It's Filled!

The suburban is filled at last! Samuel Calvin Duke was born on Saturday by c-section and is a happy and healthy 9.5 lbs. He has a head full of head and is so cute! Maggie is recovering well and Lord willing, they will be coming home from the hospital and "baby hotel" tonight or tomorrow morning. We've been busy decorating and getting ready to welcome him home. Sunday and Monday night, we bundled the kids off to spend time with Samuel and Maggie. After carefully washing their hands, they each held him and stroked him and delighted when he opened his eyes to look at them.

That Blessed Turkey!

How blessed we are as the people of God to have a sovereign God to praise. Instead of just being glad that life is good or that it's not worse, now let's all eat turkey, we can thank God for each person, event, circumstance that he has brought into our lives to strengthen and bless us. We enjoyed an intimate Thanksgiving feast with two other believing families, the Milnes and the Zadoks. We prepared the food while Beka organized a play with the kids about the first Thanksgiving. This is our turkey! (and this is me, thankful that we have a turkey!)

The Moment of Truth

Today we are doing our Thanksgiving shopping and starting our meal preparations. I'm nervous. Not for the cooking, preparing, etc, but for the grocery run to the Stop Market. Last week I ordered the turkey to be picked up today, not a big deal really except that I had to order it in Hebrew. So I think I ordered a turkey. It's always dangerous to just assume you know what they are saying. Here's how the conversation went.
Me (in Hebrew): I want to order a turkey for me to pick up next week.
Meat Guy (in Hebrew): You don't need to order turkey; we have turkey here already. (He walks down to one of the meat coolers and lifts up turkey breast, not a whole turkey.)
Me (in Hebrew): No, not that. I want a whole turkey like these whole chickens, here.
Meat Guy (in Hebrew): (what I assumed he said) For a whole turkey, yes, you will have to place an order. Do you want to do that?
(what he probably said) We can't order whole turkeys, but we can order parakeets. Would you like to order one of those?
Me (in Hebrew): Yes, please. I need one to pick up next Wednesday. (gave him my name and number) Thanks.
So today is the moment of truth. Maybe I ordered a turkey. Maybe I ordered many turkeys. Or maybe I ordered an ostrich or a parakeet. You never know when you can't understand what they are saying and so you just fill in the blanks with what you want him to say. It's never wise to assume!

The Countdown

Well, it will be any day now and we are holding our breath expectantly. Praise the Lord, everything is going well and both Maggie and baby Samuel are healthy and strong. Although we are still making them, plans are laid with full knowledge that everything could change suddenly. After laying low until her full-term date, Maggie is now out walking everyday. It hasn't worked yet, however, and I'm about to go out and buy her a trampoline. I'm running out of time to spend with this little guy!

A Matter of Preference

Some people are very serious about the type of milk they drink - if they will even drink milk at all. Skim, 1%, 2%, whole, enriched, raw - drinking the right kind is of utmost importance. I like skim, and if ever I drink anything 2% or above, I have to drink a glass of water in order to wash it down.
Beka reminded me about a time when we were in Italy staying with some friends in Rome. Nathan had woken up, and Maggie was getting cereal for his breakfast. She set the bowl and spoon in front of him and went to look for milk in the refrigerator. The James drank skim milk and so Maggie found that in the frig. However, when she poured it over Nathan's milk, he let up a great howl accompanied by crocodile tears. "Goodness!" Maggie exclaimed "What is the matter?"
"I don't want water on my cereal!" he wailed.
There it is. Straight from the mouth of a four year old - support for all those who think that skim milk is nothing more than white-colored water.

A Glorified Squeaker

It's been over a month now, but at the end of September, we received many invitations to peoples' houses to celebrate the various Israeli holidays. At one such house, there was a dog that Nathan was interested in playing with. The dog wasn't as friendly as Nathan, however, and Nathan returned home with a fear of dogs and of being chased. Now we have Dogberry (that's his name, since I forgot to put it in the last post about him!). At first Nathan wanted to take him back. but when he realized that wasn't an option, he just tried to avoid him. Anytime Dogberry was down, Nathan was up. If Dogberry was being held, he might venture close enough to reach out and pet him, but if Dogberry even turned to sniff his hand, he quickly jerked it back and ran away. As Nathan became more comfortable with Dogberry, the temptation for Dogberry to play with him became greater and greater. Nathan would cautious go toward Dogberry and then run away squealing. What Nathan didn't realize was that in his haste to get away, he was turning himself into a glorified squeaky toy. To any playful puppy, this kind of action looked like a life-sized squeaky toy that wanted to be chased. Back and forth it went, Nathan creeping toward the dog, Dogberry turning and noticing him, Nathan running to the nearest couch or chair, squealing, with Dogberry at his heels. Slowly, the playful puppy worn Nathan down until he realized that Dogberry is no longer a threat. Having Dogberry run toward him still isn't fun, but now he's not afraid to get down on his level and talk to him or say "No, Dogberry!" regarding Dogberry's latest stuffed animal acquisition.

Happy Birthday, Sara

Last weekend, Sara turned eight. We celebrated with an Asian themed party with all her friends and their families. Online party suppliers are great, and they proved to be the perfect place to get the party supplies. We found gift bags and party favors, stuffed according to themes and even costume mustaches for the guys to wear. The little girls all looked great, some more Chinese looking than others. Most importantly, they all had a great time, but what group of girls at a party doesn't?!