Smile!

Isaiah David Wenger is almost 2 weeks old now. Isn't he precious!? He has blessed us with many little baby smiles. . . already! He smiled about 3 times before I managed to grab the camera and take this sweet picture! While he doesn't seem to smile in response to us yet, it just seems like smiles are one of his most natural expressions. When he started smiling so much at only a few days old, I almost couldn't believe my eyes. But as I told Serenity and Anna what I thought I kept seeing, they both attested to having been seeing the same thing! Since then we have enjoyed many smiles!

Nadia's Mother hand knitted this darling little baby outfit for Isaiah, or "Isaias" as his name is in Spanish. Nadia brought it for him as his first baby gift just a few days after his birth. We love how sweet and cuddly he feels in this, I call it his "doll clothes"! :) We are also thankful to have it, not because of the cold, for these balmy Arequipa days are in the 70's, but because our Peruvian friends believe that babies should be very well bundled up. Sooo having a traditional knitted outfit on "Isaias" when we take him out to church, or anywhere, makes the people we meet smile and nod approvingly. Much better than the many people that stop us to scold and urge us to "bundle up that poor little thing" when we've gone out with a baby dressed to US standards!

Elisabeth wanted to compare Isaiah to her doll, "Baby Amy." Pretty similar in size! Isaiah was our second smallest baby, so we are enjoying how tiny and holdable he is! Of course tiny is relative! Every one here, used to 5 and 6 lb babies, exclaims over how big our 7lb 11oz baby is! Actually, he is a good bit more than that by now, as he is growing fast! We praise God for answering our prayers and blessing us with a good nurser. That was a prayer of ours as we thought of taking him back to our home, 12,000 up in the Andes mountains. . . We praise God! Here is a picture that Elisabeth took to compare Susanna's "Osito" (Teddy bear) with Isaiah!