Update on Josiah!!!

It's hard to believe, but Josiah is FIVE!!! 

I missed doing a post for his birthday, but he turned five on May 8. 

AND in less than two months, we'll celebrate Josiah being home with us for three years!!! 

   Josiah just had his five-year-old check-up. Yeah, I was behind on that, too.  He's now almost 34 1/2  pounds and 40 1/2 inches tall. On growth charts he's progressed to about 5% for both height and weight. 

At this visit, the doctor heard a heart murmur for the first time.  We actually got into the pediatric cardiologist's office two days later.  Josiah was a rock star during the EKG and very involved sonogram of his heart.  They found that he has a "very impressive innocent murmur".  They did find an abnormality in his aortic valve, but that is not causing any problems now.  It's something we'll keep checking as he grows.

Josiah has boundless energy, it seems.  He is constantly running, jumping, climbing.  He's really enjoyed taking gymnastics classes the past few months.  He's started asking about ice skating again, so we'll be looking into that once the local rink puts down ice again.

We are going to wait to have Josiah start Kindergarten.  He is doing well learning numbers, letters, and all of those types of things.  But, especially since he has not attended any kind of school yet, we want to give him another year to grown and mature before sending him to full day Kindergarten.  He will be attending a transitional kindergarten class half-days at a local pre-school. 

Josiah's personality shines though more and more.  One of the children's helpers at church always tells me that he is so full of joy.  Much of the time he is.  However, I think maybe "full of life" is a better way to express it.  He very often has a huge smile across his face, but he has very passionate emotions on all sides.  He's a full-speed-ahead kind of guy.  He's a chatterbox and so curious about everything!  He still stays very close to Elizabeth when she is home and does not like to play on his own.  But he is becoming more and more of a leader and helper with Isaac.  He's affectionate and wants to be close.  He has a much better understanding this time about a new baby joining our family.  He's surprised me by rubbing my belly and talking to the baby frequently.

We've heard a lot of new questions and thoughts the past several months.  Josiah has started asking why he's the only one in our family who has brown skin.  He's said he wants to match the rest of the family.  Even though there wasn't really any information we haven't discussed, watching a DVD of his Ethiopian family brought dying and heaven to the forefront of his thoughts.   Prayerfully, we do our best to answer his questions and acknowledge his feelings.  We are so blessed to have him, just the way God made him, as part of our family.

We are looking forward to see how God is going to use Josiah to impact this world!