Salvation and Baptism

 Last weekend (on February 6th to be exact), Norah officially asked Jesus into her heart! She talks about Jesus and God all the time and how much she loves them, but she hadn't officially asked Jesus to come into her heart. We had a great discussion at dinner that night (mainly about baptism, but it spurred conversation about salvation too). And Norah was ready. It was so special to be there as Joe read verses and prayed with her. And my mom was there too to witness it! So special!

The next morning Joey and Kylah got baptized at church. They have both been wanting to do this for a while, and the time had finally arrived. They talked with our children's pastor at church, and he agreed that they were ready. They knew that Christ was their savior, and they were ready to show others that they believed in Jesus by getting baptized.

 Joey was first.

 

And then Kylah.

 

They were all smiles afterwards.

It was such a great experience, and made us so thankful that our kids have willingly given their lives to Christ.

 

My mom was there along with Joe's parents (and Hannah!). The Adair's and Penner's also came to church to celebrate with us. Such a great Sunday!

Norah is FIVE!

 Our sweet Norah turned FIVE on February 9th. I still can't quite really believe that my youngest child is five....

Her birthday celebration really started a week or so before her birthday when her daddy took her on a date and got her ears pierced. She said she cried, but then was so happy to have it done!

A few days before her birthday we celebrated at Jump Zone and McDonald's with all her little friends. 

 

We were so excited that Gramma was here last weekend to celebrate with us!

 

The hurricane simulator is always a favorite...

 

Blue and purple cupcakes per the birthday girl's request.

 

Gramma and Norah got to work playing with all of her birthday gifts once we got home from the party.

 

This was Norah's gift from Papa and Gramma. She has loved playing in the rice and digging for toys!

 

The birthday girl with Gramma.

 

Her actual birthday was on Tuesday.

We had Andrew with us for the morning and stopped for donuts.

 

We had a relaxing day playing and watching shows.

She picked macaroni and cheese with hotdogs for dinner (the rest of us had cheeseburgers on the grill). :)

And then it was finally time for her cookie cake.

 

And presents!

 

They all had fun playing with Norah's new presents.

We love our Norah and are so thankful God gave her to us!

Showtime

 These kids of mine crack me up.

They are constantly pretending. One of their favorite things to do is to put shows on for Joe and me.

This show was a dance show where Joey was the lighting guy and the girls were the dancers. Joey danced some too. It was super cute.

And this was a remake of a Patch the Pirate. They had the CD on in the background and were playing the different parts. My favorite was when Kylah was pretending to be the horse "Lightning." :)

 

I know someday they won't put on shows for us anymore...I'm going to enjoy it while I can!

Joey

 Joey got a new hairstyle and new glasses in January. And man, did they make him look so grown up (and so handsome!!)

 

This boy is hilarious. He is so tall and skinny, but eats like a horse. Here he is eating a double-decker peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

 

And he is funny...

 

And so sweet too. (I may be biased, but I think he is the BEST big brother ever.) He wrote this poem about Norah.

 



Ice skating

 In January we went to our local ice skating rink. This place is pretty cool. In the summer it's a splash pad, and in the winter it's an ice skating rink.

The kids had been asking for a while to go, so we waited for a relatively nice and sunny day so we wouldn't freeze. :)

Norah started out with the walker again, but by the end she was (slowly) skating on her own. Although her favorite was when Joe and I would pull her fast between us.

Joey didn't fall at all! He was a little cautious but was doing great by the end.

 

Kylah was probably the best skater of the bunch (but let's keep in mind that professional ice skating isn't in any of our kids' future...)

 

What a fun afternoon!