Yesterday Luke was dedicated at church. It was neat to hear Mark talk about his namesake of Luke, the physician and writer of the Bible, because that is exactly why we chose that name! After church our family came over for lunch and swimming to celebrate this and his big #2 coming up next week! Luke has been such a blessing to our family and adds so much joy to the boys' lives as well. He is funny, cute, kind, and playful. He loves pasta and meat sauce, blueberries and "may-yo" (mango) and he hates cheese. He says very few words but knows exactly what he wants. He loves to work with his hands, whether legos, cars, trains or pulling out moms flowers in the garden! After even the hardest day, I can't imagine life without this little guy! xoxo

Laughter

Today I am thankful for laughter. It is something I realize I don't do enough, and I can be too serious at times, especially with the kids. I am convinced that God gives us laughter as a gift to relieve stress and remind us of how much joy in life we really have, in my case, right in front of me! I especially like what it does for my heart and how it changes my attitude. It is easier to love abundantly when I see the blessing. Today as I am making Jake a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he asks if I can cut it in the shape of a jet. He goes on to explain the details that the jet should have, complete with mistels, a rounded tip and laser beams coming out the wings. I told him that was very creative and he responded, "yeah, I wish you had special glasses so you could see into my brain (as he circles his hand around a portion of his head with his fingers pointed toward it), I have all sorts of awesome sandwich ideas in there."
I love you Jakey!
xoxo, Mom

I have had some sweet conversations with Jake lately about the Lord. It has been so cool to be able to discuss spiritual matters on a deeper level with my four year old, and to witness his hunger to learn more. He truly has a special love for God which he loves to profess often, and he asks to read his bible everyday. Sam, who usually has nothing to say about the subject had a really amazing understanding tonight.

This morning we were getting into the car and the Mercy Me song, "I Can Only Imagine" came on. I told Jake that this was the "heaven song" that he loved and reminded him how it talks about how amazing it will be to meet Jesus in heaven. He looked very interested so I went on. I explained that when we die, we will get to meet Jesus at the gates of Heaven, and if He looks at us and recognizes that He knew us because we walked with Him while we were on Earth then He will let us enter the gates into heaven and walk alongside us. He asked, "what does it mean to walk with Jesus?" I told him that it means we are not the boss, we let Him be in charge of us and we obey Him. Jake said, "I want to walk with Jesus." I of course was thrilled, kinda caught off guard, and trying to decide what to do next, and then he said, "I love Jesus".

So we go about our drive to school and the boys start asking about this whole idea of Jesus knowing their name when they meet him. Jake was asking if he didn't know someones name and I told him that He knows everyones name, even those who reject Him. Sam said, "He even knows Wuke Evi's name? (Luke Levi)" I said, yes, even before mommy and daddy knew that was his name. They thought that was pretty cool.

Tonight at dinner, when Matt was home, and out of the blue, Sam said, "Mom, is Jesus throughout Heaven?" I told him He was but that He also lived here with us on Earth. What he said next made Matt and I melt, "In Heaven, Jesus is going to meet us at the gates and let us in." I had not yet told Matt about our conversation this morning, nor did I realize how much Sam was paying attention or comprehending. Matt was shocked and said, "That's right Sam, who taught you that?" (I was quiet because I wanted to hear what he said). Sam answered, "God".

Matt and I talked about how amazing God is that He reveals himself to children at such a young age, even though they still have so much to learn and understand about Him. Jake will tell us that he prayed about something, which to us often seems so trivial (but sweet), and then before our very eyes we witness God answering His prayer! While in our jaded hearts we are amazed, Jake has a look of confidence like he never once doubted that God would answer his prayer. We have no doubt that God is moving in our boys' hearts already and building in them a faith that in some ways surpasses our own. Who knew that God would use our own children to teach us just what child-like faith should look like. As a parent this is such a huge blessing and as a Christian, a very cool thing to watch!

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We had a great time at Mission Beach and visited Coronado which we always love. We had awesome help from Matt and my moms for part of the week and the kids loved having their grandpmas there!

The story behind his name

When we found out that Luke was a boy, the only name we liked right away was Will. After awhile though, Matt wasn't so sold on Will being our son's name. In the back of our head, we did kind of feel a pull toward choosing a biblical name, since Jake and Sam are both derived from Jacob and Samuel of the Old Testament, but most of the pregnancy we could just not decide. Meanwhile a friend from church was talking about the meaning behind the name you chose and that these little guys really do become what they are named. That was the first time I thought to myself, 'I don't need another strong-willed little boy, so maybe Will shouldn't be the name!' We did want to pick a name that had meaning to us, like the other boys. One day probably in the 8th month Matt said how about Luke. He liked that Luke was a physician, just like Matt, and as I researched him, I also liked that he was a historian, evident in his writing, which was always very detailed and he used eye-witnesses to ensure the facts were accurate. I thought, 'wow, Luke sounds just like Matt!' So we decided on Luke. Matt made up a riddle for those curious to hear the name before the birth (which we last minute decided to keep secret). The riddle was this, "this baby is our 3rd born son, just like his father was the 3rd born son. This baby's namesake is another famous third who has something else in common with his dad." (Luke is the 3rd gospel/3rd book in the New Testament and then being a doctor is the commonality.) We were stuck on the middle name still. I was sad about not having a name from his dad to pass on like we did with our first two boys (Jake's middle name is Matthew and Sam's middle name is David). So I really liked Daniel and Matt wanted to use his grandpa's middle name, Ernest. Then about a week before Luke was born, Matt's dad Phil cracked the riddle, but first he guessed "Levi" who was the THIRD son of Jacob. While that was not the answer, Matt started thinking about that name and then realized another cool common thread. In the books of Mark and Luke, the story of Jesus eating with the tax collector, whom he called to follow him as a disciple, was named Levi. In the same story in the book of Matthew, Levi is called Matthew! It was perfect! We finally found a name that uses his dad's name for the middle too! (Now let's hope we don't have a 4th boy or we might be out of luck!)

Luke Levi Shores

Welcome baby Luke! It feels like it's been a long time awaiting your arrival, and now you are finally here, a little bundle of joy! Your brothers love you SO much already and can't wait to see you every time they've been away. I get a kick out of hearing Jake get up real close to you and talk to you like you are one of his buddies! He tells you all the things you guys are going to do together and what he will teach you, like "we'll take you to church and to school and lots of fun places" and "daddy's building a playset for us and there is a big boy twirly slide for me and...DAD, WHAT IS THE SLIDE THAT GOES LIKE THIS (motioning with his hand)...oh yeah, and a scoopty slide and there's a little slide for you that I'll teach you to ride and a swing for you too". Sam also likes to communicate with you, but it's more like this, "hi baby...what's wrong? Are you sad? Why are you crying? Huh? Huh?...MOMMY, I ASKED YUKE WHY HE"S CRYING BUT HE WON"T TELL ME!" Your big brothers are already VERY protective of you too, Luke. Yesterday I was changing you and you were crying and Jake said, "Mommy, go easy on him, he's just a little guy, you need to be gentle!" I don't think there will be any problems for you on the playground little buddy, you will be well protected!

Sam's bedtime shenanigans

I am cracking up listening to Sam right now talking in his crib. It went from playful chatter to serious business. He is shouting, "Mommy, help me get out! I'm locked up in jail! I'm mad at you! There's hot lava and I'm angry about it! COME HEEERE RIGHT NOW!" Oh the anger is growing by the minute and he's shaking his crib back and forth....hmmm, another reason it's probably good he doesn't have the freedom of a bed quite yet :)