Brotherly Love

I found the sweetest letter today.

Of course, Seth must have realized that I'm sentimental and employed his super powers of contrariness (it is TO a word; I looked it up), and crumpled it up. Actually, he didn't just crumple it up; he rushed it outside as fast as he could, splashed water on it, and used it to wrap up a handful of peagravel from the playground before I could catch up with him. Have I mentioned here that he is somewhat destructive? At least he's truly creative in his destruction.

*Like the time he came into the room with a red crayon. "I found red," he said. He put the red crayon into my hand and walked away. I looked all over the house, up and down for NEW red crayon marks--he's already left a Crayola trail from previously destructive artisitc endeavors. (Oh well. I guess I WILL paint the natural wood entry closet after all. Yes, I have tried the Mr. Clean magic eraser and sanding it makes it look uneven.) But this time I didn't find the red crayon marks...that is until I ran an errand the next day, and the side mirrors of my van looked as if I purchased them from a little mirror store in Elmo's World. Yes, I found the red. Yes, I SEE RED! (OK, I really wasn't that mad since crayon washes off mirrors quite easily.)

*Or like the time he turned on the water hose this summer...and then came in the back door and began watering the flower patterns on the carpet of the laundry room.

*Or like just a few days ago when I took all my kids to my friend's UBER-TIDY house to babysit for her, and when she came home, he greeted her at the door with an open bottle of nail polish in his hands. (Ugh! How did he sneak past me with that? And why did she have to be the first to see it?) THANK GOD he hadn't yet decided what he wanted to paint.

Okay, so the kid sorta likes make things happen. He's kind of a cause-and-effect type of experimenter.

Back to the letter I found. Here's a picture of the front of it:















And here's a picture of its insides:



Let me translate this for you, as Gabe writes exactly the way he talks, and he sweetly misprounces some consonants: "I love Caleb. I hope you have..." (Oops he writes "you have" twice, I hate it when it when I do that.)"...a great day. Your best brother, Gabe." Isn't that the sweetest? (I love that he spells you YOOH. And why shouldn't he, when POOH is spelled like that? Crazy English languange. And seeing him write Brusr for brother just warms my heart. They are little for such a short time...)

I have tons of pictures of the two of them as a pair. My prayer since I first found out I was pregnant with my second child is that my children would have a close relationship with one another that would continue far into adulthood. My sister and I are very close. Our relationship had rocky moments in our childhood, mostly because our personalities are so different. But now, she is the first person I call when I need someone, and I absolutely treasure our relationship. I'm also close to my brothers, who have grown to be great guys, both of whom fear the Lord and have leadership roles in their churches. I want my children to treasure each other as well.

Here are some pictures of my big boys as a couple...a couple of brothers who are truly devoted to one another. (I have lots more, but I haven't digitized them yet, so you'll have to stop at my house and dig through photo albums if you want to see more!)


crime-fighting duo













dragon-slayers












french horn duet














"The play's the thing!" (Two of the Three Little Pigs...see the curly little piggy tails on their backside???)





Oh, and Seth and Lily have a little love thing goin' on, too.














"What do you think? Should I kiss her?" (These pictures were taken just a month after Lily came home to us.)










He loves her after all.