One little, two little, three little Savages, four little, five and six total Savages

 

When Phoebe was born, Greg posted our first "little Savage" post (click here to read it). Little did we know that less than five years later we would be welcoming our fourth child into the world. We are excited and humbled by the responsibility that has been given to us in raising our now four children. Click here to read about Joanna's arrival, and here to read about Will's debut.

Nathan Samuel Savage arrived at 5:05 pm on Wednesday, April 10th. He weighed 9 pounds, 3 ounces and measured 21 inches long. Thankfully, he did not follow the trend of each baby getting bigger, since his bigger brother was almost 11 pounds at birth. He also did not follow the trend of being born quicker than his siblings. All of our children were born after their due dates: both girls came 5 days "late", Will was 4 days "late", and Nathan's birth was induced 6 days after the due date. Of course, we have learned over the years that the due date is somewhat arbitrary. Phoebe was born after 29 hours in the hospital, Joanna after 14 hours, Will after 6 hours, and Nathan after 12 hours.

Deciding on Nathan's name definitely took longer than 12 hours! While Nathan had always been one of my favorite boys' names, it somehow got lost in the other possibilities over the years. However, in the final weeks before the birth, we came back to it and it stuck. It means "gift of God", and is the name of the prophet Nathan in the Bible (see 2 Samuel 12 and 1 Kings 1). "Samuel", which means "God hears", is Greg's Papaw Beck's middle name, and was also a prophet in the Old Testament (see 1 Samuel 1 - 3). Now each of our children's names represent at least one of the four "sides" of our family. Each of our children also have a "birthday buddy" in our family...Nathan's is our cousin Alex, who turned 19 on April 7th.

Our prayers for a warm reception by his siblings have been answered. Phoebe, Joanna and Will all love giving their new brother kisses and playing with him. Enjoy the pictures!

Minutes old..how big is he?

Meeting Joanna and Will the day of his arrival...

 

Big sister Phoebe...

 

 Our family!

 

 

Headed home...



May our son live up to his name. May He be a gift to others, and may his life clearly show that God hears. Who hasn't thought or audibly asked the question: "Does God really hear me?" God has indeed spoken through the life, death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ, whose story is contained in the Bible. And He continues to answer our prayers, as He did Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 1. If you are wondering if God cares about you, read His words and about the Word of Life, His Son.

 

For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 2 Corinthians 1:20 (NIV)

 

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. John 15:7 (NIV)

 

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Matthew 7:7–8 (NIV)



In Anticipation

As a believer in Jesus Christ, a sinner saved by grace, there is much anticipation. In living the life of the "now and the not yet" of knowing Christ, yet not yet being with Him, being free from the power of sin and yet not yet the presence of it, being saved from the penalty of sin and yet not yet experiencing the wonder of heaven...there is much joy in this present life as we walk with Jesus, but it pales in comparison to the pleasures of eternity with Him.

As Easter approaches, we anticipate the remembrance of Good Friday, a bittersweet day, almost too terrible to consider, as our Lord and Savior suffered to the point of death. And yet He did what no one else could do...He, the sinless Son of God, took our place and and paid the price our sin required.

And then comes Easter! Thankfully, unlike the disciples that first Good Friday, we know the rest of the story! He is risen, giving those who believe in Him new life...freedom from our old ways, and freedom to live for Him! By trusting in what He did, nothing more is required of us in order to be right with God. We can be saved from eternal separation from God by turning to Christ and trusting in His completed work on the cross and His resurrection. And now we anticipate His return...which seems hard to grasp, and yet the Bible is very clear that He will come back.

In our family, we get to celebrate what happened on the first Easter every day and every Sunday as we gather with other believers. We are, of course, excited to celebrate Easter, too!

We are also anticipating the arrival of our fourth child, another little boy. While pregnancy has its exciting moments, and the wait is very necessary, it pales in comparison to actually holding a newborn baby. As we wait, here are a few pictures of our little guy...expected to arrive within a week of Easter.

His little foot, on December 12th...

Hand above his head, other hand down (12/12/12)...



His profile, from March 8th (a little blurry, but you can hopefully make out his forehead and his little nose, he is looking up)... 



Where's Will?

After the last post, I realized that Will wasn't in any of the pictures I posted. So, to prove that he was definitely there, please enjoy the following video: click here.

Joanna is 3!

Our little girl is three today! Thankful for birthdays today, which help me to reflect on the person being celebrated. As I reflect on the past three years of getting to know our daughter, I am full of thoughts, giggles and prayers. To sum Joanna up in a few words: expressive, emotional, unpredictable, cute as a button, creative and funny. By expressive, I mean that she is a word sponge who then strings together idioms and individual words in sometimes logical, sometimes amusingly illogical ways. At times you think you are talking to a seven year old, and then she'll say something that reminds you that she's just turned three. By unpredictable, I mean this: she can be full of joy or full of almost-rage, full of willingness or full of obstinance, totally out-going or completely unwilling to leave my side. Her unpredictable nature causes me to study her more closely and pray for her more frequently. And by funny...nearly every hour of Joanna wakefulness produces in us a giggle, a big smile or a laugh out loud. 

Joanna loves the character June from "The Little Einsteins" DVDs we watch, so we had a June birthday in January. Ironically, it was an unusually warm day, which was perfect for the first ride of her new bike. Joanna has also assumed the identity of Marta from "The Sound of Music" (and Phoebe is Liesl), so my Mom made them both "curtain/drape clothes" and "traveling clothes". Please go watch the movie if you are not familiar with these terms. Soon, if possible! She also loves Belle. I look forward to the day when I actually let her watch the movie, so that she can see that Belle's character is also a lover of books and words!

Another theme in Joanna's life currently is the anticipation of Baby Brother's arrival. She received some "Big Sister" books, which she is really relating to. She will walk around with one of her dolls in her shirt, talk to the baby in my belly, and yesterday she and Phoebe even pretended to go to the hospital for her to deliver June. How their little minds process things!

Her cake...

 The party people all seated around my great aunt Mamie's table...

 Opening presents...

 Opening her Marta curtain dress...

 Phoebe opening her Liesl dresses...

 Marta Savage...

 The girls giving a free "Sound of Music" concert for us...

 Ready to ride!

 Out for her first try...

 Complete with June and chapstick in her basket...

 Her Little Einstein's matching game...

 A birthday package from Nonnie and Papa!

 Winding down from all of the excitement with Belle...

 Chocolate chip pancakes for her birthday breakfast!

 One of her new "Big sister" books...auf Deutsch!

 With Daddy at Chick-Fil-A!

 Our outdoor photo shoot...

 My favorite...

Of course Joanna's birthday has two very special people connected with it...her Deeda's birthday is the day before her's, and her Great Grandmother Cleola (my Grandma Tyo) had the same birthday as Jo. She would have been 92 today.

Enjoy the pictures! Happy Birthday, Jojo! Or Marta. May God use your emotions and love for words to bring Him much glory. We are really looking forward to how He wants to use these gifts to show His love to the world through you.

For Joanna's 1st and 2nd birthdays, click on the numbers. For Phoebe at 3, see this post and this one.

One Year Old!

Will is one! We were able to celebrate his birthday twice: once with his Nonnie and Papa in Evansville, and once at his Mimi and Deeda's house, together with his Great-Grandma Vi, whose birthday is five days after his. He did not eat his cake...he tore it up a little and then wanted his hands wiped off. Now, at twelve and half months, he is saying "Bye" and waving, giving powerful high-fives, has been a ring-bearer (hopefully more to come on that later), and drinking consistently from a cup. He is also in the 90th percentile for height and weight. He tries very hard to keep up with his sisters...in volume, in pace, in play, and imitates them while they are reading books. He likes to turn the pages in his little board books. He's still a very cuddly little boy. We love you, Will!

 

 

 

Eleven Months Old!

It's hard to believe that Will is approaching being a year old already! This time last year was filled with preparing his room, elevating those ankles, spending precious time with the girls, and the final doctor's appointments. Since then we've had eleven months of cute, cuddly boy who fills our lives with smiles, hugs, and of course, more laundry (all very much worth it!).

Lately Phoebe has been playing "Mommy" with Will, walking him around while holding his hand, saying "this way, baby!" Joanna loves running into his bedroom in the morning and saying "Hi Wheeeeel!" We also see their natural inclination to want to pick on Will, including knocking their wobbly little brother over.

Will's newest skill this month is walking! He loves to keep up with his sisters. He is enjoying trying new foods, including pizza (a proud moment for Daddy), and is taking a cup. He loves playing with balls, putting a cell phone to his ear and saying "Da!", and playing peek-a-boo.

Time for more avocado!

 Swinging in the park...

 Napping on Deeda...

 Watching friends from his stroller...

 Look at me!!

 Sweet kisses from Daddy...

 Ausin Jenna!

 Nonnie!

 Mom, are we done yet?

For Phoebe at 11 months, click here, and here for Joanna.