Simon Says

Today we spent the day as a family, having fun! As part of our Lent this year, rather than give things up, we have decided to use these weeks leading up to Easter to focus on being a Family which is gospel-centred. We (Nina and Simon) will be spending time reflecting on our parenting and praying that we will become the parents God wants us to be. We will also be doing some exciting and interactive bible stuff with Elijah and Ezra over the coming weeks using some excellent resources designed especially for pre-schoolers. We've got some great resources to kick start this journey and we're looking forward to re-focusing our attention and our priorities as we seek to become a more gospel-centred family over these next weeks. Ironically, in becoming more gospel-centred, we reckon we will become more family focussed and stronger together too. So as part of our being more intentional in our family time (and as we had just been paid!) we decided to take the boys out for a special day.

This week has seen another big celebration in the Wright Household as Ezra reached his 4th birthday. When you consider that he once was dangerously ill and that, just before we left Liverpool, we were told that he would need a kidney transplant (which is now not necessary - miracle or just good luck? Know what we think!), this was a time to celebrate. Ezz opened his presents early morning with such enthusiasm, taking particular interest in the cards he received. Then, he was off to school. We picked him up from school and took him to McDonalds for his birthday meal - where he bumped into one of his best friends, Ted. After this he got to choose his birthday cake (Toy Story) and we each enjoyed a piece at home - before sending a 5 year old and a 4 year old off to bed. Next morning, when Ezra woke up, his first words were "Is it still my birthday today?"!!!

Ezra is 4 today - as he announced with such joy this morning at 5.40am when he came rushing down the stairs shouting, "I'm 4! I'm 4!!!!" He had just woken - rememembered it was his birthday and then headed straight down the stairs. More on that birthday later, but for now - here on The Wright family blog (http:// dad2theboyz.blogspot.com ) are some early photos of Ezzie. Included here is one of him during his first stay in hospital for Broncilitis when he was a few days old. That's when both his parents went down with a VERY nasty bug and we had to leave him at the hospital for 2 days; that was horrible and traumatic and caused a lot of pain. More trauma was to come, but such memories thankfully disappear into the background as we celebrate the coming into our lives and hearts of the little bolt of lightning that is Ezra Mark Arthur Wright........

We said goodbye to an old friend today. We've known this friend for 5 years - coming into our lives just after Elijah was born - and this friend has been an integral part of the family. This friend has been with us during thick and thin. This friend took us to the hospital on those (thankfully far off occassions) when the boys were taken into hospital. When Ezra was fighting for his life in St Mary's, Paddington, nearly four years ago, this friend sat outside and waited for us. This friend came with us on holiday and travelled with us when we moved from Liverpool to London. The boys have been very fond of this friend and have been sad at the thought of saying "goodbye". But the day came and we waved off our old friend. Who is this friend, you ask? Bill. Bill - the name given by the boys to our Vaxuhall Meriva car. "Goodbye Bill!" cried Elijah from the kitchen window, "I love you". Needless to say that both boys had already given Bill numerous kisse