"little" moments

LOVE!
My sweet girl feel asleep on the way to the restaurant on my birthday. She stayed asleep when Rich pulled her out of her carseat. She's getting so big. We cherish the times when she falls asleep like this - it's a "little" moment. She is growing up so quickly! We are so blessed by her sweet and happy spirit!

Treasured Friends

We have lived in North Carolina for over 10 years now. It's hard to believe it's been that long. We all love it here and can't imagine living anywhere else. We love our home, our yard, our neighborhood, our church, and our friends. One of the main ministries of our church is the Small Group Ministry. It took us a while, but we found a small group within our church that has been an excellent fit for Rich and myself, but also for our children. Once a week, we gather with our small group, share a meal at a home of one of the families, study our Bibles, have accountability, and prayer. Our children experience community and fellowship with the other children in the group. 

The idea behind the small group ministry is to "do life" with  your small group. On this particular day, we all gathered together on Labor Day and went swimming and cooked out. It can take a long time to develop relationships within the church. It requires a commitment to seek out those relationships and time to develop them to the point at which it's comfortable to seek out prayer and counsel for whatever it is that is going on in your everyday life. 

We are so thankful for our small group. We love the people in our small group and are continually blessed by them as we share our lives with them. Our entire family looks forward to going to small group each week. Years ago, after we were first married we were a part of a small group ministry and  Rich began a small group ministry at the church that he pastored. We have missed this ministry so much over the years! Our children are blessed by the friendships they are forming. 

I am not only thankful for the relationships that I see my children forming  - both within our church at large - and with the other people (both young and old) in our small group, but I am also thankful for the women in the small group who have become my dear friends. 

Aaron's Baptism

We gathered as a church at Falls Lake to worship the Lord through song, prayer, and baptism. It was a beautiful day! Aaron prayed to receive Jesus as his savior about two years ago, and it has been an on-going conversation since then. He has been asking and desiring to be baptized for the past year. He wrote down his testimony of faith and trust in Jesus and why he wanted to be baptized. He bravely got up in front of a large crowd from our church that had gathered together and he read what he had written down. Rich also spoke to the church about Aaron's journey in coming to know and trust in Christ as his Savior. 

My heart was already overflowing to hear my child child publicly profess his faith in Jesus! Then our church family walked to the waters of Falls lake and gathered on the shore to witness Rich baptize our son Aaron. 

It was a glorious moment to observe the symbolism of being buried in baptism and raised to new life in Christ. We have great hope in Christ!

Our family and church family rejoice with Aaron on his new found life in Christ. God is good and greatly to be praised!

Hands on Learning

Aaron is reading about the Desert in Science, and he came up with this fabulous version of a cactus! I was so impressed with it. He used air dry clay and tooth picks. 

In History, Aaron is learning about Egyptian hieroglyphics.  He used air dry clay to carve his own hieroglyphic. Aaron is a very independent student. He reads through his curriculum guide and easily follows the instructions and often has the projects done before I can even explain them to him. His independence is an enormous blessing to me since I have the younger two that need a great deal more attention from me.
He loves 4th grade. So far he is enjoying the content a great deal more than what we did last year in  3rd grade. I am so happy about that because it causes him to have a much better attitude!