Celebration of Friends, Old & New

I mentioned in my previous post that we went to St. Louis a couple weekends ago for a Sunday Cardinals game...

Back in March, once the baseball tickets were purchased, I emailed a couple college friends of mine who live in St. Louis to let them know we would be in town that weekend. Long story short we ended up heading over on Saturday, and spending the day/night with friends. The baseball game ended up being greatly overshadowed by the time spent hanging out with Nikki, Melissa & their families.
Saturday afternoon we took the kids to a "kiddie carnival" at Nikki's son's school. It was the perfect amount of bounce house, balloons, games, corn dogs & cotton candy fun!

Nikki with Chase & Belle (Alex was home sick)

Melissa with Eli and...

Beckett

All of the kids got along beautifully & quickly became "new" friends!!!
Caelleb & Chase hit it off instantly!
Tia, Belle & Eli had lots of fun together as well!
Tia loved baby Beckett!

A few more pics of the carnival fun...

What do you think, sugar overload? :)

After the carnival had wound up the "new" friends, it was time for us "old" friends to leave the kiddos with the dads (Thanks Bryndyn, Bart & Joel), and head out for a quiet & peaceful girls night! This was the highlight of my weekend, hands down. The dessert we had here was fabulous, but mostly it was just great to be in the company of two women who I adore & whose friendships are such a blessing to my life!

Take me out to the ballgame...

We had a great time in St. Louis a couple weekends ago! The Cardinals were playing the Giants (Bryn's "team" since he was a kid), so I had gotten us tickets for Bryndyn's birthday. I am not sure what exactly happened with the format of these pics...sorry! This first group of pictures is before the game. We parked over by the Arch and then walked to the stadium from there. In between we grabbed a bite to eat and the kids loved the blue fountain (see below)...





























holding up the arch... :)

Tia fell asleep with 2 outs left in the bottom of the 9th inning, so Bryn ended up carrying her all the way back to our car (which was a LONG walk with a sleeping 3 year old on his shoulder)

The Giants won (so ONE of us was happy & I can assure you, growing up a Dodger fan that ONE was NOT me!). But it was a BEAUTIFUL day at the ballfield & a good time was had by all!

Adoption Day 2008

The weather was beautiful on Caelleb's big day. We had a low key but great evening. We let Caelleb choose where we ate dinner. He picked McAlister's (no arguments from me). After dinner we came home and enjoyed some family time in the sun. After we had played to our heart's content we came in for some cookie cake. Trying to be helpful, Caelleb decided he'd clean up the cookie cake crumbs from his section of the table. He did this by wiping them onto the floor. I didn't realize what he was doing right away but when I did I asked him, "did you just wipe all those crumbs onto the kitchen floor?" To which he replied: "Yep. It's my adoption day. I can do what I want." Oh REAAAAALLY. When did that become part of the deal? It was funny, nonetheless.

Adoption day pics............

Can you use that in a sentence please?

Caelleb and I made cookies for him to take to school last Tuesday so his class could join him in celebrating his adoption day. When I had asked him if he wanted to tell his class about his adoption day he replied, "YES. I love being adopted." :)

We put the cookies into the oven and I headed into the living room. Caelleb didn't follow. When I looked back into the kitchen this is what I saw...

Me: You are impatient.
C: What's dat mean?
Me: It means you CAN'T WAIT ANY LONGER for those cookies to be done.
C: Yep. I'm dat.

Stragglers

Forgot about these two. Didn't want them to feel left out! Truthfully, I just can't get enough of this kid. Can you tell? :)

My Own Time

me: Whatcha doin' up there Caelleb?

C: Having my own time

me: Your "own time"?

C: Uh huh. Sometimes I go in my room for my own time but Tia comes in and bothers me, so I came up here.

me: I guess everyone needs some "own time" every now and then, huh?

C: Yep.

On This Day of Keeping

On This Day of Keeping
A blessing for Caelleb on the day of his adoption
Written by Eric L. Wilson
April 22, 2005

On this day of keeping, on this day of never letting go, may God grant you love.
Love not subject to change or the winds of time
Love sewn together like patch work memories of parents now and parents past
Love equipped for conquering
A mending kind of love
On this day of keeping, on this day of never letting go may God grant you love.

On this day of keeping, on this day of never letting go may God grant you laughter.
Laughter that rings in your ear long after the punch line is gone,
Laughter cutting through departures and despair
Laughter always at your fingertips yet never at your expense
A red face laughter
An “I can’t breath but I don’t care” laughter
“I just can’t stop and if I tried it would make it funnier” kind of laughter
On this day of keeping, on this day of never letting go may God grant you laughter

On this day of keeping, on this day of never letting go may God grant you peace.
Peace that surpasses understanding
Peace that comforts and grows you
Peace that comes from knowing God is their, always loving, always reaching, and always wanting better for you.
Warm blanket peace
Mommy makes it alright, oh daddy is near by kind of peace
On this day of keeping, on this day of never letting go may God grant you peace.

On this day of keeping, on this day of never letting go may God grant you a pathway.
A pathway to relationship with the divine
A pathway far from worry, evil and yesterday’s pain
A dad I’m ready to get baptized pathway
Momma I found the girl I will marry pathway
An “I will never give up, I will never retreat” pathway
On this day of keeping, on this day of never letting go may God grant you a pathway.

God grant you a confidence never wavering,
God grant you wisdom unfailing
God grant you humility always rising
God grant you tomorrows overflowing with promise
God grant you grace, mercy, redemption, purity, purpose, vision, joy, and hope.

On this day of keeping, on this day of never letting go may God grant you life.

HAPPY ADOPTION DAY CAELLEB!!!!!

(The above blessing was written & read by our minister & friend at Caelleb's adoption party, 3 years ago today!)

Sippin' from the Saucer

When I look at this week through the eyes of my 6 year old I realize it's been (and will continue to be) a really good one. Not that my perspective on the week is negative, just busy. Caelleb had T-ball practice last night. He & Bryndyn both came home giddy with excitement and love for all things baseball. Caelleb has Tae Kwon Do tonight. Tomorrow his class is going on a field trip to the bowling ally & park. This morning I had the following conversation with Caelleb as we were getting into the van...

Me (thinking I'd remind him and get him excited for his day): "Someone has Tae Kwon Do tonight!"

Caelleb (didn't need reminding): "Yep. Den next day is bowling."

Me: "And then Sunday is the Cardinals game."

Caelleb: "I almost cried."

Me (not sure I understood him correctly): "You almost cried?"

Caelleb (breaking it down for me): "Mommy, when you are SOOOOOO happy, sometimes dat happens."

I don't think I've ever met a kid that was so appreciative & loved life as much as Caelleb. I love that about him.

There's only 1 & it's NOT on this list...

*Addendum: #8 was actually a comment that my father-in-law (who is a minister in northern California) left on this post but it fit well, so I had to add it to the list!

How many of us are "...turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all" (Gal. 1:6b-7a)? I was convicted by the following list that I first saw here, but you can also find it here or in the book, How People Change, by Tim Lane and Paul David Tripp.


Gospel Counterfeits

1. Formalism. “I participate in the regular meetings and ministries of the church, so I feel like my life is under control. I’m always in church, but it really has little impact on my heart or on how I live. I may become judgmental and impatient with those who do not have the same commitment as I do.”

2. Legalism. “I live by the rules—rules I create for myself and rules I create for others. I feel good if I can keep my own rules, and I become arrogant and full of contempt when others don’t meet the standards I set for them. There is no joy in my life because there is no grace to be celebrated.”

3. Mysticism. “I am engaged in the incessant pursuit of an emotional experience with God. I live for the moments when I feel close to him, and I often struggle with discouragement when I don’t feel that way. I may change churches often, too, looking for one that will give me what I’m looking for.”

4. Activism. “I recognize the missional nature of Christianity and am passionately involved in fixing this broken world. But at the end of the day, my life is more of a defense of what’s right than a joyful pursuit of Christ.”

5. Biblicism. “I know my Bible inside and out, but I do not let it master me. I have reduced the gospel to a mastery of biblical content and theology, so I am intolerant and critical of those with lesser knowledge.”

6. Therapism. “I talk a lot about the hurting people in our congregation, and how Christ is the only answer for their hurt. Yet even without realizing it, I have made Christ more Therapist than Savior. I view hurt as a greater problem than sin—and I subtly shift my greatest need from my moral failure to my unmet needs."

7. Social-ism. “The deep fellowship and friendships I find at church have become their own idol. The body of Christ has replaced Christ himself, and the gospel is reduced to a network of fulfilling Christian relationships.”


*8. Meism. "The doctrine of individualism. It's fine to talk about a servant's heart and being led by the Spirit and even being formed by the cross but it needs to fit into my wants, needs and expectations. I'm not the center of the universe but the universe exists to meet my needs. I need me some religion to feel whole and satisfy my spiritual appetite... but only if it has sufficient vitamin "I." After all Jesus is my PERSONAL Savior isn't He? Okay..okay... the first will be last and the last will be first but just note how humble I am and willing to give it all! (God sure knows how to pick them)"



Numbers 3 & 7 hit closest to home for me. How 'bout you?

It's a BASEBALL Day!

Caelleb was in an extremely good mood this morning when he exclaimed, "GOOD MORNING MOMMY" to me at 6:15am. He was already fed, dressed and had his coat and backpack on, completely ready for school. As I sat down on the couch to put my shoes on, still half asleep myself, he said, "it's a BASEBALL day!" He has this season's first t-ball practice tonight. Daddy is his coach. Caelleb is beside himself with excitement. He has already told Bryndyn that he is going to call him Coach Crutcher (this is what Bryndyn's students call him at work). Please, PALEEEEEEEZ don't let it rain today.


***Addendum: We had blue skies all day today! Nothing could wipe the smile off Caelleb's face when he got home this evening. When I asked him how he did he said (referring to when he was batting), "I almost hit someone's neck off!" Apparently his batting skills have improved since last year! :)