Mommy's Little Helper

The past several weeks have been packed full, but I promised I would give you all an update on what Zeke has been doing lately.  We decided to take him trick-or-treating in the neighborhood, really just to have a chance to dress him in his gator costume one more time!  We've gone back and forth about whether or not to "do" Halloween because we want to glorify the Lord in all that we do.  The roots of Halloween do not seem to be glorifying to Him, so we've prayed about what to do about it.  At this point, we're planning on avoiding any evil type of decorations and focus on pumpkins for the house.  We'll allow Zeke to dress up in costumes that aren't scary and we'll use it as an opportunity to reach out to our neighbors.  Gregg even had the idea of coming up with some sort of cute poem or something that would point people to the Lord to hand out with our candy.  We'll also give Zeke the option to turn in his candy to "The Great Pumpkin" in exchange for a special toy.  The more I learn about industrialized food, the less I want my family to eat anything that is not made by me!  I know that is a lofty goal, but women did it in the past and I feel like it is my responsibility as a homemaker to take care of my family's nutritional needs.  Wow...that was a lot more than I planned on writing about that!  Now for the baby gator pictures...

Zeke continues to be a happy, busy little man.  He has become Mommy's little helper.  He loves to help me with tasks and he follows directions very well for a 22-month old.  He enjoys helping me unload the dishwasher (we did have one bowl break!), clean up his toys, put things in the trash and/or recycling (he puts it where we tell him to), put clothes in the hamper, help feed Browning, and help me when I'm changing sheets by handing me things.  He is not speaking in sentences yet, but he continues to add new words.  He's especially interested in naming or pointing to body parts.  He adoringly says, "Nynna," referring to my mom, which melts her heart!  He has added "Baa-er Poo" for Dadder Poo, who is Gregg's dad.  It's so cute.  I honestly haven't weighed him or measured him in a while, but he is getting bigger, for sure, wearing size 2T and a size 7 shoe.  He constantly makes us laugh with his little sounds and "conversations" he appears to have with inflection in his voice.  Gregg and Zeke spent 4 days together alone when I went to serve on "A Walk to Emmaus" women's retreat.  Gregg did a great job as "Mr. Mom," and I was so grateful.  The house was clean, Zeke was clean and well fed, and they actually had a great time.  I know he was ready for me to be home and I was ready to be home too.  I missed them both tremendously, but it was amazing to see God work in the lives of the 36 women on the retreat as well as the team.  I was blessed by serving, to say the least.

It is hard to believe that we are getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving next week.  I will be sure to post pictures of our time together with my family.

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving!