Christopher

Christopher cracks us up! He's earned the nickname "The Splasher" from his big brothers. They love and despise being in the bathtub at the same time as him because he splashes them so much. When they see me bring him into the bathroom, they start shouting, "The Splasher's here! Look out for The Splasher!" Stephen has even resorted to wearing his swimming goggles in the bathtub so that The Splasher doesn't splash him in the face. Tonight Christopher had the unusual pleasure of taking a bath alone, but Timothy, not wanting to miss out on the fun, pulled up a little stool and sat next to the tub the whole time so that he could still enjoy The Splasher's antics.

Today I was trying to get Christopher to focus on eating his supper and I just said his name in a funny tone of voice. For some reason, it cracked him up so much that he couldn't even breathe any more! The other boys came running to get in on the action, too. Then it became a joke. We all started saying his name with funny voices and the poor kid was so red in the face and his stomach was in such knots from laughing so hard. We were ALL laughing hard at him! I even had to keep wiping tears from my eyes because he was making me laugh so hard! God's given him a quick and intense sense of humor even at such a young age of only nine months!

He also cracked himself up when he started sucking his toes. He would stick his big toe in his mouth and suck like crazy and then start laughing hysterically. Now he sucks his toe so hard that he's given himself blisters. Stephen has learned that whenever Christopher can't be consoled with anything else, Stephen puts Christopher's toe up to his mouth and gets him to suck on it. Within seconds, the little guy is in hysterics all over again, as are the rest of us!

I have a vivid memory of just a little over five short years ago when Fred was gone in the evening and I was home alone sitting at the kitchen table trying to read my Bible and have some devotions. The house was sooooo quiet. I remember sitting there just sobbing because I thought that our home would never be able to hear the sound of children's laughter. I couldn't understand why God wouldn't give us the gift of children so that we could share our home with them and love them and dedicate them back to the Lord. Well ... God sure has His ways, doesn't He?! Now our house is not only filled with laughter, but with jabbering, playing, crying, whining, screaming, fighting, story telling, engine noises, animal sounds, water running (what's the fascination with water running for kids?!), Thomas the Tank Engine theme music, a constantly running washing machine, Cheerios crunching on the floor, singing from a child's heart, more laughter, more talking, more questions, more loving! Oh, I would NEVER give this all up to go back to that super quiet night when I felt that our house was too quiet! I LOVE all this noise - although I wouldn't mind a LITTLE peace and quiet sometimes, too!

Thank you Lord for Christopher's laughter, for Stephen's constantly running dialogue of what's going on in his head and for Timothy's incessant questions. I love it!