Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

At the beginning of February we enjoyed a visit from an old friend and colleague. Shirley Unger and I taught together at Vienna Christian School—we met 10 years ago. Time flies. Now she is in Germany as a missionary with EuroTeam. She was in Houston as part of her support raising. We had a good time, and Elisabeth just loved her. It didn’t take long at all for Elisabeth to warm up to “Miss Siryee.” We tried to show Shirley a bit of Houston, but I think she ended up seeing the toddler’s version. We made a visit for the first time to Mercer Arboretum (I may have been there as a child, but I can’t remember). It was beautiful! Walking through the gates was like walking into a lush haven—so green (well, I suppose everything looks green here for some of you), so many birds . . . We were there less than 5 minutes and we knew we had to return. So whoever visits us next, bring your walking shoes! Elisabeth also got to see Cypress Knees for the first time! Then on Monday after Shirley met with t...

Last summer while we were visiting Tim and Kristen in Dearborn, Tim made this video of Elisabeth. This was when she was really starting to talk more and more. Of course, since then she's come such a long way that we surely need a new video, but this is fun for reminiscing. Thanks, Tim, for the video.

I discovered recently that when John reads Elisabeth a bedtime story, they lie on their “nummies.” Recent favorites have been Daisy the Fire Cow, Ah, Music (a book about the orchestra) and What Charlie Heard, the story of Charles Ives. Another series she loves is a set that I picked up at a garage sale years ago, of books that I had growing up: the Arch books, a series of Bible stories for kids. When I told Mom about them she said she really didn’t like them because of the bad rhyming. I was appalled! I had such wonderful memories of those books and we even had records to go with them, so I can still hear in my head the voice of the man reading The World God Made. Well, as I have been reading them over and over, I’m starting to understand what Mom was talking about. Nevertheless, the daughter will love them and choose them over and over. There must be something to be said for the impression they leave! A common feature in several of these photos is Elisabeth’s phone, although s...