Wordless Wednesday---Mommy's glasses...

Sunday Finest

So after posting about the craziness that is Adeline's hair, I gotta say, it was SO STINKIN' CUTE for church today.  I gave the girls a bath in the morning, added some curl cream to Adeline's hair and scrunched it as I dried it.  I pulled her bangs to the side in a ponytail (because that's the only way something will stay in her hair) and put a little bow above it.  These pictures were taken with my phone, so sorry the quality is a bit subpar. 

Oh, and how precious is this coat that my friend, Heidi, gave me recently.

Dear Adeline---

My sweet Adeline,

I can’t write about this time of your life without mentioning your hair.  It’s crazy.  I know when you are 15, you are going to look back on pictures and say, “Mom, what were you thinking?!?”  Sweetheart, I just don’t know what to do with it.  If I cut it short, I am afraid you will miss having pigtails and “girly hair.”  I thought letting it get a bit longer may give it a little weight and control the volume a bit.  You won’t let me just put a barrette in it to keep it out of your eyes.  It seems to be getting curlier as it gets longer.   You are complimented on it a lot, but sometimes the compliment comes with a chuckle because your hair is just crazy!  The back is lovely, but the front can get a little “fro like” if I don’t put it back.  I hope you always know… you are beautiful.

I love you,

mommy

Gotta have...

Do you know about these?  They are silicone reusable muffin cups, and they.are.FABULOUS! ....and by fabulous, I mean you should get some.  They are worth it just to NOT lose half your cupcake/muffin taking off a paper liner.  Did I mention that they are reusable?  You don't even need to use a muffin pan.  You can put them on a tray or just put them directly in the oven.  That means, I can make Jiffy cornbread muffins while only using 6 of them instead of a whole muffin pan and have MUCH less of a mess to clean.  It also means you can freeze muffin batter in them and then....are you ready for this?....pop one in the toaster oven in the morning for a fresh baked muffin!  Add these to your birthday/Christmas/Mother's day/just because I'm nice list.  Unless you never make cupcakes or muffins....then don't.  You can find lots of choices for them here, but you can buy them at any kitchen store.

Goodbye winter...

Now that the trees are budding, the tulips are peeking through the ground, and we've had a week of perfect playground weather, I decided to post these last few snow pictures I found when sorting through iphoto.  Goodbye snow...come again next year!

Happy Birthday Pawpaw!!!

BOTH of the girls' grandfathers turn 60 this week!!!

Happy Birthday Pawpaw Nolt and Pawpaw Rich!!!  We love you!!!

Introvert vs Extravert

I've been having some interesting conversations recently about personalities, and some stereotypes I've held for years have changed.  I'm an extravert.  If you know me, that statement is so obvious it seems silly to even type it.  Patrick is an introvert.  I always thought of him as an "extraverted introvert"....as in he tips the scale towards being an introvert but is comfortable in social situations and is so personable he MUST have a slice of extraversion in there.  He doesn't.

We've talked about the different personalities of our girls, and I realized I wanted them to be extraverts.  Because...

EXTRAVERT= confident, leader, popular, fun, social, able to connect with people and be a good friend
INTROVERT= shy, socially awkward, loner, quiet

If you asked me to define those words, this isn't what I would have told you, but deep down it's what I thought and believed.  Before all of you introverts send me hate mail, I WAS WRONG.  As I was talking with a friend from church, she described herself as a shy extravert, and her retired marine commander husband doesn't have a shy bone in his body, but...you guessed it... he's an introvert.  "Shy extravert"....hmm....I had to think about that one.  Here's the truth, extra/introversion has everything to do with how you recharge, how you center yourself, and very little to do with any of the other words in my definition.  I realized I know people who are clearly extraverts (they need to be with people all the time), but they are socially unaware, awkward, or just plain annoying.  I also know introverts who are very strong leaders, others who are my best friends (and I can talk with them for hours).

Adeline is an introvert.  It took me a while to come to that conclusion.  She doesn't have separation anxiety.  She loves spending time with her friends...and asks to see them often.  However, I see now how introspective she is.  She is taking it all in and figuring out the world...just like her daddy.  She is frequently described as "serious."  She needs "quiet time."  One of her favorite things to do is sit and "read" books....by herself.  Then, she is ready to join our family again and be her crazy, silly self.  She is a micro, female version of her daddy.

I think (and it is still early to tell) that Camille has more of my personality.  Lord, have mercy.  She's got some feist to her.  However, despite signs of extraversion, she screams when we go in the nursery.  She.wants.mommy!  It is so interesting to me to see how different their personalities are even in these early stages.  We hardly babyproofed our house for Adeline.  If Camille makes it to age 3, we're doing well.  She's into EVERYTHING!  (as I typed that sentence, I turned around to look at her and had to stop to pull a piece of easter grass out of her mouth that she found on the floor....oh look, NOW she found a candy wrapper.  Seriously?!?) She's the kid that eats chalk and tries to stick her finger in outlets.  If there is a crumb on your floor, she'll find it.  Now, what were we talking about?  Oh...

What's the point?  Does personality type really matter?  I guess, it has helped me to understand the needs of my husband and my children in a different way.  It is good for my biases and prejudices to be tested and corrected.  It also reinforced why Patrick and I don't do well on long road trips.  He wants to be introspective, and I want to chat.  Maybe when Camille can say more than "hi, dada, mama, and no" we can revisit the idea as a family....

Young Love---Flashback Friday

Okay, so these pictures aren't THAT old, but I they still qualify as "Flashback Friday" material.  They are from last summer.  We love you, dear Linus.

Wordless Wednesday---Sleeping Beauties

Becky is having a giveaway!!!

Becky is having another giveaway.  If you live near me and you win....I want a share in the spoils!  As I checked in at her site again, I am amazed by her talent and creativity.  Check out her princess party and her "public health" cookies.  AMAZING!

Camille's Baptism

On Valentine's Day (no reason...that just happened to be a Sunday that worked), Camille was baptized.  I was raised in a Mennonite family, as were many of my friends.  In the Mennonite denomination, you are baptized when you make a profession of faith and ask to join the church.  I know our decision to baptize our kids when they are babies raises questions of theology in the minds of our friends and family.  In fact, when I told one of my best friends we had Adeline baptized, she said, "you mean dedicated."  No, she was, in fact, baptized.  I've never felt condemned by my friends, but I thought I would use this post to explain what our church believes, and how we came to the same understanding of what the Bible teaches regarding baptism.

First, I want to say what infant baptism is not.  It is not a guarantee that your children will go to heaven.  It does not mean they are Christians.  It is not an empty ritual or a right of passage.  

I am going to summarize and quote passages from "What Christian Parents Should Know About Infant Baptism" a booklet written by John Sartelle to explain further...

We serve a covenant God.  When God made and everlasting covenant with Abraham---a covenant of salvation from generation to generation, He used circumcision as a sign of the covenant (Gen 17:11).  When an adult from outside Israel became a believer, he was to be circumcised.  Passages in the Old Testament so closely identify the sign with the real event that God actually uses the word circumcision instead of salvation.  The saved person or community is called "circumcised"; the unsaved person or community is called "uncircumcised" (Isa. 52:1; Ezek. 44:9; I Sam. 15:6).  

This does not imply that circumcision saves an individual.  The thesis of Romans 4 is that Abraham was saved by FAITH, not by circumcision.  Yet, God commanded circumcision as a sign of salvation.  In Genesis 17, God gives an extraordinary command.  God tells Abraham to apply this sign of salvation to infants born into his house.  This is astounding.  How could the sign of salvation be applied to an infant who had not yet believed"  But right there it is:  "...and every male among you who is eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations" (Gen 17:12)

Now, we come to the NEW covenant in Jesus.  He told His disciples to make other disciples and to baptize them (Matt 28:19).  God uses an outward symbol to denote an inward spiritual reality.  Like circumcision, baptism too is a sign.  Baptism means being set apart to a holy life.  Just as utensils and people were anointed with water or oil in the Old Testament and set apart for holy use, so in baptism the person is anointed and set apart for holiness.  Baptism is a sign of an event, not the reality itself.  Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us we are saved by grace, not by any works of righteousness.  Our sins are cleansed by the blood of Christ, and our lives are made holy by being born again.  Baptism is an outward sign of this inward work.

In light of that fact, the following verses may seem surprising.  As people were converted, not only were they baptized but their families were also.  Lydia, a business woman from Thyatira, believed the gospel, and Paul baptized both her and her household (Acts 16:15).  Likewise, an unnamed Philippian jailer believed, and he and his household were baptized (Acts 16:33-34).

Every doctrine in the New Testament has its roots in the Old.  We are moved to tears at the beauty and unity of Scripture as we see Aaron slay the lambs and then see Jesus slain at Calvary, punished by God for our sins.  We feel a kinship to Joshua as we see his family gather to eat the Passover lamb in old Israel, and we gather to partake of the body and blood of God's lamb in the new Israel.  But most precious is that God does not withhold a blessing He gave His people in former days.  We follow in the footsteps of Abraham circumcising Isaac when we bring our children to be baptized.

In the Old and New Testaments, we see God working through families.  In Genesis 17:7, God made a covenant of salvation with Abraham.  He told Abraham that the covenant was not only for him, but for his children and many generations to come.  Four hundred years later, Abraham's family had grown to be a great nation of over one million people.  Enslaved in Egypt, they prayed to God...."So God heard their groaning; and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  And God saw the sons of Israel, and had regard for them." (Exodus 2: 24-25).  Another example is David, Solomon, and Rehoboam.  Solomon seriously transgressed against God.  His kingdom would be divided because of his sin, but the Lord would not do this in Solomon's lifetime, because he was David's son.  David had been dead for years, and yet God treated Solomon with special regard because of his father.  We can now begin to see why God directed the sign of the covenant to be applied to the children.  They are set apart, special before the Lord.  God showed favor to Solomon because of David, but the kingdom was divided under Rehoboam's reign (Solomon's son).  In the New Testament, we see the same examples as Jesus heals children not through their own faith but through the faith of their parents (Matt 17:14-18, Luke 7:11-17, John 4:46-54).  Another example is Paul's answer to the question of if a man becomes a Christian, should he continue to live with his non-Christian wife.  In I Corinthians 7, Paul says if the wife will live with him, he is to stay with her.  He says the unbelieving wife is "sanctified" by the believing husband.  This does not mean she is saved.  The Greek word for "sanctify" means "set apart."  The holy life of a Christian is a "set apart" life.  Paul was saying the wife is set apart, viewed in a special way by God, because her husband is one of God's people.  So why not baptize her?  As an adult, she is responsible for making her own profession before the Lord.  The infant stands in his father's faith, unable to make his own profession, but bearing the mark of his father's faith upon him, which calls him to his Lord in his earliest years.

Baptism is the sign of salvation applied to our children, it is a call to raise them as God directed.  We give our affirmation to the following vows during baptism:

Do you now unreservedly dedicate your child to God, and promise, in humble reliance upon divine grace, that you will endeavor to set before him a godly example, that you will pray with and for him, that you will teach him the doctrines of our holy faith, and that you will strive, by all the means of God's appointment, to bring him up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?

Covenant children are set apart.  They are blessed with parents who want to honor and serve Christ.  They are taught the Scriptures, prayed for, and trained by godly parents and by the church from a young age.  It is God who initiated, drew the terms of, and seals His covenant with His people.  He graciously binds Himself to the promises of His Word.  And He calls His children and His children's children to keep His covenant and know His blessing from generation to generation.

Thoughts?  Questions?

Adeline turns 3 (Part 2)!!!

On Adeline's actual birthday (Feb 27), we hosted our first friend party.....which when you're three means friends, parents, and siblings party.  Here's the birthday girl in all her birthday glory.

I had a theme idea that proved to be MUCH harder than I anticipated....so I switched gears for a bunny theme since Adeline LOVES her bunny more than all other stuffed friends and there was lots of pre-Easter bunny paraphernalia to choose from.

I thought her cake turned out rather well.  I scoured the web for bunny cake pictures, but I didn't find exactly what I wanted, so I combined several ideas and came up with a few on my own.

When I found these bunny cups, the theme was pretty much sealed.

Balloons from Grandma...

Camille, in all her cute glory...

          

My mom is just the best.  Kids just flock to her.

We played pin (read tape) the nose on the bunny.  Hilarious!

Followed by an egg hunt and cake...

My friend, Missy, made this ADORABLE apron and oven mitt for Adeline to match her red kitchen.  What was that?  You want one?  Check out her etsy store!

Happy Birthday, my sweet baby.  We are so thankful for another year of your life.  You are loved more than you will ever know...