describing Andrew

I usually post photos and videos, but haven´t been doing much writing on here. So today instead of photos, I will write about Andrew, and so you can get an idea of what he is like. Well my parents probably know about all of this, because I tell them on the phone and in emails.

Andrew is probably most known for his smiles. He loves to smile. He smiles at us, smiles at Elianas family, smiles to people on the street, and in the buses. And when he smiles at people, they smile back. It only takes him a second to make someone smile. Some people call him ¨Randall¨, because when my Dad was here, he was very friendly to everyone and smiled a lot, and people remember that.
Really is incredible how fast Andrew is growing. He is doing some crawling now. He also has 2 teeth on the bottom. He used to chew on his hand all the time, but once his teeth started coming in, he would chew on his hand, and then cry, because it hurt. So he has pretty much stopped that, and instead likes to chew on other people. He will grab my hand, and try to get it in his mouth. Sometimes I will let him chew on my hand, but usually it doesn´t last long, because it really does hurt. The other day I was carrying him, and he saw an opportunity, and bit my arm, and I was quick to get it out of his mouth. It felt like 2 little needles went into my arm.
Andrew has quite a few toys, and even the new train that is on the last post, but it doesn´t take him long to lose interest in a new toy. For example, tonight he had all his toys to play with, all bright colors, and different shapes, and some made music and lit up, but instead he saw that I was laying there writing in my note book, and he was so excited, and crawled over as fast as he could so he could play with my notebook. I told Eliana... ¨he will get tired of it in a moment¨. But I waited, and he just wanted to play and play with it. The only thing that would take his attention away from my notebook was Elianas handheld mirror that he likes, but usually can´t play with. And so I went back to writing in my notebook, and put a pillow in front of me so he would not see what I was doing. But before long, Andrew was staring at me, and letting out some yells and I think he was probably saying ¨Daddy, what ya got there?¨ And soon he was headed my way to see what I was hiding on the other side of the pillow. I guess what Andrew likes the most is what we don´t usually want him playing with. He really likes to take my hat off my head, and even has a special noise he makes when he is doing it. He screams, but a different scream.
Andrew is very loved by Elianas family. I guess you could say he just lights up the room, and lights up peoples hearts. Everyone knows we are soon going to the United States, and it will be very hard for Elianas family to say goodbye to Eliana, Andrew, and I. But at the same time I know they are happy for us, and also happy for my family, because they can finally meet Eliana and Andrew. I think is is amazing how God is preparing everything, and I am glad that everything is going according to God´s time. In God´s time, everything is special, and God makes everything fit together perfectly like a completed puzzle.
If I had only one wish for Andrew, it would be that he could know how much God loves him, and that Andrew could be full of God´s love, and it would overflow to others. I can´t think of anything more important than that.
Well that was going to be the end of the post, but I will tell you another story. You know how a dog guards his bone and will growl when someone gets near it? Well that reminded me of Andrew the other day. Andrew has some shoes, and he likes to chew on the shoe strings. Well when we are getting him ready to leave the house, we will get those shoes out, and he will see them, and want to play with them. But once he has one in his hand, you sure don´t want to take it away from him. I learned that lesson, because I took the shoes from him to put them on his feet, and he cried, and I think in his mind he was thinking that he had just been robbed. Even giving the shoes back to him would not calm him down. He was just upset. Eliana is smarter than me, and she will get some of his other shoes, and give them to him, and so she can get those shoes to put on his feet. But anyways, I believe it was the next day, he was playing with his shoes again, and I was nearby, and he was like a dog guarding his bone, and when I sat next to him, he was letting out some yells, because he thought I might take his shoe from him. But I calmed his fears by getting the matching shoe, and giving it to him, so he had both shoes.
Well one more thing Andrew likes is pretty much any type of peek-a-boo. He will lay on the bed, and I will get down on the floor, and crawl around the sides of the bed, and pop my head up, and he will laugh. But I can´t get low enough, so he can see where I crawl, and whenever I pop up, he is usually already looking my direction.
I believe if it wasn´t for Andrew having such a good mother, he would be a very different baby. Andrew is certainly a very blessed baby because he has a wonderful mother, and Eliana is not just a good mother, but also a wonderful wife to me.

a new toy

It´s not that Andrew is always smiling... I just like to take photos of him smiling, and it is not hard to make him smile. Andrew got his first wrapped present. It is a train, and you have to put the different shapes through the holes. The walker toy that he has, we won´t be able to take that to the U.S., and so that will be going to Grace, Andrew´s cousin who is even younger than he is. And after that, it will go to a different baby, another cousin who is expected to be born in February.

scrapblog

I really like scrapblog, an online site where you can upload photos, choose from different themes, like I did below, or create your own starting from a blank page. The theme I chose below was from baby einstein, and I just added the photos, and deleted a few things, and this is it. You can make as many pages as you want, and then publish it so everyone can see, and also download it to your computer, and even order your scrapbook, and they will print it, and make it into a book.

dancing

crawling for cookies

Sorry, I know the video didn´t come out well. My digital camera is getting old, and has some problems, but I think its going to make it until we go to the U.S. The photos came out pretty well, just the video didn´t. But in the video you can see how Andrew is starting to crawl. He will do anything to get his hands on a cookie!

We had no idea that Andrew liked it when the bed is moved. Actually the other night we found that out by mistake, because I moved the bed a little, and it made him laugh.

a new favorite photo

Mi bebe durmiendo a lado de sus amigos Yoyo & Blue

Here is Andrew sleeping after a day of playing. He is sleeping beside the monkeys Yo-yo and Blue, and his snail, and his book that he likes very much, and his ball. Now he is very interested in things other than his toys, like the baby wipes case, or Tim´s hat, or his shoes, etc. When he see´s something of interest, he gets very excited, and will lunge for it.

Mi pequeño baby está creciendo.

El día domingo Andrew fue dedicado a Dios en la iglesia y él estaba muy emocionado y sonreía y gritaba de alegría, realmente era un tiempo especial y de mucha bendición para nosotros.
Pronto nuestro baby tendrá 7 meses y ahora él está más activo y desea todo el tiempo jugar, cada día podemos ver que hace diferentes cosas y es tan especial verlo crecer.

Sunday Andrew was dedicated to God in the church and he was very excited and smiled and shouted with joy. Really was a special time and a blessing for us.
Soon our baby is 7 months old and now he is very active and wants to play all the time. Each day we are able to see that he is doing new and different things, and it is very special to see him growing.

a special day

Today we went to a nice park area that is about 20 minutes away. We brought sandwiches and potato chips for lunch. Andrew fell a sleep in the bus, and so he missed the first part, but he woke up, and was very happy. We wanted to take the train around the park, but it was not working today. It was free to get in the park, and so that was nice. We bought Andrew a balloon, but just a minute after we took a photo of him with it, he let it go, and the wind caught it, and blew it away, and it popped. Andrew was pretty tired from all the excitement and seeing everything, and so he slept quite a bit when we got home.

Joseph the Masai Warrior

One day Joseph, a Masai Warrior, as he was walking a long one of those hot dirty African roads met someone that shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ with him, and then and there he accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. The power of the Spirit began transforming his life, and he was filled with such excitement and joy that the first thing he wanted to do was return to his own village and there share the good news to the members of his own local tribe. Joseph began going door to door, telling everyone he met about the cross, and the salvation that it offered, expecting their faces to light up, the way his had. And to his amazement the villagers not only didn´t care, but they became violent. The men of the village seized him, held him to the ground, while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. He was dragged from the village, left to die a lone in the bush. Joseph somehow managed to crawl to a waterhole, and there after days of passing in and out of consciousness, he found the strength to get up. He wondered about the hostile reception he had received from people he had known all his life. He decided he must have said something wrong, or left something out from the story of Jesus. After reheasing the message he gave at first, he decided to go back, and share this message again. Joseph limped into the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. ¨He died for you, so that you might find forgiveness and come to know the living God¨, he pleaded. Again he was grabbed by the men of the village, while the women beat him, reopening wounds that had just begun to heal. Once more they dragged him unconscious from the village and left him to die. To have survived the first beating was truly remarkable. To live through the second was a miracle. Again, days later, Joseph awake in the wilderness, bruised, scared, and determined to go back. He returned to the small village, but this time they attacked him before he had time to open his mouth. As they flogged him for the third and possibly the last time, he again spoke to them about Jesus Christ the Lord. Before he passed out, the last thing he saw was the women who were beating him beginning to weep. This time he awoke in his own bed. The ones who had so severely beaten him were now trying to save his life. They nursed him back to health, and the entire village came to Christ.

John Piper spoke about Joseph in one of his sermons, and these were his words from his sermon. If you want to hear John tell the story, it is here.

I guess Joseph made his way to Amsterdam where an evangelistic conference was being held. Joseph hoped to meet Billy Graham. Joseph was able to tell Graham his story in person.

Joseph then lifted his colorful shirt, and showed him his scars.

Afterwards, I read that Graham said to his staff ¨I am not worthy to untie his shoes, and he wanted to meet me?¨

2 Corinthians

I heard C.J. Mahaney (the pastor that wrote ¨The Cross Centered Life¨) talking about 2 Corinthians. He said it is Pauls most passionate letter, and is filled with self-disclosure, unlike any of his other letters.
So I am reading through 2 Corinthians again, and it is amazing to me the grace that Paul showed to the Corinthians. Mahaney was right when he said that Paul was more focused on the grace that was available to and working in the Corinth church than their sin. Paul loved them very much, and that is very easy to see.
Maybe the reason Paul had so much love and grace in his own life is because his focus was on God´s grace, and not on his own sin. His focus was outward and not inward. Paul did not judge himself. Paul moved forward, and held fast to the Gospel. He did not forget about Christ´s death on the cross, but instead that was at the center of his heart and life. If it had not been, his love and joy and peace would have faded, but it didn´t, because his focus was on God´s grace through Jesus Christ, and that filled Paul with love and grace that he spent his life showing to others.

Having fun

Andrew has been sick. Yesterday evening was rough for him, but last night and today he is much better. And here is a video of him today.