Heart Soul and Might

Our family prayer times are some of the funnest and most fulfilling times we have as a family. And just before our meals, our prayer can get pretty interesting. We’ve adopted a pretty familiar prayer that we sing - you may be familiar with it. It goes like this:

God our Father, God our Father
Once again, once again
We bow our heads and thank you, bow our heads and thank you
Amen, Amen.
Thank you, Jesus!

It’s the “Thank you, Jesus!” that usually shocks people around us at restaurants, because every one of us throw our hands up in the air and with much vim and vigor, shout those words… Sometimes I wonder about our ritual because a red-headed three year old can have some serious volume on that part.

Well, every now and then, we spontaneously break out into at least a 3-part harmony - sometimes its 5-part harmony - as we sing our prayer. And, I have to admit that I’m usually the one to start it, often choosing either the tenor part, or even getting up into my falsetto alto range. At that point, any reverence in our prayer-song goes out the window, and we all break into our wide-ranging operatic vibratos. Sometimes, I must admit that I’m a little convicted that I’m the one influencing our three boys to be irreverent during our family pre-meal prayer. But it’s so fun watching the faces of Josiah (our 5 yr old) and Jonathan (our red-headed 3 yr old) as they express themselves to the Lord. (or at least to each other!)

Well, in the last few weeks, Jonathan has gotten a kick out of watching me try to hit either the really high notes, or the really low notes (that I never actually get to) and he imitates my face. His face is so contorted I’d actually like to think I don’t really look like that, but he’s looking right at me when he does it, so he’s probably right on.

And following our “Thank you, Jesus!” he turns to me with eyes full of anticipation, and asks, “Daddy, did I look like you?” I can’t help but get a kick out of his enthusiasm, and he’ll only be happy with ONE answer. So of course I say “Jon-Jon, you looked JUST like me! You looked just like your daddy!” And then, satisfied that he accomplished his goal, he rips into his food…

But, it got me thinking. My little boy wants to look just like his daddy. He wants to try to sound like his daddy. He looks up to me, and tries to imitate me - even in something as silly as our operatic family prayer… And he’s teaching me a lesson when he asks me this… Because this is the question I need to be asking MY Father. My heavenly Father. “Daddy, do I look like You? Do I sound like You? Do I act like You? When people look at me, can they tell that I’m YOUR child?”

I love the lessons I learn from my kids. And, I don’t think I’m going to stop our 5-part harmony prayer anytime soon - because I have to admit: now I actually look forward to hearing that question from my son. And I have to believe our Father likes hearing that kind of question from us, too.

Clocking in at one year and eight days, Joshua is officially the earliest walker of the three Petak boys. This morning, caught on video by his mommy, our little smiley one-yr old took his first official steps on his own. There were at least three 2-step combinations and one that was really close to three steps on his own! Congrats Joshua!

If it’s difficult to get a pic of Joshua with his eyes open, it’s monumental to get a pic of all five family members looking at the camera! This was no small feat… OK. I take it back. We still couldn’t get Joshua’s eyes open while everyone was looking at the camera, but this was as close as we were going to get…

It isn’t easy getting a pic of Joshua with his eyes open. He is content sleeping most of the time when he’s not eating. Here was one of those rare moments, so the camera was snapping away…

And the baby’s pretty cute, too.

Someone caught daddy napping with Joshua today. Where was the candid camera?

Here are the three Neopolitan Petak boys: Jonathan (strawberry, age 2 on left), Joshua (chocolate, center) and Josiah (vanilla, age 4 on right).

We’re having our third boy in a couple months, but the pregnancy and development process will never cease to amaze me. We’re at 22 weeks now and counting… Our little guy now looks like a miniature newborn, checking in at 10.9 inches and almost 1 pound. His skin will continue to appear wrinkled until he gains enough weight to fill it out, and the fine hair (lanugo) that covers his head and body is now visible. His lips are becoming more distinct, and the first signs of teeth are appearing as buds beneath his gum line! His eyes are now developed, though the iris (the colored part of the eye) still lacks pigment. Eyelids and eyebrows are in place, and his pancreas, essential for hormone production, is developing steadily.

It’s unbelievable to me that our little buddy probably looks close to this picture on the right.

Psalm 139:13-16

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[a]
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there were none of them.

Heidi and I are sitting here wiping the tears from our eyes after watching this video that friend and fellow blogger Carlos Whittaker produced in his efforts to raise the necessary $22K to “Bring Losiah Home.” Losiah is a little boy in Korea that Carlos and Heather are adopting and once they raise the money, can bring home. I met Carlos and Heather at this year’s Re:Create Conference.

I don’t think it’s a question of “if” God is calling us to adopt, it’s a question of “when.” Both Heidi and I sense this is from the Lord and are praying about the next steps. Once we have boy #3 in December, we’ll most likely start taking the next step at some point. We’ve talked and prayed about it for years and I look forward to seeing how God moves and works to bring us a daughter.

If you’d like to contribute to the Baby Losiah fund, click on this link and contribute on Carlos’ site Ragamuffin Soul.