Friday, October 1, 2010

Two Birthdays and October Plans

Gabriel and David both have birthdays in September, so it's a special month for us. Gabriel has been looking forward to his big day for a long time now, and we were able to celebrate his birthday with both sets of grandparents and some friends in Curitiba.


Here he had just woken up from his nap and was so excited to see all the birthday preparations.
He sat at the table kind of mesmerized by everything -- the cake, candy and presents.

Gabriel is a very determined child and loves having a routine. He has been a big challenge for us in the parenting aspect, but we are very blessed to have him as our son. He loves to sing, watch tar-coons (cartoons), sneak onto Daddy's computer and move the icons around, take things apart and try to figure out how they work and eat apples -- sometimes several a day. He is a great big brother to Juliana, who just adores him. Sometimes he just looks at her and she starts grinning. He has an endless source of energy that I wish I could tap into, and he's also very shy but he's learning to greet people when they come to our home for services and to play with the kids who come instead of clinging desperately to David or me. Almost everyday he says something really cute or funny that makes us laugh out loud. Like the time his pants were too big around his waist and in frustration he said, "Mommy! My pants keep walking away!" Or the fact that he calls David "Uncle David" instead of "Daddy" when his cousins are around. I'm so thankful for this playful, sweet, strong-willed little boy and pray that one day he will learn to love God and place his faith in Jesus for salvation.



David's birthday was yesterday and it was nice to celebrate it with James and Christen and their kids. Having family around to work with and share special days with is a blessing that we try not to take for granted. God blessed me more than I could know when I met David almost 8 years ago. It has been great being married to this man for just over 6 years now, to follow his leadership, to learn from him as he grows in his walk with Christ and to share my life with him. I admire his wisdom and patience in dealing with different aspects of ministry, his love for God and His Word, his desire to see Christ exalted in all things and his passion to see people be saved. I'm thankful for the good father that he is to our children, taking time to play with them, correct them, and care for them.

On a completely different subject, for those of you who keep up with the happenings in our ministry here, we will be having a kids' club every Saturday this month. Brazil celebrates Children's Day, which falls on October 12th, and it's a pretty big deal here. We're using this as an opportunity to reach out to the kids in our neighborhood again and hopefully get to meet their parents as a result. As an incentive for coming to a Sunday service with a parent, we will be giving away the Jesus Storybook Bible -- one per family that comes. This is such a well-written book, very Christ-centered, and we were so excited to find it already translated into Portuguese. Here is a link to the book if you're not familiar with it. We ask for your prayers this month, that God will give us fruit as a result of this outreach effort.


7 comments:

Rena said...

That's a good family pic, too! The Lord has blessed you very much and we're positive He'll continue to do so. We'll be praying for Oct's children's activities.

Anonymous said...

Great pic of the family. I will be praying.

Leah Robbins said...

The picture of Gabriel with all the candy and cake is SO adorable. What an cool cake. Happy birthday, Gabriel!

And happy birthday to you, David :) We think of and pray for you all. We love & miss you!

Leah

James and Christen said...

The cake turned out so great! Simple but very festive.

David and Sharon Taylor said...

Thanks for the compliments on the family pic and the cake! :) And thanks for your prayers for us too.

Anonymous said...

Sharon, I've always thought you were a good writer. In this post, you made me LOL and also made my eyes well up. And also, you look stunning in your family picture. I miss you guys so much, and I'm so proud of your perseverance and your faithfulness to Christ. You're an example to me!!
Thank you!
~Jonna

Anonymous said...

Oh...and one more thing...nice v-neck shirt, David. =)
~Jonna