Elijah turned 10 years old today! He's our St. Patrick's Day baby; he read "Let Me Die In Ireland" ~ the true life story of Patrick this past year and told me he was glad he got to have his birthday on the day we remember such a great missionary and servant of the Lord.
Wow, did we have a whale of a day! :) We all love birthdays in this family and make those days extra special for the birthday boy/girl. They get the day off of school and chores, get to pick the meals, and sometimes we'll do a special outing together. Elijah had mentioned last week how he would like to see the grey whales which are migrating from our area back up to Alaska. So Daddy said we could go and try go get a boat ride.
The bay is about 30 minutes from our house, so in the late morning, we packed a picnic lunch and headed out there. There were several booths with tour guides. We went to the first booth and they old us it would be $70 for an hour trip. Daniel asked if it would be possible to go out for only half an hour, but they laughed and said no. As we walked away, a man at another booth flagged us over to him. He began by asking us questions~ Are these all your children? Are there any twins? How do you know Spanish? ect... We told them it was our son's 10th birthday and he wanted to see a whale. One of the men said they would take us out for just the cost of gas for his boat! We were so thankful and the children were bursting with excitement.
We got to go out for almost 2 hours and saw LOTS of whales! Elijah was the first one to spot one, and as he yelled, "I see one" all the other children began to cheer too and soon all the boats on the sea were following ours around as we spotted the whales.
It was such a special day for Elijah. As we finished Elijah's birthday dinner tonight, we were all sharing with Elijah how he is a blessing to us. Elijah wants to be a missionary to Russia; last year, he saved his money and bought a cd to learn Russian. This year, he has been praying that the Lord will help him find a missionary to Russia that he can pray for and give to. He's been saving all his money to give to that missionary. Elijah is a blessing to Daniel in helping him with the work here, he's a big blessing to me in helping with the many chores, and as his siblings shared, a blessing to them as he loves to read to them, play with them and take care of them. The Lord blessed Elijah with a wonderful birthday!
you have such a beautiful family! and wow 10 under 11, u go girl! :-)
ReplyDeleteI hope u win the patapum! ill draw for it later tonight.
Happy belated Birthday, Elijah. What a delightful provision of the Lord to give your family a whale-watching boat ride - a perfect birthday activity for a homeschooling family.
ReplyDeleteTrusting in Jesus,
Teri M.
Wow! What a blessing! I mean the boy AND the whales.
ReplyDeleteWhat a treat to see whales, it is interesting that your Elijah kinda looks like our Elijah at 10 years old! May the Lord continue to make your Elijah a mighty man and servant for the Lord. Will be praying for a healthy upcoming delivery!!
ReplyDeleteCindy
Hello I found your blog through Nate and Tricia's story! I loved the whaling story and would love to pass on the name of a missionary family in Russia to the Birthday Boy! We have dear friends who are serving in Ekatrinaburg Russia. They have two girls and have been serving there for several years. Feel free to email me I'd love to grow a relationship with your family!
ReplyDeleteHi Lockwoods!
ReplyDeleteI love to read your blog and am very, very inspired by your family! It sounded like you had a wonderful time celebrating Elijah's birthday. I also wanted to write and tell you that we know of some missionaries who were recently deported from Belarus (for preaching the Bible) and are now in Moscow. Please e-mail me at gray0121@tc.umn.edu if you would like contact information for this familiy.
Thanks,
Amy