five photo catchup

These five photos were found lost in the "cloud" somewhere attached to Michael's phone.

First two taken in Sherman/Dennison

The last taken around Christmas

a transformed life

Therefore, if anyone  a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  II Corinthians 5:17  

From the beginning, we have been talking to Elizabeth about the need for spiritual transformation.  There is a "new Elizabeth" who does not live in bondage to sin any longer.  While this E made the decision to ask Christ into her heart several years ago on September 11th, she was struggling to turn over her heart to Him as her Lord.  This past year has brought such a change.  She is becoming the new Elizabeth.  Her life is exhibiting the fruit that only comes from the Holy Spirit and a transformed heart.  It was without any reserve then that I responded to E when she told me she wanted to be baptized.  We discussed what baptism represents-- a public commitment to Christ; an identification with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection; and an act of obedience.  She talked with Mrs. Allie.  Allie also confirmed the comprehension and maturing I had seen in E's life.  We set up a time to be baptized only a few weeks later.

The process for baptism was all new for us at the North Klein campus...we had never even seen one.  We went to the "Cow Palace" early and were talked through the process by church members.  E was going to be baptized in what amounted to a walk-in tub, sort of.  It was actually only about 18" deep for 90% of it.  Then there was a small area that was 3-4 feet deep.  She was to stand in that deeper area, then sit on the ledge of the shallow area, and be dunked backward.

She had fun visiting with her friend Hailey while we waited for the baptisms to commence.

Everyone finally filed out of the service and down the hall to the Cow Palace.  Our family took up the whole first row.  In attendance was Gram and Gdaddy, Aunt Shayna, Ibra, Suma, and Javi, and adopted family Paul and Sally Anderson.  Thanks all for coming!

Elizabeth was calm and excited to be baptized.  She came out of the water grinning!

After drying off, she received her certificate.

Here's to the New Elizabeth!

My favorite four...

I realized a few months ago that I had no recent pictures of Daddy and all three kids.  Father's Day this year provided the perfect excuse.  Thanks, Daddy, for tirelessly taking care of us!

a lost picture

Our only family portrait in a while--Easter this year--disappeared when Michael's phone crashed the next day.  I never even got to see it.  But when I went to pull photos from M's cell phone, there it was again!  Hurrah!

a quarterly digest

What once was at least 3 times a month posting for the kids turned into once a month...turned into once every couple of months.  Here are the random photos (minus big events deserving their own post) for the past several months since the end of April.

Our family served together in April.  We beautified Carenet's landscaping.  David was a hard little worker.

Also in April, I enjoyed my own little hairstylist and photographer.  Thanks, E! (to be continued below in later months too)

We visited Atkinson Farms for strawberry picking in May.  The picking was pretty good but very hot. The friends we went with came over for lunch afterward.  Kim and Mommy went to high school together in Dallas, but our kids had never played together. The kids enjoyed getting to know each other.  Allison Jane and E became the closest of friends!

Mother's Day in May~
Girls insisted on matching dresses...(despite the fact E had long since outgrown---leggings solved that problem).
The kids also showed up in church service to watch baby dedication.  So sweet to watch my girls across the room.

Also in may...

Our final BSF for the year.

Lots more swimming in our pool

Playdates with friends.

Swim practice and other times with friends at swim practice...

Memorial Day at Uncle Andrew's new house

beautiful braids...

and random other pictures...

There were also more lego creations, including a turtle made out of duplos, and a monkey holding a banana (I'll let you guess which one is the monkey in the picture).  The non-duplo pictures are courtesy of David--I didn't even know he was taking them.  And one "girl" creation, courtesy of Elizabeth.

...and a special Mommy-Daughter date to the first ever North Klein She ministry dinner.  Elizabeth was a sweet dinner date.  She was not the only younger girl.  Several of her friends were there with their Mamas too!

We started June off with an end of school year party at the Portillo's house.  Anne had set up a nerf battle zone in the back that couldn't have been cooler.  There were also two huge slip and slides, croquet, and lots of yummy snacks.  The kids were exhausted (swimathon in the morning and then this), but they loved it!

And also in June, we volunteered and attended the first North Klein vbs.  I helped out in Missions.  One day we had the CFBC pet therapy dogs visit. They were a big hit!  We invited two of our swim team families.  After VBS one of the days, we enjoyed a Chickfila lunch with the Gilberts and Nici.

We have completed several summer reading programs.  The CFBC one gave the kids a compass on lanyard and free CFA cards.  They also provide a pizza party in August and their names on the Wall of Honor.  The HCPL summer reading is rather less interesting, but the kids did get to pick out a book each and got blow up guitars and a certificate and a ribbon medal.  Abigail enjoys jamming with the guitar.
This is actually the Wall of Honor for last year's summer reading.  Kids are pointing to their names.

here were a few more random pictures.

E drew this picture of Mommy, Daddy, and Elizabeth

Looking at an open house for Gram and Gdaddy had us admiring the ducks outside the back fence.  

Who says crimped hair isn't coming back?  A braid is just as effective as any crimper.

May~A picture with Mommy and a few with Daddy

After encouraging E to read to me this month, she picked out a regular book from the library.  I kept telling her I thought it might be too hard for her, but no!  She did great!

We had the treat of having two different familial visits.  First, my sister showed up with 3 of her kids.  This was a first!  Yeah for the visit!  and sis-in-law came up with kids for a swim in the pool too.  A few days after my sister left, my parents showed up for Elizabeth's baptism (more on that in another post).

And to bring us up-to-date~  for the fourth of July, we decided to drive around the nighborhood and see if we could see some fireworks.  We hit the jackpot!  This neighborhood is ideal for firework viewing.  Half the streets near us are culdesacs and the demographics are loaded with families with kids.  We could see fireworks displays all around us.  We parked around the corner and watched one for a while and then moved back to our street and found a location where we could literally see 5 displays going at one time.  And these were big sky-high ones, multiple booms.  Fantastic!  The only thing better was coming home and being able to watch them from the pool...and then going inside and viewing them out the window as I was lying in bed!

We are only the 6th day of July but here are a few other photos from these first few days of the month.

And today, David and Daddy went to cousin Ibra's birthday party.  While the boys bonded over Lord of the Rings, the girls had a fun time at home...we painted toe nails, watched the food network star kids, and braided hair.  The first hairstyle I have is one from E's imagination.  I absolutely love it!!! We followed up with youtubing braids and experimenting with a few others.  

See you next quarter! (and stay tuned for a few filler posts, including a big birthday post).