Easter Recap

 Andrew woke up to his Easter basket filled with goodies.  He proudly took one thing out at a time and showed it to us and played a little bit before moving onto the next item.

 fruit snacks!

 wearing his tool belt and trying to open a egg

 After getting ready for church, we hunted eggs in our backyard.  We learned from the day before and the eggs were stuffed with stickers, goldfish, and small animal pictures; he ate goldfish the entire time.

We headed to La Palma for church with Grandpa and Grandma at Faith Fellowship.  Andrew was very excited to see Grandpa before the service.

 

 

 Traditional photos after church

Andrew's flashbacks available: 2011 and 2012

After church, we headed to Grandma's house for more Easter celebrations, lunch/dinner, and more spoiling of Andrew.

 Easter basket for Andrew from Auntie

 Easter basket from Grandma

 Easter Egg hunt! 

Grandpa and Grandma stocked his eggs with fruit snacks, fruit leather, and gold fish!  Andrew also helped find mommy, daddy, and Auntie's eggs! 

 Great Grandma Dee came for dinner and our egg hunt!

 Blowing bubbles with Aunt Melissa!

 Early birthday presents from Grandma!

Play clothes that Andrew put all on at the same time

(see that puffiness?  Yeah, that is 7 shirts and 4 pairs of pants).

 

Child Dedication

On Sunday, February 24 our church, Magnolia Ave Baptist Church, had a parent-child dedication service for parents to publicly promise to raise their children to know and love Jesus.  At the same time, the church promises to be a part of his spiritual life.  My dad also prayed for us as part of the service as the first pastor of our family. 

Parent Commitment

We commit ourselves before God and our church that we will teach Andrew the ways of the Lord.  We will be intentional to not provoke him to resentment towards God, but we will take Andrew by the hand and lead him in the way of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4

 

Realizing that parenting is a divine calling, requiring wisdom and strength, we will commit ourselves to placing a priority upon God's Word for our spiritual growth and to teaching Andrew, as "we are in our home or walking down the street; from the time we get up to when we fall into bed at night." Deuteronomy 6:6-7

 

We will lead Andrew to grow as Jesus did "in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52

 

Understanding that parenthood at times may be a struggle, we dedicate ourselves and our home under the Lordship of Christ so that Andrew will have ample opportunities to know the difference Jesus Christ makes in a home surrendered to him.  We will commit ourselves to "love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength." Mark 12:30

Father Commitment

Further, I choose this day to publicly pronounce that "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  I commit to lead my family, not as mere followers of religious rules, but in a living relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords.  Joshua 24:15b

 

Church Commitment

We are one body united in Christ.  As Christ has loved each one of us, we will show that love to each other, so that everyone will know we are His Church.

We commit to:

encourage you in truth--Ephesians 4:21

be gentle in our corrections--Ephesians 4:32

life you up in prayer--Ephesians 3:14-21

challenge you to God's best--1 Corinthians 13:7

make our debts be one of love to each other--Romans 13:8

Christmas Recap 3: Christmas Eve at Church

 After visiting with our grandparents, we headed to Faith Fellowship for the Christmas Eve service. Celebrating that Jesus' birthday is an excellent way to finish the day!  Steve and the choir helped us make beautiful music.

 Andrew sat, walked, climbed, colored, ate/spilled goldfish, sang, and moved for the entire 52 minute service, but did not make any noise.  At one point, I tried to take something away and he didn't like it, so he got 1/2 inch away from my face and said 'MINE' clearly and very quietly.  The defiance was clear, but the mode of action was so darn funny.  I have my hands full already...

 Grandpa preached a short message about 'touching heaven' and Andrew was pretty excited that Grandpa was up on stage.

 We tried to take a family photo afterwards, but Andrew just wasn't having it.

 Melissa and I took one instead.

 running up and down the stairs was much more fun! 

After church, we headed to Marie Calendars for dinner.  Surprisingly it wasn't packed, but it did take awhile to eat.  By the time we left it was already 8 pm and Andrew was exhausted, cranky, and over ready to sleep.  Thankfully he slept the entire way home and didn't even wake up when I changed him into his Christmas PJs for bed.  No Christmas eve traditions for us at home this year, but it gave Santa extra time to come and get stuff done!