything in order, and I may even be late to the appointment!  I can’t imagine what that night before will be like.  I doubt I’ll be able to sleep.  Then on that day, without the pain of labor to cloud my mind and numb my emotions, I’ll have to say “good-by” to Imanuel knowing that I won’t be coming home for the next few days.  And when I do, he will no longer be the only child.

Driving to the hospital with our packed bags…What in the world will we be thinking about?  Not about when the next contraction will come.  Not about driving carefully over bumps.

In the hospital, as we wait for the surgery to begin, it’ll seem like waiting forever – doing nothing.  Just sitting and waiting.  But, once it does start, we’ll be seeing our baby in a matter of minutes!  After Imanuel’s delivery, I can’t even imagine what that will be like!  This time I will actually be awake.  Israel will be there and see him when he’s pulled out.  This will be a completely new experience for all of us. 

In many ways, I feel like I’ll be cheating.  The more I think about it, the more I realize that God knew what he was doing when he designed labor/delivery.  The element of “not knowing when” does have so many advantages.  And, when labor finally hits, its progression at the different stages is so natural and I think it helps the mother ease into delivery.  I think that’s why God likened his coming to the labor pains of the mother and knowing that that’s a sign that the coming is near.  (His coming definitely won’t be like time-setting c-sections…)  I, for sure, will not miss labor pains, but I just can’t imagine a delivery being so “simple” and predictable.      

Anyway, I’ll be sure to let you know how things turn out.  Hopefully recovery will be better since I won’t have to go through sleepless hours and hours of labor and pushing right before the surgery.

The baby has woken up.   I’m going to go get him now.  Today will be a happy day not only because it is almost Sabbath, but because Israel will be flying home today from 3ABN.  Take care!

PS:  Did any of you watch the 3ABN program he was on last night?  I know Yamil did…

Imanuel is (-as of Saturday-) 17 months old.   I’ve heard that 18 months is the magical potty-training month and so Israel and I have been doing as much prepping as we can to get Imanuel ready.  As of now, he’ll always notify us when he’s pooping by saying, “poo-poo” in a slightly strained voice and cheeks reddening.  The peeing situation is bit more challenging.  I’ve been letting him run around on the back deck in his birthday suit to get him more in touch with how he expels his waste.  The first few times he peed without a diaper on, he was quite shocked with what he saw (and what was actually happening).  It was kind of funny.  Anyhow, we’ve also been taking us with him to the bathroom and he’s well-aware of what the toilet (and tissue roll) are used for.  He loves sitting on his own potty seat and a few times he’s gone #2 on it- with a diaper, of course.  Today he actually sat on it bare-bottom while I gave him some toddler cookies (which he LOVES).  I know he had to go #2 because he told me, but on the potty he couldn’t perform.  I wasn’t surprised.  Anyway, at least he sat on there for a good 5 minutes or so.   I’m happy with his progress.  Any tips on making this a swift and productive journey, please let me know!
People think I’m crazy, but I’m still trying to see if we can get Imanuel potty trained before the next baby comes.  He will be about 21 months when that happens…and hopefully he doesn’t regress like the older siblings tend to do.
           

He is already trying to fit himself back into his old bouncer…

Something exciting that happened a few days ago was I finally saw my first buck.  All of the dozens of deer that I’ve seen up here have been females (and maybe males, but I never saw antlers to prove it).  Bucks tend to be super shy and cautious so they are really hard to spot.  The females are the ones you’ll see munching on vegetation on the side of the road while cars are zooming by.  So, when two deer were munching under our ripe apple tree and I saw that one had little antlers, I grabbed my camera to take pictures.  It was difficult because Bentley was barking like crazy, the baby was sleeping, it was getting dark outside, and I had to take the picture through a window and screen.  I had to take it quickly before Bentley either scared away the deer or woke up the baby.  The result was a blurry picture that I’m not too proud of.  But at least you can see the little antlers. 

The apples are tart and yummy.  Imanuel always wants to go outside to pick some apples to eat.  He even likes the ones that ar en’t ripe! 

One final thing that is worth mentioning is that we’ve adopted a new member to our household.  I believe it is a female (which is exciting to me).  She is our faithful bug-catcher that lives right outside the middle pane of our bay window.  Imanuel has named her, “Bitsy”.  I think you’ve guessed it.  She’s a huge, patterned spider that first found her home on our front porch, (then Israel destroyed her web because people kept almost walking into it) and then relocated to where she is now.  I’m going to have to do some more research to see what type of spider she is.  She’s a very good hunter (-caught and ate a moth a couple days ago).  Imanuel is particularly thrilled by “Bitsy” and consistently requests that we sing her song whenever he notices her.  (Her song being “The Itsy, Bitsy Spider”, naturally.) 

Imanuel checking up on Bitsy (close to the top of the window in dead center).  That’s where we can usually find her.

A close up of her on her web.  Picture is facing her belly.

The weather has cooled down – Thank God.  On the hot days, Imanuel’s favorite treat is ice.  I turn it into snow with our trusty snow shaver.  (Don’t tell him you’re supposed to put flavored/colored sugar syrup on top!)