Vivien's Baptism

Today was a special day as we celebrated Vivien's baptism with our church family, our extended family, and some favorite friends.

As you can see below, we have a little sinner on our hands! This funny picture turned up out of my little photo shoot on Friday. Of course, our inner-middle-schooler likes to laugh at it but we find it to be a good representation of our attitude towards God without the working of His grace in our hearts. Yet by His grace, we can say (as we reminded in today's sermon), "We are great sinners but He is a great Saviour!"

Sweet Vivi Leigh, we pray that you are awakened from the stupor of sin and that you know the perfect grace that our God has promised to us. Our love for you is enormous but God loves you greater still. We will be imperfect parents but He is a perfect God and Father. You are a joy to us and we look forward to seeing the fruit of God's grace at work in your life! Yummy food...pretty flowers...cute girls!

Talking to KK (we missed getting a pic of GG and KK with Vivien but they were here and worked hard to help us make this day special)

Our family minus Amity

The Deans

The Connells

The Beldings

The Browns

Lots of love from sweet cousins

Playing outside...a beautiful day

Video of the baptism to come later!

All That Glitters

Amity and I hosted our first playgroup today with six other moms and ten other kids from NSP. It was a fun time of fellowship and yummy food. Being a newbie at hosting a play group, I was semi-stressing about what we were going to do for two hours. I didn't need to worry because even the big kids were just happy to play with someone else's toys. However, I did find a simple craft at Family Fun and thought that it might be something that even the toddlers could do.
Earlier this morning, I tried it out with Amity. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the sticky contact paper...

but she was all about the glitter!

And now we have some lovely window art! :)

2009 NSP Harvest Festival

A year ago, this was our little punkin' at the annual NSP Harvest Festival.

This year's punkin' was not as much into posing for the camera. She was still super-cute! After a BBQ dinner, we headed to the pumpkin patch to see the pumpkins and pet the animals.
Amity has seen quite a few pumpkins this season at the arboretum, the grocery store, and in front yards around our neighborhood. Her pronunciation of pumpkins sounds like "cunkies". It seems to be a pattern that the letter P is a bit hard for her (Paco=Caco). Apparently, she won't be "picking a pack of pickled peppers" anytime soon!

A very vocal rooster that I am thankful is not our neighbor!

We love petting zoos!

Checking out the animals with the cousins

Trying to figure out how to stick her head in the fence

Eiley has no fear of the animals either!

Daddy, the animal whisperer

Pastor Collin being a great role model for the dads!

Beginning the search for the elusive perfect pumpkin picture!

I don't know how accurate this measurement was since we had a running target!

After we returned to the dining hall, we watched as most everyone else joined in the Hokey Pokey, The Chicken Dance, and square dancing.

We continue to be thankful for our church and for this yearly time to celebrate the harvest and the Reformation together!