Baptized Together

Back to late July...

Coming home from Colorado on Saturday, we arrived at our house to find my parents already there! They even picked up Ginger for us, saving us another 2 hours of driving. Hooray! We had 3 baptisms the next morning, and we absolutely wanted to share this joyful experience with all 4 of our parents. Nothing like cramming it all in, right?! Oh, and since Derek had so much energy after our week in Colorado, he replaced our water heater the very night we got home. I guess his wife and in-laws wanted hot showers the next morning for church. :)

"A little child will lead them...Isaiah 11:6"
Aaron started asking us about baptism a year ago. We explained what it means and why we do it. We brought him to baptism services so he could see them. He kept bringing it up, so we presented the idea to all 3 boys. Braylen and Kaleb initially did not want to be baptized, so we challenged them to think about it and pray about it. We wanted this to be their decision, not ours. When we went camping this past June, we talked about it some more. By early July we had our answer...all 3 boys wanted to be baptized. Each boy wrote out his testimony, and we scheduled a meeting with our pastor.

Watching each of my sons boldly share his testimony in front of our large congregation made my heart very, very happy. :) Their faces glowed, and their eyes shone. Derek partnered with our pastor and together they baptized each of our boys, one by one, while I stood on stage and tried to hold myself together! Baptisms always bring out my emotional side, but my own sons' baptisms? PURE JOY AND BLESSINGS!

Kaleb wanted to go first. Kaleb! The verse he chose to share with his testimony was Jeremiah 32:17. "Oh, Lord God, You Yourself made the heavens and earth with your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You."

Braylen went next. He shared two verses, John 3:16 and Philippians 4:13. The verse in John meant the most to him as a young boy. The verse in Philippians means the most to him as a teenager.  It says, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

Aaron, who first brought up the idea of being baptized, wanted to be last! His testimony had two parts: his and mine. He read his part, and Pastor Mike read my part. Aaron's verse is John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

With "How Great is our God" playing in the background, each boy took his turn in the water. Here they are...

Kaleb

Braylen

Aaron

"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

Three Generations :)

Our celebration lunch was at a favorite restaurant. After such a whirlwind of a week and weekend, who had time to prepare a meal?! Thank you to all of my extended family for making this day so special!

All About Kaleb

In the busyness that comes with this time of year, attending 3 curriculum nights at 2 schools feels like "three more things" to put on my schedule. I've already had a 5th grader and a 2nd grader, so do I really need to go to Kaleb and Aaron's classrooms? Are they really that important? Yes! Anything that keeps my child away from me for 5 days a week, 9 months a year, is worthy of my time. I LOVE sitting in their seats, catching up with other parents, and listening to their teachers explain what's expected of them during this school year. In the elementary classrooms, I tuck a note inside my sons' desks for them to find the next day. I'm not able to do that in the middle school, unless I sneak it into his locker. :)

This year Kaleb's teacher gave each parent a form to fill out. It's called, "Introducing Your Child." Before I turn it in, I want to record what I wrote about Kaleb. Someday I'll wonder what he was like in 5th grade...

• List 5 words that best describe your child's character: Cautious, tender-hearted, imaginative, orderly, optimistic.
• What motivates your child? Kaleb is a nurturer. He wants to help. He is motivated by positive praise.
• What upsets your child? Rudeness, a messy room, fear of failure.
• What are your child's out-of-school interests and activities? Soccer, church youth group, playing with his brothers, caring for our dog, piano lessons.
• What activities do you share? Boating, fishing, reading, biking, camping.
• What problems/successes do you have working/playing together? Sometimes Kaleb's inability to pay attention to details can cause problems. Overall, his easygoing nature allows us to have fun doing all kinds of things together.
• How would you rate your child's study habits? (on a scale of 1 to 10) 7
• What study skills does your child need to develop? Timeliness, memorization of math facts, dedicated reading time.
• What academic subject is your child's best? reading and spelling
• What academic subject is your child's worst? math and social studies
• What particular academic areas would you like to see stressed? math and reading
• What social skills would you like to see developed? confidence and leadership
• Other comments/concerns? Kaleb is not Braylen!

Our prayer for Kaleb is that he applies himself to the best of his abilities this year. I admit, there are times (like yesterday) when I run to Derek and say, "I don't know how to parent this child!" He is not more difficult to raise--he's...how do I put this nicely...he's his father's son. :) And there is nothing wrong with that. I love you, Kaleb Matthew. I'm excited to see what great things God has in store for your life!

What a Vacation

Tonight I took my boys to our first high school football game of the season. August 24th and we were comfortable in sweatshirts. Perfect weather! Derek worked the game, as usual, and he visited with us at halftime. I love how proud the kids are of their daddy. :)

It's hard for me to believe, but they just finished their first full week of school. It sure doesn't take long to slip back into the school routine. But before I allow myself to completely catch up to the present, I need to wrap up our Colorado vacation...

We spent some more time hiking with the boys on Friday. Besides finding walking sticks, they like to find dead trees to knock over. That is something they inherited from Derek. :) Sadly, there are many dead trees in the Rocky Mountains, due to the pine beetle. But even something like that can be turned into something fun for the kids. I guess that's one way to look at it.

We took our boys to the top of Trail Ridge Rd. and taught them what it means to be above timberline. (Braylen already knew this, since he went to Pike's Peak last summer!) We made several stops along the way, taking our time and enjoying the beautiful mountains.

There was a woman on the other side of this sign who looked less than thrilled to
be there. She had a large bag of sunchips and was munching away. Didn't Derek do
a great job of not getting her in the picture? :)

We were happy to be here! :)

I promise, we didn't pose the kids. They are just naturals. Ha! :)

Our last outing of the day involved something we've never done as a family before. We went golfing! Not mini-golfing, but golfing. There's a course just outside of Granby that has a family package: golf two holes as many times as you want--golf cart included. In our case, they gave us two golf carts. We did this with our brother and sis-in-law and kids, and once again we laughed and laughed and laughed! Brandon gave Derek a quick golf lesson. Pam shared her clubs with Braylen and Kaleb. Braylen decided he liked driving the cart and taking pictures, while Kaleb discovered he liked to golf. He seems to have some natural ability--who knew?! The rest of the kids shared a small club. Even Pam and I took a few swings. It was a great way to end our family vacation week.

Our Little Man

Golfing 101

Brothers

Braylen takes his turn

Kaleb kept wanting to play again and again.
Good idea Aunt Pam!

Back at the house for our last night together, Braylen showed Grandma and Grandpa the slide show tribute he put together during the week. I was proud of his work, and we all loved watching it. The kids shared their favorite memories of the week, and then the adults did the same. One of my favorite memories at the house was waking up to find the kids having breakfast together. One morning Kaleb had cereal with Uncle Brandon. Another morning all 6 kids were at the table while Grandma served waffles. The morning after our slide accident, Aunt Pam fixed pancakes. I appreciated the chance to sleep in a bit longer. :) Mixing families like that for the week was fun! We also worked on a scavenger hunt all week. Grandma came up with some unique things for us to search for. In fact, some of our pictures were taken only because of this scavenger hunt. She also brought along two rubber lizards, and all week we played the game "Where's Lizzie?" Those lizzies ended up in all kinds of places...

Derek and I can't thank his parents enough for this amazing vacation. We've decided to honor their gift to us by looking for ways to bless others as opportunities arise. Paying it forward. Happy 40th Anniversary Mom and Dad! We love you!!!!!

Colorado Fun

Our last 2 days in Colorado were packed with activities. On Thursday we hiked to Adams Falls, shopped, and treated ourselves to ice cream in Grand Lake. I loved getting ice cream at the same place we had it on our honeymoon. Here we are 15 years and 3 kids later, standing in the same spot! :)

It would be fun to compare this picture with a picture of us standing
here on our honeymoon. Too bad it would take me 15 more years
to find that picture though! Ha!

Right after our ice cream treat in Grand Lake.

The kids had to have a walking stick on every hike we took. Kaleb's stick cracked me up!

Kaleb wanted a picture by this sign, and I'm glad he did.
This is the town we looked down on from the house, since
the house was in the mountains!

Who doesn't love a hot tub with this kind of scenery?!

On Friday we took our kids on a big adventure...horseback riding! Kaleb wanted to do this most of all. I was a bit nervous for all of us to do this, considering what we went through on Wednesday and all. But I'm so glad I didn't let fear hold me back. We laughed and laughed on our 1 hour horseback ride! Horses do funny things...at least, the boys think so! Like take care of business whenever they please. And if they have an itch? They just walk over the top of a small pine tree and let it reach all the parts they need scratched. Oh, and my favorite--if they want a snack, they just wander away from the trail and eat the tall grasses at their leisure. Aaron's horse did that a lot. His name was Ziggy, and Aaron said, "I know why my horse is named Ziggy. He zig-zags all over the place!"

We all lined up in front of our horses.

Single file now! Aaron's reddish-brown horse is Ziggy, followed by Kaleb
on his brown horse named Kermit. Braylen is next in line riding a white horse named Gray Ghost.
Derek is riding a brown horse named Roe, and I'm the last one in line.
My horse is named Lil' Red.

Giddy-up Lil' Red!


We had a blast on these horses. Sometimes the trail was flat, sometimes it was uphill. It was very peaceful and beautiful, and I will never forget it. And did I mention we laughed...a LOT?!

Aaron riding the headless Ziggy. :)

Before leaving the horse barn, we posed for a picture. (of course!) And since I'm all out of time, the rest of our trip will have to be wrapped up in one more post! Time to go and get my school boys!