Josiah's Day

Last Thursday, Josiah turned 4 years old. This was the first year Josiah was really aware of his birthday, the whole idea of there being cake with candles, presents, and the whole thing. Wow was he excited! He has been asking for the past week and a half, "When is it going to be my birthday?", ever since Jacob's day. On Thursday, I cannot remember how many times he asked, "is it still my birthday?". We started the day with blueberry muffins, served with candles.


While we were eating breakfast our house helper arrived with a gift for Josiah. (She also gave Jacob a smaller version.)

Then we opened gifts. Thank you Aunt Rose, Grandma and Granddad, and friends. Josiah was super excited, so was Jacob :).

Josiah spent the next hour playing in his room, with all of his new toys of course. Here is the puzzle from Aunt Rose, all completed with a little help from mommy.

After lunch and naps, we all headed to our favorite coffee shop for dinner. They had a group doing music and they sang happy birthday to Josiah, using the piano and everything! He was a little embarrassed, I think, although also felt pretty special. He spent much of the evening not talking as much as usual but got really good at holding up his four fingers when asked how old he was.
That night when we went to bed Josiah said, "I had a really good day!"
The next morning we packed up and headed to the city three hours from us. We will be here until next weekend. We are visiting with friends and the boys are loving it.
I still cannot believe my oldest child is four years old! Josiah is our fun loving, absolutely high energy, non-stop talking, running around like crazy kid. He has been that way since he was born. He spent his first 6 months crying most of the day, literally. Once he hit 6 months he became much more content, although the more he was able to get around on his own, the more content he became. As soon as he learned to walk he was running and climbing. I remember him spending hours in our living room in Kentucky, practicing kicking a soccer ball. Josiah usually is thinking and whatever he is thinking he talks about. This is a blessing in many ways, even if it does wear out his mother sometimes :). Because Josiah talks about what he is doing, going to do, and has done, he is usually also confessing anything that he should NOT do, or did, or is doing. He is very open and honest about things, and also very particular about things being 'right'. I pray for him regularly that he would not get so caught up in being 'good' or 'right' that he loses sight of his sinfulness and need of Christ. At the same time I pray the Father would use his strong sense of right and wrong to influence the decisions and choices Josiah makes as he grows. I have enjoyed getting to know Josiah during these past four years, and am looking forward to the next one to see what else I learn about what is going on inside of his mind and heart. Thanks Josiah for being my talkative, energetic, and fun loving buddy!