Cousins

Last night we got to spend some time with Torie, my nearly six month old niece! She is such a good baby! She has a stay at home daddy, and he really does a fabulous job with her. It is amazing to see how content and peaceful this little girl is. She does cry and get a little 'tude, but that is typically when she needs something like a bottle or diaper change. It is rare to see her randomly cry as she is too busy being what her mom calls "nosey"! She is wide eyed wanting to see what is going on around her.

Last night at the restaurant she was playing with a very quiet rattle, and she accidentally chucked it across the table. Fortunately, her mom (my sis, Victoria) reached up and caught it at the right moment. If she did not have great reflexes, the rattle would have beaned a complete stranger in the head!!! We had some good laughs! Torie's doc says she won't have any problems with bullies on the playground.


I absolutely could be biased, but I think she is one of the most beautiful babies I've seen in a long time. Typically she smiles really big for the camera, but these pics were taken in a pitch black car so she couldn't really see very well. She is a blend of Puerto Rican, caucasian, Spanish, and Mexican. Great blend! I have already put my order in for many more...

And, now I show you the many faces of Sophia. How many have you experienced?

First we have, "speechless":

Next we have, "Yes, I'm silly":

Then we have, "Oh, no you didn't":

And lastly her "Be nice to my mama" face:

She continues to be my little guard puppy! If someone even looks at me cross eyed, she gives them the look and tells me that they're not nice!

Today Zack is stoked as he's playing his new XMen game for an entire hour! "Mom that is 10 fingers up six times"!!!! "That is a loooooooooooong time"! So funny!

Josh accepted Christ as his savior yesterday which was SO AWESOME! Let me tell you, he is a changed little boy! I wish you could have heard his seven year old voice when he said, "Jesus saved me today"!!!! My little bro (18) Mike was talking to him about Jesus and this led to a conversation about why Jesus died on the cross. By the end of the conversation, Josh was asking to pray! The funny thing is that at that point Mike called my mom to pray with Josh! My mom told him that he had done the groundwork so God must have wanted him to lead Josh through this exciting moment.

Mom, being the awesome mom she is, then had Josh call her so she could ask him a few questions to make sure he understood. He understood for certain! I so wish we had on tape him sharing his experience. He kept saying throughout the afternoon, "I can't believe Jesus saved me today"! "I am so excited"!

The groundwork was there. Josh has learned about Jesus his whole life. He has sat through devotions nearly every night of his life! He always would ask lots of questions, but he was never quite ready to accept Christ. It has been so cool to watch this miracle unfold for him. None of the people in his life are ones to push "religion". In other words, we just live what we believe in a real way and trust that the kids will jump on board as the Lord leads.

For those who don't believe, this may be hard to swallow. All I can say to that is Jesus transforms lives, and there's nothing like accepting His free gift of salvation. I hope my kidlets will follow in Josh and Kenny's footsteps. As Zack watched this unfold, he said, "I don't think I understand yet." "Maybe when I'm 6 or 7"! To that, I responded, "We'll see". We shall see for certain.