Happy Birthday Andrew!

When Matthew was 2 years old, Rob built him a "fort" for his birthday. Over the years, it has been played on by my children and their friends. A few weeks ago we were sitting in the backyard talking about what we should do for Andrew's 11th birthday. Matthew mentioned that he always wanted to build on to the "fort" and build a real tree house up in the oak tree. So it was decided! Matthew (with Rob's help) would build a tree house for Andrew's 11th birthday. Their was much discussion about the design and engineering. Geometry and Physics were involved! Here are a few photos of the project. Thank you Matthew....big brothers rock!

The original "fort".

Rob strung lights in the tree house. Their has been talk of camping up there!

Pine Wood Derby

It's that time of year when Cub Scouts all over the country are building Pine Wood Derby cars! This year Andrew and my dad designed and constructed his car. It is a Brookline Special, an English "classic" car. They worked very hard on it and it turned out great! In fact it won 3rd place in the design category and 8th place for speed! Needless to say, Andrew and dad are already thinking about the design of next year's car and researching how to make it go faster!

One Small Child

Andrew has been taking violin lessons for about 2 1/2 years. He has had the privilege of playing at church several times in the past few months. On the evening of December 25th, he played his violin at the annual German Christmas Service hosted by our church. This service is spoken entirely in the German language. It is always amazing to me how we are blessed by this event even though no one in our family can speak German! The spirit of the Lord seems to translate this beautiful service for all of us! Andrew choose a beautiful song titled One Small Child. (Click on the arrow above to hear him play. You will also need to click the stop button on My Playlist.) This is one of my favorite Christmas songs, here are the lyrics...

One Small Child By David Meece

One small child in a land of a thousand,One small dream of a Savior tonight,

One small hand reaching out to the starlight, One small city of life.

One king bringing his gold and his riches,One king ruling an army of might,

One king kneeling with incense and candlelight, One King bringing us life.

Chorus: See him lying, a cradle beneath him. See him smiling in the stall.

See his mother praising his father. See his tiny eyelids fall.

One small light from the flame of a candle, one small light from a city of might,

One small light from the stars in the endless night, one small light from a face

Chorus: See the shepherds kneeling before him, See the kings on bended knee,

See his mother praising his Father. See the Blessed Infant sleep.

One small child in a land of a thousand. One small dream in a people of might.

One small hand reaching out to the starlight, One small Savior of life.