Josiah - 9 months old

Josiah is already 9 months old and still as cheerful and good-natured as ever! These are some of the interesting things he can do:-

1) Climb up the staircase! (most dreaded milestone for a baby to reach, because it means we cannot leave him on his own already...)

2) Cruise while holding on to furniture

3) Vocabulary: 

"teh-teh" (meaning jie-jie refering to his older sister)

"daa", "dee", "ba", "aahhh!"

Unfortunately, despite my many attempts to teach him the word "Mummy", he is nowhere near saying the word "ma" yet!

4) Absolutely detests water. Even baby fruit juice does not entice him at all. He now refuses to play with his water bottle (let alone drink from it) because once he sees the water bottle, he associates it with plain-tasting water. 

5) Eats a gigantic bowl of porridge for lunch and dinner. In fact, I am pretty sure the amount of food he eats is bigger than the size of his stomach! Wonder how can a tiny baby eat so much?!

We are thankful for him being such a good and endearing baby, who does not mind anyone carrying him at all. I suppose that's the difference between girls and boys - girls tend to be more sensitive about such things! 

Does Jesus Live in Your Heart?

"Does Jesus live in your heart?" is the question that Janine has been asking me since a couple of weeks ago. 

Today I had the great privilege of leading my 3-year-old to say the sinner's prayer and invite Jesus into her life. After taking some time to explain what it means to have Jesus live in her heart (ie. doing and saying things that will make Jesus happy, sharing toys, being kind to others, etc etc), she prayed this simple prayer with me:

"Dear Jesus, I invite You to come into my heart. Thank You for dying on the cross for me. Thank You for forgiving me of all the bad things I have done. Help me to do and say things that will make You happy. In Jesus' Name we pray, Amen!"

After praying, I then asked her: "Where will you go to when you die?". Janine excitedly answered: "Heaven!!". 

It was a divine moment in the midst of daily hustle and bustle. One would think that such a moment would be sacred and take place in a church setting or something like that, but with young kids it is probably as impromptu or as unexpected as can be. In fact, this simple prayer took place at our dining table just after I had fed Josiah his lunch and he had done a poop. But he was still sitting in his highchair, happy to watch us pray and talk. 

Straight after that, we went to give Josiah his bath and as I was doing so, I reminded Janine that there are so many beautiful angels in heaven dancing and singing because they are so happy that she invited Jesus to live in her heart. (my version of Luke 15:10 - "...rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents")

I am so reminded of this verse:

"Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

(Matthew 19:14, ESV)