May 19

Both of my boys are pastors now. The past few times that Brendan has been playing pastor on the stairs, Luke joins him. When Brendan sings, Luke sings. When Brendan prays, Luke prays. When Brendan turns to face the imaginary altar, so does Luke. Very cute.

St. Brendan's Day

Happy St. Brendan's Day!
I gave Brendan a box of 24 crayons for his name day. He's thrilled! Right now, he's at the kitchen table trying out each color and helping Teddy color.

A Few Cute Moments to Share

Brendan's meal prayer-
The other day at lunch, Brendan kept asking me to pray again. Well, we had already said Komm' Herr Jesu once, and after 3 or 4 extra prayers, I told him that if he wanted to pray some more, he was going to have to do it himself. He paused for a moment, fold his hands, looked up and said, "Jesus. Nummy, nummy carrots. Thank you. Amen." Then he ate his carrots. It's the first prayer he's come up with on his own.
No, Thank you, Luke-
Two days ago, Brendan was sitting in my lap, talking to my mom on the phone, when Luke walked up to us with a sippy cup of water. He offered it to Brendan, who responded, "No, thank you, Luke." That's the first time he's said no thank you. We've only been working with him on that for a little while, too.
Thank you, Pearl-
That same day, Brendan found a small feather on the floor. He brought it to me and asked what it was. I told him that it was a feather from Miss Pearl (our parakeet). He walked over to the bookshelf where she lives and said, "Thank you for pretty feather, Miss Pearl. Thank you!"
Signing "I love you"-
Yesterday, he mastered signing I love you. He started doing it at dinner, signing it and saying "Love you Luke! Love you Mama! Love you Daddy!" He was incredibly proud of himself. He did it again at bedtime, laying in bed and signing it to me while I rocked and nursed Luke.

Introducing Rev. Brendan Standfest...

That's right, folks, Brendan is a pastor. He told me so himself. I was washing the breakfast dishes while the boys played and when I was done, I found them upstairs in my bedroom. Brendan was standing on the kneeler, wearing a cross necklace that he had pulled out of my jewelry box and chanting. When he saw me, he told me that Brendan was a pastor and could he have his Bible, please?