Callie's Baptism

We were so excited about this special day - Callie has been telling EVERYONE for the last two weeks about this day!  It took a little bit of logistical maneuvering, but it happened!  David needed to arrange the service in such a way as to allow him to lead worship, have someone else do another baptism in order to give him chance to get back to the room and baptize Callie.  It worked out that another couple was on the schedule to be baptized today, and so April 28 it was for Callie! 

 THIS is what happens when you put Jacob in charge of taking pictures :)

I had told Callie to make sure she looked out to see the people that were excited to watch this special day.  And she did :).  David shared a little bit about Callie and her decision to follow Christ.  It was such a special moment for him as well.

 It was such a special moment for David to be able to baptize it.  

 Not a dry eye in the house :)  So proud of you Callie!  I pray that you are ALWAYS as proud and exuberant about following Jesus as you are today!!

Passion: Let the Future Begin Tour

For David's birthday present, we drove up to Charlotte to see the Passion: Let the Future Begin tour.  It was amazing.  Incredible night of worship.  So refreshing and energizing to our souls.  To be in a room filled with people completely sold-out and fully engaged in worship to the Lord.  Never been to anything quite like that before.  As a worship pastor, he doesn't often get the chance to be on the other side of the stage.  And get to simply participate in worship without having to think about all the details and logistics that go into a service.  It was a precious night alongside of my husband. Thankful.

New Toys! (from the attic)

Put away some things and pulled out some things from the attic this morning.  Guess who thinks he is hot stuff now on his new ride?  :)

Yep, this guy!!

Smile Train Mini Marathon

The kids' school raises money every year for Smile Train - a great organization that provides resources for children that are born with cleft lip/palate deformities.  Our very own PE Teacher, Mr. Cronin, was born with this but was able to have it corrected.  The charity is near to his heart and so he has organized this fundraiser over the last several years as a way to promote exercise for the kids as well as raise money for this organization.  Families are encouraged to come out on the day that the kids run the last part of their mini marathon.  David and Caleb joined Callie and Jacob to run with them (I was running around doing some secretive last minute stuff for David's surprise party :)  ).

Caleb's Season

 It really was so much fun coaching Caleb this season.  He was just as amazing as I thought he'd be - and absolutely loved playing this season.  He just has a natural inclination...and doesn't get it from me that is for sure!  His teammates were so precious....some weeks it was all I could do to keep them moving in the same direction!  I had one little boy that would leave his dad's arms to play during a game until the LAST week of the season!  I was SO proud of him!!  Caleb was a great leader on his team...and scored about a million goals along the way :)

 Callie's team

Sadly, I don't think I have any pictures of her playing this season.  I was always either coaching or with Jacob at his field. :(  She did great though - and loved having her daddy coach her!

Judah was a trooper.  During Caleb's games when I was coaching, he just had to hang out in the stroller on the sidelines.  Cheerios were his friend!  :)

Jacob's Soccer Game

This soccer season has been great and insane all at the same time.  Everyone has absolutely LOVED it, has learned a lot, and played really well.  But it has been crazy because we've got 3 kids playing, two of us are coaching two teams, and we can only be so many places.  Thankfully, although we may be all over the fields, at least we are all at the SAME field!!  

Caleb's games were always at 9 am.  Jacob's games were always at 10 am.  Callie's games were at either 9 or 10 am.  I coached Caleb and David coached Callie.  So David saw Caleb play a couple of times (when Callie played at 10) and saw Jacob play a couple of times (when Callie played at 9).  I never got to really watch Callie's game, because either she was playing the same time I was coaching, or I was watching Jacob (since David was with Callie, I felt like at least she had one parent with her).  Crazy.  But fun :)

 Jacob played really well this season.  He had a phenomenal coach that really taught him and took him to the next level.  

National Museum of the Marine Corps

On Friday morning, we sadly said goodbye to Tutu and headed on down the road towards home.  We stopped on the way for one last "always passed it on the road but never stopped to see it" adventure - the National Museum of the Marine Corps!  My dad was (IS) a (retired) marine, so it was so neat to get to see the museum and show the kids some of the history of the USMC!

 We could have spent a whole day there!  Sadly we only had a couple of hours, but the kids loved it.  They had TONS of neat hands on activities for them and they loved it!

 Caleb's face cracks me up in this one!

 Loved putting on the different uniforms from different time periods.

 The hat looks good on him!

 This is my "Really honey?  You're going to take a picture of me feeding the baby?" face :)

 They had these little kid play areas scattered throughout.  This one had little dress up uniforms and children's books about the military.  Really neat.

After lunch, it was back in the car to really head home.  It was an AWESOME week - great time spent with my mom and we absolutely LOVED getting to see all that we did!  The kids did amazing.  We packed a LOT in and there wasn't a lot of downtime - very full days - but they loved it and did great.  Judah wins "trooper of the year" award for as much as we were on the go this week!!

The White House, the Capitol Building, and a few things in between!

 We left EARLY in the morning...some of us more chipper than others...we wanted to go see the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  It's a free tour, but you have to get a ticket.  People start getting in line to GET a ticket at 5 am (Tickets are passed out at 8 am and gone typically within 30 minutes).  We decided to get up early and give it a shot!  We were successful!  Got tickets to do the tour later on in the afternoon and so off we headed to see some other sights in the meantime!

 The White House!  Callie told everyone in her class that she was going to the White House for her birthday!  This was as close as we were going to get thanks to the sequester...

 Mom and I in front of the White House Garden!

 The Lincoln Memorial

 What a view!  Looking out from the Lincoln Memorial, down the Reflecting Pool, to see the Washington Monument

 We walked SO much...the kids (and mom!) were such troopers! And it was STILL COLD!!  See Judah?? All wrapped up!!!

 Got to see the new WWII memorial.  Here's Mom and I standing in front of Virginia and South Carolina!  :)

 Made it down to the Capitol Building!  The boys were so excited to get to go inside and see where the congressmen work!

 After a FULL day of walking and sightseeing, we made it back to the metro to ride home! Thumbs up Caleb - you did a good job!

Exhausting, but SO much fun! (See both boys clutching their new "Minecraft Washington DC" tshirts that Tutu bought for them from a street vendor?  :)