Pray For Our Brothers & Sisters

Check out this video from K.P. Yohannan, the president & founder of a ministry called Gospel for Asia. It's a reminder of how good we have it here in America. Its sad that religious persecution is so common in our world. Its amazing that the early church exploded in these conditions, and spent the first ~300 years in this kind of persecution. I think it was St. Augustine who said, 'The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.' We're praying for these brothers and sisters and trust that God is working this out for His Glory. What a reminder that this world is not our home. Come quickly Lord Jesus.

Summer Break is Comming to an End

Well, one thing that we can say about our summer is that it has been filled with lots of fun visitors! Grandma Oelkers drove up for a visit last week & Eli sure enjoyed playing ball with her!

It's going to be sad when Jonny goes back to work on Monday (!) & we have to get back into the busy, busy, business of life! We have been having a great summer (yes, even though we had an unexpected heart surgery). We're sure going to miss Jonny around here. Especially me! I have to hang with the two boys by myself. What if they gang up on me!? :) Actually, I seem to fall into a good routine when Jonny isn't around. Those husbands are just so distracting! :)

TWO boys in diapers- what were we thinking!!! ;)

Summer Fun

This is what Eli & Noah have been up too...

Eli swimming with his best bud, RoRo.

Noah practicing his boxing :)

Sad Faces

Do you know which is Eli & which is Noah?

Eli Saw a Monkey

Here's a clip from our trip to the zoo.

ZOO

We had to drive up to Portland today for Jonny's follow up appointment with his cardiologist, so we decided to make a day of it & go to the zoo. It was perfect weather for the zoo. It wasn't blistering hot like it has been, instead, it was overcast without rain. Perfect! Eli loved the zoo. He was so engaged the whole time. Eli really liked the bigger animals like the elephants, the giraffe, the polar bears, the hippos & the leopard. Noah was perfect for us. He had a great time in the babybjorn. Here are some
pics from our day.

Oh, yah... Jonny's appointment was fine. Everything is still healing as it should. :)

Noah Giggles!!

I was giving Noah a bath Thursday evening & when I went to wash his neck with the sponge, it tickled him & he giggled! I didn't even notice it, but Lindsey was there & said, "Oh my gosh, did he just giggle!?" I tickled him another time & he giggled again, this time louder- an obvious giggle! So cute! I love this sweet little angel! He's repeated it a few times since then.

Terrified Noah & Excited Eli

*P.S.* Eli's face is all stratched up from a face plant he took off his rocket playing at RoRo's house.

Nana!

Nana & Grandma (my mom & grandma) came to visit. Before this visit, my grandma had never been past Oakridge! It was her first time to see where we live & her first time to meet Noah. She hadn't seen Eli since April, so there were a few more monster qualities he's developed since then. Plus, everyone wants to see Jonny post-surgery & Grandma hadn't seen him since last Christmas! For all those reasons, it was a great time to venture out of good ole' Klamath Falls. The boys thoroughly enjoyed their Nana.

Eskimo kisses.

Aunt Becky

Becky is gone. :( She left us & moved down to San Fransisco this weekend. We already miss her so much! It was wonderful having her here. I love that God blessed me with a sister. There is no friend like a sister. If we have a daughter for a third child, we're just going to have to try again for another girl b/c sisters have so much fun together. Becky just fit right in with our family. Jonny & I were trying to convince her to come live with us instead of moving to San Fransisco. Who needs a career, right? :) While she was here we went to the duck pond, the park, story time, Sweet Pea Kids cafe, Waverly Park Paddle Boats, the water park, bumper bowling, & took lots of walks! Here are a few pictures of all the fun we had while she was here.

Eli was afraid of the water... go figure??

Doctor Appointments

Noah is TWO MONTHS OLD today! Can you believe it!? That went by so fast! At his two month check up today he weighed 14lbs even & measured 23 inches long. That's the 95th percentile for wight & 70th for height. Another big boy! He's wearing 3 mos. clothing now. To compare with his big brother, Eli was 14lbs 9oz & 25 in. at his two month appointment, & in the 97th percentile for both. Dr. Hathaway thought Noah was doing just great & said exactly what he used to say about Eli as a baby, "Wow, that's a very strong boy!" Then of course there was the sad part of the appointment... the shots. Noah got FIVE shots today! So sad :(
Noah is smiling a lot more often now. It is so precious! His mellow, calm personality is so sweet. We've been doing this thing where we blow through our lips to make a rumble sound (I don't know how to explain it), anyway, Noah tries to do it back to us. Last night Jonny, Becky & I were trying to get him to do it & when he did we all loudly praised him, "Yay!" & I clapped my hands & it totally freaked poor little Noah out! He jumped & his sweet little face immediately turned into a frown & his bottom lip popped out to make a pouty face. It was the cutest sad thing I've ever seen! He just started crying & crying. This isn't the first time a loud noise startled him to tears. Definitely not like Eli in this particular instance.

Jonny had a check up with his surgeon & the surgeon's team. He actually got the attention of 3 surgeons at once & was able to pick their brains. Jonny asked about all the migraines he's been getting (every day & a half!) & they thought it was his body's reaction to the stress of surgery. They all thought Jonny's chest x-ray looked great & his chest & incision seemed to be healing just fine. They still recommend he follow all the recovery precautions until 4 weeks from the day of his surgery.

Mr. Eli Monster is also growing & growing. He's talking in sentences all the time now! Yesterday he climbed up on his play structure & said, "I did it Mama!" He also said to Miss Lindsey, "My name is Eli Oelkers." We always hear, "I want...." you fill in the blank- there are many things the boy always wants. :) Another cute thing is, I always ask Eli, "Are you my boy?" & he responds with a proud 'Yes!' so the other day I asked him if Noah was my boy & Eli said, "No. Eli Mama's boy." Today he said he wasn't Mama or Dada's boy, but he was "Aunt Becky's boy." This afternoon when we came home from the doctor appointments Eli said, "Go play. Go swimming. Nakie!" Which meant he wanted to play in his pool in the backyard naked. :)