My 5 Year Old

My oldest boy is all set to turn 5 tomorrow. And with only a minimal amount of trepidation because, "I don't want my teeth to get loose and fall out". Seems like only last week we brought him home from the hospital. Sooo tiny and sooo wrinkled.

A lot has changed for him since last year. He goes to school now. Last year the sentence "I love my little brother Lucas and his lion" would have been said like this: "I yove my yittle brother Yucas and his wion". This year he is allowed to answer the phone, and does so like this:
"Hello, this is Ethan speaking."

He also asks questions like these:
"Where was God when Jesus was a baby?"
"But why can't I see Grandpa Joe?"
"How come Lucas is done eating?"
"Why did God make it so spiders are born, they live, and they die?" (asked right after he saw "Charlotte's Web")

So he's 5 tomorrow and we love him more now than when we brought him home from the hospital. Even though he's sometimes loud, goofy, and disrespectful. Because he's also incredibly bright, kind, sensitive, with an incredible capacity to love. And he has a great singing voice!

Here's some pics Cindy took of him before his birthday party. We hope to get the little wallflower out of his shell soon.

Cool Things in 2006

One of the cool things we did last year was pack up the family and head down to the Magic Kingdom. The Los Garcias were joined by our godsons Isaiah & Joshua and also Grandma Susie. It was very, very hot and very, very humid. And we had to put in a new air condtioner on the way down. Tempers were lost, and a few tantrums were thrown, but thankfully the kids did great!

Once we were there we had a really great time. Ethan loved Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. Isaiah (11 yrs) loved California Screamin'. Joshua (10 yrs) liked riding the Matterhorn. And Lucas literally spent 45 minutes splashing around the creek in Redwood Creek Trail Challange. Both Garcia boys went "Ice Cream Man" crazy whenever a train or monorail went by. We all had heaps of fun at Buzz's Astro Blasters, which is like one huge submersive video game. As you can see by the top photo, even Grandma got into shooting the snot out of Zurg.

Disneyland is cool.

He was a good idea

My boy Lucas turned 2 yesterday. Above are a couple of pics from his birthday party. He seemed to enjoy all the family, the pinata, the cake, the bounce house and tons of "Cars" memorabillia (graciously provided by Uncle Jeff). Yes, a fun time was had by all.

Seems like just yesterday (Ethan had just turned 2) when Cindy and I decided we would plan to have another child. Planning a child was an entirely new concept (to me anyway), but after praying about it we went ahead with said plan. About 3 months into the pregnancy I remember looking at my family and thinking, "Waaaiiit a minute!! Is this a good idea?!?" I really liked where we were at. I really loved my wife. I really loved Ethan. A lot. Just being around them filled me with joy. Did I have enough love in me for one more? Turns out I did. Or rather, God gave me more.

So about 6 months ago, I was at the table feeding Lucas. He finished his dinner, got down from his chair, and wanted to sit in my lap so he could finish mine. I remember holding him and thinking, "Wow, he was a good idea!"

If only I had the memory of a 4 yr old

Off and on for the past year we have been reading "Jimmy's Lost Bug", by Simon Smith to Ethan. It is a very cute book that retells the parable of the Lost Sheep using mice and bugs. Sounds wierd, but it works.

Anyway, Ethan really likes it, and for the past 3 weeks straight we have been reading it at bedtime (his choice). One day, he decides that he is going to 'read' the story to Daddy. And he did. Perfectly.

2 things about this blew me away. The first is that twice in the story, we read about Jimmy's pet bugs. Each one has a name. There are Brian, Jack, Kate, Barry, Harry, Caroline, Tom, Jess, sophie, Caleb, Zoe, Pamela, Mitch, Mark, Sandra, Meagan, Peter, Luke, Graham, Hannah, Susan, Gary, Penny, Rachel, Laura, Loren, Grace, Rebekah, Joshua, Jacob, Joel, Tammy, Robbie, Daniel, Sara, James, Jonathan, Max, Eloise, George, Emma, Sam, and Lester (Spoiler alert: Lester is the one who gets lost). Most of the time, Ethan can tell you each name of each bug.

Also, after the story on the last page, is this passage from Luke 15: 4-6:

Then Jesus told them a story. He said, "Suppose one of you has 100 sheep and loses one of them.
Won't he leave the 99 in the open country? Won't he go and look for the one lost sheep until he
finds it? When he finds it, he will joyfully put it on his shoulders and go home. Then he will call his
friends and neighbors together. He will say 'Be joyful with me. I have found my lost sheep.'"

Ethan has this passage memorized too. I don't want to say he's brilliant, but the kid sure is sharp. I'm very proud of him, but mostly I am convicted that I need to be sharing more of the Scriptures with him.

Happy Birthday Ethan!!!

It was 4 years ago today. Almost to the hour. Cindy and I had ordered a pizza and finished watching "the Pretender" movie we had taped. Her due date was Jan 11, so we talked about seeing the first "Lord of the Rings" movie the next morning. Slumber soon followed.

Around 1:00-ish a.m., Cindy got up to go to the bathroom. On the way she felt her water break. So she took a shower, got on the computer and wrote out our birth plan (1 epideral, hold the circumcision, etc...), so there would be no mix-ups at the hospital, and finally around 4:00 woke me up. An hour later we left for the hospital, bringing what seemed like half of our belongings with us. Our mothers joined us soon after. Finally, at 8:20am Ethan Joseph was born, all 6lbs 3oz of him.

My first memories of him are a bit hazy. I remember him being put right into Cindy's arms after he was born. I cut the cord, then came up to see Cindy and him. We both just kind of looked at him in awe. The nurses then took him to clean him up, a process he did not seem to care for. When they did, my instinct was to check up on Cindy because not 15 minutes prior, she was making sounds that she had never made before. After observing that she was as good as she could be at that point, I made my way over to my newly diapered son. He was sooo tiny. Also very wrinkled and hairy. I remember looking at him for a good 10 minutes or so before I realized that I could pick him up. I didn't even have to for permission from anyone. He was mine. His eyes were shut and his head was shaped kind of funny, but he was mine!

He came home the next day and as Cindy and I looked at him, we both wondered how we could love someone we just met so much. Less than 48 hours after he was born, we couldn't fathom life without him. Why did we wait so long to have a kid?

Four years later, so much in our lives has changed. Especially in the last few months. But I still have a sense of wonder about my little boy. Admittedly, sometimes that wonder is not initially a positive thing ("You just went to the bathroom 2 min and 32 seconds ago, how could you possibly have to go again?!?"). Still, on his worst days and on my better days he helps keep me humble before God, seeking the answers that are so far beyond me. Which is exactly where I need to be.

"I hear church!"

That was Ethan's response to hearing a portable listening device for the first time. In this case it was my iPod shuffle. I put the ear buds in his ear while Matt Redman's "Blessed Be the Name" was playing. His eyes widened, then he looked up at me and said, "I hear church!" His little head started bobbing up and down and the beat quickly took over his body as he went into a full-on jig (it's a cross between Ed Grimly and Curly from the 3 stooges). The dancing kept him going through the 2nd song "God of Wonders", at which point he started singing the chorus as loud as he could, "You are ho-yee, ho-yee" (he has trouble with L's). It was all very cute.

I just thought it was cool that he associates church with singing, dancing and fun.