The Oster Five: September 2013

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Happy Anniversary!

(on a date downtown)

Happy Anniversary, Beloved! I'm so blessed to have had 12 years with you!

(At the rainy Cardinals game in STL)

(At a park on a date in STL)

(hiking on Lookout Mtn.)

(At the Cardinals game in ATL)

Jacob Is Eight!!

At dinner on Jacob's birthday, Jacob opened presents from Grandma.

You could tell he was SO excited about each gift (even the inside of his new rain boots!)

But this gift beat all the others.

He is, after all, a Lego Man.

He told me today that he's decided he doesn't really want to be an app designer when he grows up, instead he's going to design lego sets. Or maybe design lego sets and design apps. The future is bright.

THANK YOU, Grandma!

And then came our traditional birthday pancakes. Jacob's were, of course, surrounded by bacon.

The next day after doing a little school, Granna came. Jacob opened gifts from her right after lunch.

Yay! A new soccer ball! (Whew! I didn't know it, but we didn't have one to use for the party--thank goodness for Granna!)

And a soccer goal! (and some clothes)

THANK YOU, Granna!

Thank you, Stacie, for designing and creating Jacob's cake. It was great!

Definitely a more muted table design for the boy, but I think he loved it all the same:

cake,

chocolate drop cookies (at Jacob's request)

pretzels

and

Gatorade

are pretty much all you need for a boy party, right?!

Thank you to all Jacob's buddies who brought books and small toys for him to take to Uganda.

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

Thursday, September 12, 2013

We Meet a Bird

So after reading about different kinds of Vireos in the kids' science text yesterday, we're pretty sure God sent us one just to study close up.

This little guy thunked against the window right beside our schooling table this morning while we were doing math.

We're pretty sure he's a Yellow Throated Vireo (we couldn't find anything else he resembled in our bird book, but he didn't have yellow rimmed eyes, so we couldn't be sure.)--and no joke, one of the examples of "field marks" for birds in our reading yesterday was this very vireo!

He was quite stunned by his unexpected contact with window where he was sure there was just sunshine-filled space and so he gave us a few minutes to photograph and study him.

He was a beautiful bird and quite a poser.

This girl was overwhelmed with joy.

"Momma, this is the very first time I've ever gotten to hold a bird!"

my little ornithologists

We're happy to say the little thing seemed just fine after a few minutes of being admired. He flew away happily, as far as we could tell.

Happy Birthday, Jacob!

Our builder,

our Calvin-impersonator,

our new big brother.

We are blessed with your silly faces,

your wry sense of humor,

your goofy laugh.

We are blessed by your genius with numbers,

your funny cartoons,

your occasional bursts of incredible kindness with your sisters,

your nearly infinite energy.

We are so impressed with your soccer skills

and your confidence with schooling

and your optimism about all things.

Happy Birthday, boy-who-will-not-pose,

We Love You!

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Happy Birthday, Caleb Purpose!

Our fourth child turned six yesterday. We weren't able to be with him, of course, but we did send him this video:

And after Rashid (the director of the orphanage) showed it to him, he wrote us this text:
"Just played video to purpose...he is mesmerized...I think it is the first birthday party for him ever..."

We can't wait to hold this boy and his brother in our arms!!!

Soccer!

Jacob is doing so well in soccer this year! He's averaging about five goals a game. He has practice tonight, which really means scrimaging and he just told me:

"I would like to fast forward this day until I'm about to kick my sixth goal."

He is on the black team, which the boys have named the Panthers.