First big stack!

At the moment Ben looks a bit like Rudolph the red Nosed Reindeer with a huge red nose after he stacked face first into the gravel on Saturday at our boxing class at Kangaroo Point Cliffs. Poor little poppet!

more photos

Ben's 1st birthday party

After the dedication we had a BIG party for Ben's 1st birthday. Alexander was very excited about the party as we'd invited Buzz Lightyear (of Toy Story fame) to come and entertain the kids for a couple of hours which I must say was fantastic! He kept them hooked for the whole time, with games, face painting etc. We had a jumping castle too which was great. Ben was somewhat overwhelmed but had a fun day enjoying digging in the dirt (he didn't quite know what to make of Buzz)... but he did like the castle when no one else was on it! We did a BBQ lunch which, thanks to the invaluable help of Geema and Grampie was a sucess. It was really very special for Ben to have both sets of grandparents, and great-grandparents at the party - what a lucky little boy.

Ben's 1st birthday - the day itself

On Ben's actual birthday we had a really lovely family day. Didi & Pa had arrived up the night before so they came over, Aunty Jen and Uncle Steve were in Brisbane for a wedding and Geema & Grampie arrived, all for morning tea. Ben didn't know what to make of the presents, and like all 1 ear olds was more interested in the paper than the present. Alexander helped me make a yummy banana cake and we had chocolate cake still from Leigh's birthday, so being the birthday boy, Ben had both!

Ben's dedication to God

On Sunday 22 April 2007 we had a baby dedication for Ben as part of the service at church (Rivercity Christian Church, New Farm). It was a really lovely service with a lot of our friends and family. Here is what I shared at the service about Ben and why we wanted to have this service:

Leigh and I wanted strong names for both our boys and names that would say something about them. Names they can grow into. I have often noticed in the bible how important names and their meanings are, so this was a big consideration for us. We had named our first son Alexander, which means ‘protector of mankind’ and when we knew we were having another boy, we decided on Benjamin James. The James is after my grandfather, and Benjamin means, son of my right hand (The Message translates this as meaning son of good fortune). To us, this a favoured place, a place of honour. And we want that for Ben. Actually a few months ago I was reading what Moses said to the tribe of Benjamin back in the OT just before he died, he said:

Benjamin: God’s beloved; god’s permanent residence. Encircled by God all day long, within whom God is at home.

That is what we want for our Ben – that He is God’s beloved. That he is held in a special place not only by us, but by god. And that God is always with him – that he lives in Ben is constantly encircled by God. Our prayer is that god would never leave Ben and that as we teach Ben as he grows up about Jesus, that he would always want to stay close to God – to come to know him, love him and serve him for the rest of his life.

I was also reading the other day how this woman Hannah had had a lot of trouble falling pregnant and so had prayed for a child and said that she would dedicate that child to God. She had a son called Samuel and she dedicated Samuel to God. Samuel grew up with god and went on to be blessed by God and popular with people. As we dedicate Ben to god today, we pray that he will grow up to be blessed by god and popular with people too.

Ben is such a delightful little boy and we are very aware of our responsibilities as his parents to bring him up in what is often a very challenging culture and a difficult world. We know that with god’s help we will do our best to look after all aspects of his needs – emotional, physical and spiritual. We have decided that we’d like Ben to have a few godparents – people who can help us provide a godly role model for him. People that we will take a particular interest in Ben as he grows up and be there for him in ways that a parent can’t always be. We have asked our friends Carole and Michael Blanch who are currently living in China so can’t be here today and Bernice to fill those roles and so we’d like to pray for them too.

Carole and Michael have sent a prayer that Leigh is going to read out for Ben and Bernice is going to join Brian in praying for Ben this morning.

Bernice had a picture she believed God was showing her about Ben (will put that somewhere else) and Carole and Michael prayed for Ben that he would 'acti justly, love mercy and walk humbly with his God.' Amen

First Words

Not unexpectedly, Ben's first discernable words (used with correct meaning) are daddy and Mumma - said at about 10 mths consistently. as with Alexander 'Daddy' sounds happy and 'Mumma' sounds like a whinge!

Not long after mastering Daddy and Mumma he says 'thank you' (not quite fully articulated) but used in context! YAY a little boy with good manners!

Actually I am amazed at how good his ability to communicate is so early. He even threw his first tantrum yesterday at dinner when he wanted to eat the pieces of pizza from the plate (and not the scraps i was trying to get him to eat first) he threw his fist down repeatedly on the bench screaming! OH no, not a tantrum thrower :-)

Strange Eating Habits

A few weeks ago Leigh and I were getting ready for the day - showers/dressing etc. Alexander kept calling for us and we fobbed him off. Finally he yells out, 'Ben has a big poo'. Leigh does out and I hear 'EMERGENCY!' I rush out and Ben has been eating his poo!! (it had escaped out the top of his nappy). YUCK! He looked quite happy though...

First Teeth

Ben got his first teeth this month - his right front at 9 1/2 mths and the left front about 10 days later.