Josiah is 12

Here is our last birthday for a while. We have 4 birthdays jammed pretty close - March 29, April 2, April 10 and April 20.  Natalie was hoping Tessa would have waited to be induced. That would have put her into April as well. Micah and Grace round us out in January and June.  

Our numbers are big this year... Josh- 20, Micah- 16, Natalie- 14, Josiah- 12, Grace- 8 and Tessa - 2. I will add another - Ken will 45. That is a pretty big one too. (:

Siah is a quiet one, but such an important part of the family. It's nice to take a minute to reflect on this little sweetheart.

 Siah:

•  is so very tender.
•  is keen to do school and loves to read. He loves electronics almost equally. 
•  has a way of loving his mom that I can't put into words. 
•  is the dishwasher man. He rearranges the dishwasher after I load it. I really think my loading is adequate. lol He does it to be helpful. He is super methodical and can fit tons in. (: 
• likes to give facts about people or things he read about. "Did you know that Abraham Lincoln... Did you that Mr Morse, who invented the morse code.....Did you know that a black hole in the solar system....I love how he loves to learn and am amazed that he can retain the information. Sometimes it makes me laugh at how interesting he finds things.  (:
• enjoys a challenge and likes to do things on his own to accomplish them. 
• feels deeply.
• doesn't ask for much and it so content with little
• loves piano and when he listens to people who can play super well, I can see the longing in his eyes
• is a quiet leader
• is spiritually deep and sometimes points me to Christ when I need encouragement. 
• has asked me to read a book that he just read so we can talk about it. Sometimes it feels urgent to him. (: 
•  loves sports - esp volleyball and baseball. 
• is a great big and little brother
• is the first person that Grace and Tessa call for when they need help. I hear "Siiiiiiiiiiiaaaah" from Tessa numerous times of day and I hear, "Siah can you help me?", so many time a day from Grace baby. 

I sure wish we had digital in the olden days. The first pictures are pretty rough! (:

Siah had a rough entry. The cord wound around his neck tightly and his heart rate dropped dramatically. He looked white and then purple with red around his eyes. It took a few days for him to really pink up. Everytime I look at this picture, it makes me so thankful that he wasn't lacking oxygen at any point. 

What a bright little sunshine. He was such a good little baby.


His eyes were captivating. They were a gorgeous blue/green. It took until he was over a year to turn brown.


One of the team (:






2008


2010




Siah and his a pal and cousin Trenton.


2011


2010 - Hard at work (:



2012 - Poor guy had a run in with a sidewalk



2013 - His first pair of glasses. Perfect.


He jumped out the of the van early and got his foot run over. We were so thankful for just a broken foot.


2014



20015


A great big brother!


Believe it or not,  he is such a VanDyk. He looks just like my Uncle Cor. I love that!




 I adore this little glasses wearing man. I am so thankful that the Lord entrusted him to us. He is a wonderful gift and the Lord just knew that we needed him in the middle of our family. Just thankful.