Luke swinging and Hannah at school

Luke just recently learned how to swing! He climbed on the other day and asked Hannah to push him. By this age, Hannah was still afraid to try it for a long time. But Luke the fearless climbed up and wanted to swing like a "big kid." I can't believe how much he has grown. He is all boy! He loves to climb, run, swing, play rough, and especially loves to play tackle with daddy.


Hannah is really starting to do better now with school. She still whines about doing some things, like reading and math, but when it comes right down to it, she is really starting to catch on. We are over half way in her kindergarten year of homeschooling. We go about 4 days a week now.

In the next few pictures, Hannah was doing a science experiment with different sizes of straws and making a flute. Her and Luke both had fun playing around with it.


Perhaps one of the better surprises yesterday was how well she was reading her "Dick and Jane" book. Mommy and I bought this book several years ago as a novelty because we both learned to read with it. Now, after many frustrating hours of "reading" with Hannah, she is getting it. Here she is reading to mommy and Luke. She was laughing at "Baby," one of the characters in the book. Isn't life grand with your family? These are the moments we all cherish with each other.

Luke turns 3 and a trip to the Cleveland Zoo

It is so hard to believe that in a few days Luke will be three! He has already been through so much and has come so far along with his cleft lip and palette. His speach continues to amaze us all the time.

Here is a picture of his favorite character, Thomas the very useful train. Luke loves watching Thomas and anything that has to do with cars, trucks, machines, or your typical "boy" stuff. He is certainly all boy!

We asked Luke what he wanted to do for his birthday. He said he wanted to go see the animals. So we went to the Cleveland Zoo. Despite some of the construction going on up there, it was a fairly pleasant day and very few people around. We didn't have any problems seeing the animals at all. In fact, most of them were out in plain sight. Usually we go when it is a hot day and the animals are trying to stay in the shade or in their hiding spots, but not this time.

Both kids really had a lot of fun. They were so excited the night before that they hardly slept, we almost decided not to go. But in the end we did and had a lot of fun. The best part of the trip was the drive back home. Both kids fell asleep shortly after we left, and well, daddy fell asleep the quickest. Poor mommy had to drive us all home and still stay awake herself. God was with us.

In the second picture Luke is being all "cool" like riding on daddy's shoulders. This is one of his favorite positions once he is up there. He perches and looks around.

The bottom two pictures are of Hannah and Luke climbing on some artificial termite mounds from the Australia area of the zoo.

The only dissappointing thing about the trip was that Hannah never got to see any elephants. It appears that they are completely redoing the pacaderm building by tearing it down, which they were in the process of doing while we were there. By the time it is done in 2011, it will be 4 times the old size and able to have more elephants as well.

On a personal note, I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much lately, but hopefully now that things are finally getting settled down, I will be able to do more. Blessings to all of you. Papa Eagle. (John)

Luke's love of living dagerously....

Okay, for those of you with children, you know there is a huge difference in the way boys and girls act and behave. Our dear children are no different. This past week, our son, Luke, truly caught on to the act of sitting properly on the swing in our backyard. He now sits like a "big boy." When our daughter started swinging, she wasn't too sure about it at first and hated going very high, especially after a few falls on the hard ground below.

Our son? Not a chance! He is already saying "Higher daddy, higher!" The boy has no fear. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing at this point. The only thing he fears is a spanking, or so it seems. (We don't typically spank him very often at all, unless he has just pulled his sister's hair or bitten her arm.) So when we threaten him with a spanking, that is usually all it takes to straighten him out. Or at least while I, daddy, am around.

Mommy on the other hand has a harder time with him. He just doesn't seem to want to listen. Now far be it from me to admit this, but I think it is a "guy" thing showing up already at an early age. After all, do we as men really and truly listen to our wives like we should? Do little boys listen to their mommies? I think this is one of the hardest lessons we could ever learn in marriage and parenting. It isn't until something goes wrong that little boys come running to their mommy's arms for the love and support that we all need. Forget daddy, mommy is a much better hugger and snuggler when little boys are sick or hurt. But when it comes to doing crazy stunts, the boys always seem to "show" off for their daddies and long for their attention.

So what does that say about our Heavenly Father? Are we willing to really listen to His voice prompting us to follow Him in our hearts? or are we often times like husbands and little boys pretending to listen, but not really hearing the common sense God gave to our wives and mothers in sharing with us. That is why we need to really listen, to really hear what God whispers in our hearts and minds as we journey through life. We need to yield to God everyday, not just when we get hurt, but before we get hurt so we don't have to suffer the pain and consequences of disobedience. Life is too busy and so full of ways to distract us from our true purpose here on Earth. Are we really listening? Are we really hearing God's voice calling us to obedience? Or do we blow it all off until we get hurt by some of life's unfortunate and often cruel dealings.

So how do we really hear and listen to God's voice? We study His word, the Holy Bible. It isn't a series of many books that have no relevance for today's life. It isn't old fashioned or obsolete? Not at all. It is life and hope in a dark and weary world. It is the difference of facing the world full of energy like a little child versus being fearful of all the bad news we are constantly being bombarded with. The more I read and study the Bible, the more I am amazed at God's perfect love for all of us.

Not long ago at the Christian school I work for, all of the middle schoolers were pulled into a large room and shown a video byLouie Giglio. "How Great is our God." (You can see a portion of it on youtube.com or godtube.com) This video showed the Greatness of God and how we were created, not evolved, by a loving God. How do I know this? Maybe instead of telling you, you should check out the above video for yourselves and look up "Laminin." Perhaps one of the most phenomenal videos I have ever seen. Laminin is the protein adhesion molecule that literally holds our bodies together. It is found in everything we were created to for. God holds us together, from the beginning of time with this tiny protein that would make many evolutionist cringe in their seats, because there is no denying that our bodies, our earth, our universe was fearfully and wonderfully made to "listen and hear" about God's great love for all of us "sinners."