Laurel Elisabeth Stevens

John's good friend Gary married Heather last month. Here is Elisabeth getting ready to be a bride, and us at the wedding. Elisabeth stayed for about half of it. John was best man.

After our long weekend in the Adirondacks we headed back south (just a bit) to Saratoga Springs. Felt like we were back in the city compared to where we’d been. But it was still beautiful. While John attended a conference Elisabeth and I explored some museums. She loved the National Museum of Dance because of its children’s area. She got to dress up to her heart’s content and dance on her very own stage. We also visited the Children’s Museum and the National Museum of Horse Racing. Elisabeth at the hotel: she looked great with all the business men. On the last day I had to get back to the mountains again, so for Elisabeth’s nap we took a 3 hour drive along Lake George. Oh it was beyond words. I tried to get Elisabeth to pose with me for a picture, but she was in a post-nap bad mood and the wind was too much for her (she dislikes even a light breeze sometimes).

It was 2 months ago, but Elisabeth did turn 3 on Sept. 24th. Boy was she excited about this celebration! Because of her new love for music we had a “Musical Jamboree.” She was very excited about her drum cake, which she fortunately recognized as such, although other guests did not. My favorite is the one of her dancing—only John and Elisabeth danced. The other kids (Douwe, Ricky, Timothy and Anneloes) just watched wide-eyed. The most fun was had with the “find the drum” game—we hid a noisy drum in the yard and the kids had to find it. I loved it when Douwe hid it and then showed the kids where it was. Such a nice calm sense of competition! Two months later Elisabeth is still talking about her drum cake. The red tricycle she received that day from Grandma and Grandpa was being used inside until just yesterday. I knew it was time to take it outside when she started knocking the paint off walls. Just a few weeks ago Elisabeth had begun riding a smaller tricycle to the park. Jo...

(favorite activity--walking on the rocks) (Taking our morning constitution. It was cold!!) As we drove away from the Albany airport, Elisabeth saw the colorful trees and exclaimed, “It’s fall!” Fast forward a week or so to when we were back in Houston. She looked around at the green trees and asked, “What season is it now?” How grateful we are that we can take trips like this and experience the breadth of God’s amazing creation! We loved the cold weather, topography, animals and of course trees that we were able to see in the Adirondacks and later in Saratoga Springs. We spent Saturday through Tuesday at Camp Fowler near Speculator, NY in the Adirondacks. The first 2 nights were in an uninsulated cabin. There was a fire going downstairs, but I could see out the little cracks between the log walls and the chimney. So we snuggled! Elisabeth had a bunk bed and slept great. We were in a double bed and also slept remarkably well. Before lunch on Sunday we took a lovely canoe on Lake Sacand...

(this is the end of our trip--there's more to come) walking with Grandma Saying goodbye to Lake Superior and finally some big waves.

Here is a preview of our coming attraction, Baby Stevens, coming to a hospital near us in March, 2007. I wish you could have seen the movement we saw during this ultrasound on August 10th, 9 weeks. You can see the baby's hands and head very clearly here. The baby measured nearly one inch. Wow—we both marveled at this gift that God has given us. Over and over I kept saying, “This baby is a gift.” This picture was taken a day before the one year anniversary of our miscarriage. We are awed by God’s graciousness to us. We haven’t told Elisabeth yet about the big change coming in her family—9 months is about one fourth of her life right now, a long time. But I have been happening upon various children’s books and poems that talk about the coming of a new sibling. The older siblings never seem very happy about it once the baby comes. But we know eventually she’ll be happy! In the meantime, I nap when she naps (fatigue is my main symptom) and am grateful for the one-on-one time...

Elisabeth loves going to Grandmère and Grandpère’s house. Grandmère has collected many fun dress ups over the years. Here Elisabeth is playing “bride.” She likes to say, “I’m getting married” and asks for the music. This is the tulle and cap from Aunt Claudia’s veil. Sometimes Grandmère even adds shoes and a white slip. I never thought my daughter would be pretending to get married so young! Elisabeth is also really enjoying classical music. I’ve been playing Benjamin Britten’s A Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and she loves to talk about which instruments are playing. There is also a book that goes with it, and she turns the page to the correct family of instruments. And every night after she finishes eating she was to dance. This is not typical dancing music, not even a minuet or waltz. But kids can dance to anything, especially when they like to hop. So Elisabeth hops around vigorously—she especially enjoys the “noisy loud parts.” One night she got up and put her scarf on her ...