Graham and I just had fun conversation while changing his diaper.

As I was drying off his bum before putting on the daiper Graham grabbed his bum. He said, "bum." Then he said, "Daddy has bum." I said yes. He said, "Mommy has bum." I said "Yes, everyone has a bum."

He thought for a minute.

"Auntie Claude has a bum."

Yes.

"Auntie Courtney has bum."

Yes.

"Auntie Anne has a bum."

Yes.

"Mommy, daddy."

And that was the end of his thoughts on the matter.

Well I don't know if I can upload a bunch of pictures right now because Jon has to format them, but at least I need to get a more recent newsy type post up! Since our last post so many fun things have happened-- The holidays, of course, which Graham loved, during which we traveled home to Kentucky. We Brandons were all together for Christmas for the first time in 7 years- amazing! What great times we had together, with Keely and Jovan back in Kentucky with their little girl due to arrive Feb 18, and Emily working hard at her job but taking time to come down and be a fun auntie/sister/daughter as usual. We also enjoyed the chance to see some extended family and both great-grandparents. It is wonderful to see Graham enjoying his family! I promise Dad/Granddaddy is in the family picture; he's hiding behind Graham who unfortunately wasn't in the mood to sit still for a photo shoot.

Then, last weekend, we went back to our other home in Vancouver, WA and had an amazing time with our church family there! What a gift and a blessing it was to be there with such dear friends, and to feel so loved and supported. We came to visit and also to share our vision to begin work in Beni, Congo later this year. It was wonderful to feel that community of faith surround us and ask to be a part of this ministry we are undertaking. We also got to share our news that another brand new Shaw will be joining us in June! We are so excited about our expanding family, and know Graham is going to be a fantastic big brother.

So, enough news, let me see if I can think of some good Graham stories. We've had one significant snow which was SUCH fun for him. We bundled up and spent as much time outside as Mommy and Daddy could stand- he would have stayed all day. He loved all of the Christmas glitter, especially the tree and looking at the ornaments; he would stand on the couch by the tree, hands folded, studying each one and describing a story about it. He got some really fun trucks, some tools and books which he has enjoyed to no end, and of course opening the gifts was the funnest of all. Don't you like the morning hair in this picture of him with Granna/Manna?

Graham's imagination has really blossomed in the last few weeks. He loves to make up stories and talk about imaginary things. One of his favorite games is "cooking" which consists of pouring/mixing various substances, from water to sand to the favored basil, in a variety of bowls and cups. He will tell you what he is cooking, that generally being "fries", "fruit salad" or "food". He continues his fascination with the Bible and stories about Jesus and other Bible characters. Yesterday, while we were playing in the sandbox he had me hold a big cup while he scooped it full of sand with a smaller one. As he scooped he informed me "It's water." Once my big cup was completely full, he took it from me and said "Now it's wine." What?? He's only heard that story once or twice, but evidently his game reminded him of Jesus' first miracle. He definitely keeps us laughing. He also loves to draw and will talk elaborately about what his scribbles represent. He loves dinosaurs, sharks, and anything that can go "Roar!". He still likes to eat, especially fruits, veggies, fruit snacks, rice pudding, and yoghurt raisins. In fact a few night ago as he was talking himself to sleep he started to call down "Mommy--Like some yoghurt raisins. Mooooommy- some yoghurt raisins please!" It was all I could do to not bring him up a handfull!

This is just a sampling from our recent life, but I hope it's enough to give you a glimpse of what a joy and blessing we have in Graham. He loves people and hugs and kisses, so if you haven't gotten one from him recently I hope you'll get a chance soon! Thanks for checking in with us!

We had a wonderful week last week celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with the Shaw side of the family. Not only do we have ShoSho and Babu around, but Aunt Anne, Uncle Michael, and cousin Conner were also here for the festivities. What fun! We ate lots of good food (of course) and on Saturday celebrated together by opening presents around our "Snissmas tree" (Graham's version). Graham is already quite excited about all of the glitz surrounding the holiday, and loves to sit and look at the tree. He was also VERY excited about the presents; I think he already got enough trucks and cars to last him a lifetime, and we haven't even hit the real holiday! We had such a wonderful time all together as a family, and even took some time to do a family photo shoot. What a great time!













Reaching for the bribe, More Skittles!!













VROOM!












The magic of a new book.
Cruisin' in the big truck with Cousin Conner

I had to share a little moment with Graham with you all. We have so many of these funny little interactions and I know I'm going to forget nearly all of them so here's one, at least:

I was making Graham's lunch today which primarily was turkey dogs. Graham loves turkey dogs.

He was rubbing his hands running around saying "hotdogs, hotdogs, hotdogs" as they were cooking. He then went to the spice rack and pulled off some basil and said, "Basil on them". I was amazed he could pick out basil, and pretended to put some on the turkey dog. He was very happy with this.

I gave him back the spice and he put in on the rack. He pulled off some cinnamon and said "Cimin on them." I mimed it and he returned it.

He then got some seasoned salt and said "Season on them". I mimed it again and he returned the spice.

The then rummaged around in the pantry and pulled out some barbeque sauce and said "Soy sauce on them!" While pretending to do that he got the ketchup and said "Ketchup on them!"

So Graham had turkey dogs for lunch today with imaginary basil, cinnamon, seasoned salt, soy sauce and ketchup (except that last one was real).

Yummy!

Also, Graham continually amazes us with what he can figure out.

Last night when I got home from school he grabbed a copy of the Message, which to me looks like any other book on the outside. He opened it up and said "Words, words" which he always says about a book without pictures. However, he kept reading it and telling me about letters which he recognized, like "A" and "G". After a while he said "God in there", and then "Book about God. Words about God".

I have no idea how he knew that was a Bible, but I appreciated his insights.

Hello everyone! We're embarrassed that we've become such poor updaters of our blog, and I know we'll look back and wish we had posted more stories from this wonderful period in Graham's life. He brings us so much joy every day, it's amazing how much fun he is! I will post some pictures from the last few weeks, and tell a few stories, too. We have a few from Halloween-unfortunately the camera died so we don't have many of him dressed up. He was very excited about his "Punkin hat" and outfit, and was a huge fan of the Skittles that accompanied trick-or-treating. We went to our friends the Rippy's and enjoyed their very decorated and spooky neighborhood!















A favorite past-time continues to be running through puddles, as well as hunting mushrooms and then "Stompin'" them. I got him some galoshes to make both of these activities more fun and less messy. The first day he wore them he found a puddle big enough to beat the galoshes! He was soaked almost up to his waist...




















Graham continues to relish books and reading time. One of his favorites continues to be his story Bible. Some of his favorite characters include David and Goliath, Jonah, and King Saul (particularly when he throws the spear at David). The other day we were looking through it, and he was naming some of the characters. We came to the Nativity story and he exclaimed "Baby God!" as he pointed to Jesus in the manger. He evidently pieced this description together from what we've told him about Jesus being God's son and being born as a baby. So funny!




















One day last week I was working on my Bible study and Graham went into the other room to play. A while later I realized he had gotten awfully quiet... I went into the living room to find the entire area liberally sprinkled with basil that he had somehow gotten from the pantry and opened. At least it made the vacuum cleaner smell nice!
















Graham has a new baby cousin Carter (Jon's cousin's son) and he loves to give him kisses and gentle hugs. It has been a little hard for him to share the attention that he usually gets so much of, but he's adjusting well. He's just a little more grown-up every day.

Well I could probably think of stories to tell all night, but I will stop for now. We love each of you, thanks for continuing to check in, and for loving us and Graham so well! Kate

Here's some footage Kate shot of Graham and I reading. We wanted to give you a sense of his real vocabulary, not just his extemporaneous blatherings.

Graham has been making amazing strides in learning all kinds of words and phrases.

The following video demonstrates none of that. He was really enjoying just stretching his lungs out and speaking Grahamish, and we really enjoyed it, so hopefully you will too: