Happy Father's Day 2014

Happy Father's Day!

The boys and I are so grateful for John!!

He's an AWESOME Dad!  We are incredibly blessed!!

 

The day didn't go quite as planned...  aching back, heating pad and rain instead.  But it was a really relaxing Father's Day.  And we enjoyed spending it together.

 

We grilled a yummy dinner and then came gift parade.

(I LOVE this tradition!)

 

B*L*E*S*S*E*D



Josiah turns 14!

Our first-born gift from the Lord turned 14 last week!

We are incredibly proud of the young man he is becoming!  We delight in his character and his desire to seek the Lord in his life.  He is a trustworthy young man and he brings us much joy.

We get so tickled at the way he talks...  (he sure doesn't learn it from his parents)... but he uses a vast vocabulary.  The other day he was trying to tell us that he couldn't remember what someone looked like, but he said, "I can't form an accurate visual image." 

LOVE this boy!!

 

He had a few buddies over for a birthday party...

 

They started with a scavenger hunt that Josiah had created.

 

Dad watching the hunt from the porch...

Then grilling the burgers for dinner...

 

While the boys jump (WRESTLE) on the trampoline...

(I'm trying to understand that this is really what boys ENJOY doing!)

 

Time for cookie cake!

Do you see the blowing block here?

This is why!  Do you see little brother's puckered lips?



And they wrapped up the party with a little computer gaming...



 

It was a really fun evening!

 

 

Then two days later was his actual birthday...

 

 

We had leftover cookie cake...  Josiah says he loves the crunchy icing.

 

Shep made him this paper action figure...

 

Time for gifts...

 

Happy Birthday, Josiah!

We love you!

Baby Ducks

The newest animal additions to the farm are Shepard's five baby ducks!

He's been so excited to get them and he is doing a great job taking care of them.

 

 

I think he loves almost all baby animals.  He carries one of the ducks around with him most of the time when we are outside.  And they follow him around too. It's really cute to see them waddling around behind Shep! 



Country Swimming Pool

After Shepard's baptism, the boys realized that we already have an awesome swimming pool!  They love to go swimming in the pond now!

(Josiah hasn't gotten in it yet, but maybe he will soon.)

 



Shepard's Baptism

It felt like a long wait through the cold winter months for the water in the pond to get warm enough...  but we were finally able to do Shepard's baptism a couple weeks ago on Memorial Day weekend.  It was a very special day!  We can't think of anything worth celebrating more than when our children choose to follow the Lord! 

Just about every special event with our family comes with a cookie cake! :)

 

This time we used the south pond and it was a great choice for the baptism.  John shared a few words with everyone and then baptized Shep...  such a precious time!

 

Here's our family right afterwards...

And a picture of the whole group that was there to share Shep's special day...  (except Paul Barker who was kind enough to the photo).

After a burger cookout, it was time for the cookie cake!

("Shepherd" is spelled wrong...  I think we probably got the decorator confused with our spelling of Shepard's name. :)  Oh well...  gives it character!)

 

And in case you are wondering, my Dad has a broken foot... so we toted him around in the golf cart. :)  I'm so glad he was able to come!