Just one year ago today, Jonathan and Linda’s first baby was born, little 
Miss Amélie Sarah Louise, with a German mama and an American papa, and 
soon after— an American passport, so she could go visit her German family too! 
Amélie was affectionately nicknamed “the Space Duck” because she was so 
verbal and loved to make little squeaking noises that reminded Jon of a duck. 
As soon as school was out for the summer, Jon and Linda took Amélie to meet
Linda’s younger sister and all the rest of her family in Germany. What fun!
In August, they brought Amélie to Michigan to meet her Armstrong relatives, 
and they spent Christmas in Hawaii so that Amélie could meet her cousin Judah 
Ewoyn, Nycteris, Uncle Mike & Aunt Grace. What fun, and what a little traveler!
And, all this time, Amélie just kept growing and getting bigger. 
She popped out some teeth (see her bottom tooth coming in?) 
and began learning the fine art of eating like grown ups…sort of. 
She learned to sit—even in the snowbanks of the great Pacific Northwest— 
and pretty soon she was crawling, standing, and helping Mom in the kitchen! 
All too soon she’d learned to walk 
and became a full-fledged toddler!
(Notice that she has “one sock off and one sock on…”) 
She must be the son of Tweedle Deedle Dumpling, my son Jon! 
I’m sure she has a lot of crazy genes from the Armstrong Clan, 
but she’s a beautiful blending of Jon and Linda…East and West! 
She loves to read and learned to walk while holding a book in one hand! 
Just in time for her first birthday, she received a very special, new book: 
Her very own German Passport! Congratulations, Little Amélie. You are now a citizen of two countries, with full rights, responsibilities, and privileges! May you live a long, happy, healthy life of joy and goodness both here and abroad, and I pray that someday you will also become the citizen of a third country… Heaven!
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (Philippians 3:20-21, NIV)
Happy Birthday to Amelie! What a lovely recap of her first year!