Memorial weekend was memorable

I am trying to catch up on things with my blog so my apologies to the mass attack of posts to come!

This Sunday was a huge day for our girls and their walk with Christ. Both of my girls were water baptized on Memorial Sunday. Some may wonder why they weren't baptized before this. My answer to this is I wanted the decision to be theirs and I wanted them to have an understanding on why this is so significant to them personally.

The girls have always expressed an interest when they saw those in the church being baptized. For me I know it was the thrill of the moment because it was never mentioned again until the next baptism. However, Ky has really grown in her walk recently and has really been looking for Christ on a deeper level. She had been praying about it and felt like God had been telling her to be baptized. Once she explained this to me and said that she didn't care if her sister was baptized on the same day as her because this was between her and God, I knew that she was ready. Also anytime she doesn't care if her younger sister does the same thing as her, I know her motives are true (coming from a mom of two girls who can't do things the same way or same time if at all possible).

AJ has been hounding me for months about being baptized. I knew in my heart that her desire to be baptized was pure. She has a heart for worship like none other that I know. She wants to honor Christ in everything she does.

The special part of the baptism was Mr. A and myself were able to stand right next to the baptismal and witness it closely. Mr. A was given the option of baptizing the girls himself but declined due to his back. This was the next best thing! I loved being right there with my girls as they made this personal step in their walks of faith.

We celebrated with a fun lunch with friends who adore our girls and were as proud of their decisions as we were! What a great way to celebrate this momentous occasion in their lives.

Ky and AJ, I am so proud of the "women" of God that you are becoming. I pray that you will never know a day without Christ by your sides. We all make decisions that change our lives and the decision you made to be baptized was one of those decisions. Dad and I could not be more proud of you both!

To my best friend

My best friend without a doubt would have to be my husband. Today we celebrate another milestone in our marriage - 15 years! We have had an amazing adventure together as husband and wife. I couldn't imagine doing life with anyone else.
Even from the engagement things have been a little different. Me being the girlie girl I am (yeah right) gave him a hard time from the word go. He made me dress up for our dinner out - requirements were a dress and heels. This did not make me excited at all. I had just gotten off work, changed and then we headed to the beach. This added fuel to the fire! I was starving and I did not want to go walking around in heels on the beach or cove. When he parked the car I told him I was not walking all over the place. This made him change his plan. We started walking for the cove and I told him I was not moving another step - we could see the seals from where we were. Poor guy wanted to go to the benches overlooking the cove so I could sit down and he could get on his knee and propose but I was not going to move another inch.

We began talking and he looked at me and said "Will you marry me?" My response "Yeah, yeah." I thought we were just talking about the future. I hadn't really caught on to what was going on. I was expecting an engagement but not for at least another 6 months to a year away. Mr. A had always made it a point not to actually ask me to marry him even while joking because he wanted those words to be special when he said them. Of course he had just said them and I blew it off. We began talking again and he asked again, "Will you marry me?" I said, "Yeah," still not quite catching on.

Finally he pulled out the ring and said "Do you want to wear this now?" My reaction, "You were serious?!" He replied, "I can put it back." Obviously he didn't and we went on to get married 14 months later.

So as you can see the poor guy has had to put up with a lot in the 17 years together and 15 years of marriage. However, I wouldn't change a thing. It is us and good or bad, we will always do it together.

Love ya babe!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jonah

Happy 2nd birthday to the cutest little miracle around!

This baby has been through so much in his first 2 years of life! He was born 6 weeks premature. He has a syndrome called Denys-Drash that he was diagnosed with almost a year ago. Unfortunately with this syndrome he can get a cancer of the kidneys called Wilms Tumor so as a precaution the doctors removed both of his kidneys in Decemeber 2009. He is now waiting for a kidney transplant. His father, my brother-in-law, looks like he is the best canidadate unless another kidney comes in. They are hoping to have his transplant in the next few months.
Despite all this he has been through, he is a happy kid! He is always on the go. I have to laugh when I talk to my sister-in-law. Most of the time I hear, "Jonah, don't climb on that. Jonah, put that down." He is a typical 2 year old and I am so happy about that.
I was able to have breakfast with them when I was out there in March. He the the king of cheese! His smile is infectious. My sister-in-law says the nurses adore him. They let him get away with murder because of his personality.

They are having a party for him this Saturday and it is a medical theme. "Dr. Jonah" is in charge. The colors are green which is the color ribbon you would use to promote kidney health. I am so proud of his parents. They have been through the ringer and have come through stronger. We weren't sure how they were going to do when the original diagnosis came in but they are handling everything like champs. They have their moments, but Jonah is their priority!

Just want to say we love you little man! We wish we could be there to help you celebrate!

Festival of Hope

Well, we survived another year!

Even though it sounds like I am at my wits end, this honestly is the one of the highlights of my year! I love this weekend. While the weeks/months of prep are exhausting, the event itself is so exciting. I am always shocked and humbled when they want us to bring the hat booth back.

For those who haven't checked out my blog before, the Festival of Hope is put on my our local Rescue Mission as a thank you to the community and to bring more attention to what services the Rescue Mission does on a daily basis. Our local mission rocks. They have a on-site medical program, day care and many more services besides just being a shelter. They have the most loving people who work there. I love this organization more than I can say.

This festival is totally free. Local churches, organizations and loving people donate their time and supplies to this event so the people of the rescue mission can attend and not have to worry about trying to pay. This year was the biggest and best by far. When I started attending this event 4 years ago, attendance was closer to a few hundred people. This year, they estimated that attendance was 3,000-4,000 people. Amazing is all I can say.

A little background on our booth - we make hats out of grocery paper bags. We crush them up, pop them back out, roll the brim and then spray paint them. The people who attend the festival then get to decorate them however they would like. We have stickers, ribbon, foam pieces - basically anything you can stick on a hat can be used. Our first year we made 100 hats and ran out with about an hour left for the event. This year we made 500 and had a few left over.

Every year we are amazed at the response. People love these hats. We love seeing the tough guys who wouldn't be caught dead wearing something like this, take such pride in decorating the hat then wearing it for the rest of the day.

My favorite moment was on the way home. We had just loaded up the car with a bunch of girls who had come to help and Ky was in the front with me. Due to the street still being closed as they were cleaning up, we had to go out and around. We passed by a park where many homeless are known to stay. We were stopped at the light and I looked into the park and spotted him. This gentleman, who was obviously down on his luck with his possessions next to him, sitting on the edge of a plant bed holding a pink balloon and wearing one of our hats. I tapped Ky and told her to look in the park. She began to scan the crowd and I saw her eyes light up and began to tear. She had spotted him.

She looked at me and said, "He is why we do this mom. This is the reason. This makes it all worth it!"

With tears in my eyes and my throat unable to produce any sound, I shook my head in agreement. Like the first little girl I made a hat for 4 years ago whose face and smile has been burned into my heart and mind, this moment made me remember what all the hours of prep work had been for.

He is the reason. God made him. We need to love him and show him Christ through our respect, love and a hat made of paper and spray paint!