As the last page of Narnia was finished.....

Caleb was quiet for a moment, said his frustrated statement "Oh Rats!!", then screwed up his little face and threw himself into his Papa as he began to sob uncontrollably.  "I love Narnia, and now we've finished the very last page and I won't be able to listen to Narnia again tomorrow."  No amount of reminding him that someday we could read the series again would comfort him, because he loves and misses Narnia now.

Oh, how this wrenched his Mama and Papa's heart strings.  This little son of ours has sat patiently and wide eyed night after night since mid-January....listening to the story of Narnia being spun, from the creation of their world to the end.  He has loved pretending with Emet to be various characters in the stories of valiant princes and princesses, kings and queens, of talking animals craftily wielding swords in battle and living very believable lives in most unusual places.  The story of the great lion Aslan....an allegory of our Christ.  This world came alive in his mind, and now, as he perceives it, it is coming to a close, 767 pages later.

I couldn't help but record this moment here.  Years from now, he may have a similar sadness at the end of reading a great story for the first time.....but he won't cry on his Papa's shoulder, sobbing with sadness.

"And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily every after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story.  All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before."  CS Lewis, The Last Battle

Anna Ruth....aka Ru Bear

Sometimes it seems like momentous occasions all come together so much so that it is hard to slow down and enjoy them.....or realize they have passed.  Thus, here I sit, to capture a bit of our Anna Ruth right now:

Our sweet Anna Ruth is now a full contributor to the "pitter patter of little feet".  She was slow to venture into this territory, but sometime in mid-February, she took one step after the next out into the room and seemed to be thrilled by the notion.  Yet, for several weeks after, she still preferred crawling as her primary mode of transportation.  (She had the sweetest one-leg crawl she frequently used and looked just as precious with both knees on the floor wagging her little behind to and fro.)  However, I would say that for the past two weeks, she has transitioned almost entirely to walking.  Every day she gets faster and more confident.  Just last night, Jason and I heard her crawl down the stairs, land her little feet on the floor and "pitter patter" barefoot across the kitchen in search of her toy box.  We both looked at each other with a knowing smile....we have transitioned into a new stage....a short but special one that is to be treasured now and hidden deep within our hearts.

And oh how she babbles. All of the time jibbering and jabbering, and a few real words - perhaps still only recognizable to her family - are forming.  She only will do a couple of signs.....very occasionally "More", and she rubs her tummy to say "please". She makes the milk sign, but that she seems to do to indicate that she wants something.....now. The words Mama and Papa have been around for a long while.  She says "Ma ma?" in a loud questioning voice almost any time she wants anything.  Thank you ("Dah-ku"), Ball ("Bah!"), Dog ("Dah"), and Cracker ("Cah-ku") are recent additions with our most precious addition of the word "Happy".  I had just given her some ice cream, went outside to give some to the boys, and returned inside to see Anna Ruth happily flapping her arms and saying in a lilting voice "Ha-ppy"...."Ha-ppy".

Her sweet light brown hair is always a mess and ranges in style from 2 little "piggies" on top of her head, a barrette sometimes on the side, or all of it flying everywhere and hanging in front of her eyes so she cannot see.  Though she benefits from the vision, she seems to prefer the latter since she always pulls out her barrettes and piggie tails!

And what a girl this one is........she loves to get washrags from under the kitchen sink and "clean".  She unfortunately also loves to "wash up" in the toilet......and occasionally has found this to be a most accessible water source as well, for we recently found her drinking from a miniature tea cup dipped over and over into the toilet......which as a very minimal point of thankfulness I can say was flushed.  Uggg....

She enjoys driving her brothers toy cars, playing with her little farm, cutting apart her velcro kitchen produce, and as of recently, drawing with crayons. She also loves crawling in and out of little chairs over and over again.  And oh how she loves her big brothers!  They can get giggles out of her like no one else can.  Being the social creature she is, she often follows their sounds of play around the house and can be found wherever they are.

If there is one thing I wish most to remember about Ru Bear in this stage is her continual trying on of shoes!  If their on, she is taking them off.  But, if they are off, she is putting them on!  She also loves to find and "put on" socks, pants, shirts, and the like.

Her sweet countenance is like a song to our hearts....all of ours.  I have seen Caleb storming away in a rage, angry and Mama and Papa, stop mid stride, bend down and give his "Sissy" a gentle hug and a kiss.  For those who know the passionate young man that is Caleb, you would also know the tremendous influence his love for his sister must have on him for this to occur!

She is learning to voice her opinion, however, so we doubt that she will be often railroaded by her big brothers.  And, that's ok.  A strong spirit may take a bit more training, but it's the best kind to have in the end.

May we raise this little one to be a beautiful princess in God's kingdom.."wise as a serpent....gentle as a dove"