Dedication Weekend

A few weekends ago we had Sadie and Blake's Dedication at church. (Due to our multiple moves since Sadie was born, we still hadn't had her dedicated). Baby/Child Dedication is not baptism and does not mean our children are saved. They are not christians until they make a personal decision on their own to follow Christ in their lives. They will be baptized (hopefully) whenever they decide to do so. But in the meantime, it is our responsibility as their parents to raise them in a Christ-centered home and teach them about Christ's sacrifice on their behalf and His grace that He extends to each of us.
It was an exciting weekend and both of our families were able to come up (minus a few siblings).

Each church does the dedication a bit differently, but due to the size of our church, they put a picture of each child being dedicated up on a large screen in front for everyone to see. We also chose a life-verse for each of our kids.

Blake's verse is

Micah 6:8

"He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God"

Sadie's life verse is II Timothy 3:14-15

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."

Each family then got up front as our pastor described what was taking place

Notice Sadie's folded hands while we were praying

After the dedication, we all came back to our house for some food and games. (We ended up doing the dedication at the Saturday evening service).

We introduced the Sorensens and re-acquainted the Bohlmans with the "Left-Right-Center" game...a personal favorite of ours despite neither Matt nor I ever winning! And Wyatt personally requested that we play since we usually play after the kids are in bed. And boy, did the kids LOVE being a part of the action and excitement.

Blake definitely has reached the 'quick-grab' stage, reaching for things faster than we can get them out of the way.

I love how Sadie put her hand in Uncle Kyle's shirt to get his attention

Pops having a heart-to-heart with the kids before they went to bed

Pops and Wyatt have gotten to spend a good amount of time together this summer golfing and working on 'projects', which has been so great for Wyatt. He is definitely one of those kids that needs quality time with people before he feels comfortable around them, even if they are relatives. And he is a bit resistant to doing things with other people at first, but my Dad has persevered despite Wyatt's initial apprehension. But the payoff is well worth it.

Our Dates

Last weekend Matt and I each had a date....and not with each other. Sadie and I had a date on Friday night and then Matt and Wyatt had theirs on Sunday. Truthfully, Matt and Wyatt were planning on going to the twins game on sunday evening with our friends Drew and Kael, so Matt felt like I should do something special with Sadie. When I told her that afternoon that her and I had a date, her eyes just lit up. I told her we would be going out for dinner and she could pick where (Noodles and Co, her fav).

She wanted to 'get ready' with me, so I did her hair and let her put on some 'lips gloss', as she calls it. She was so excited and wanted to wear her new skirt.

She got several compliments on her tutu

And I was amazed and how 'girly' she was the entire time. She brought her purse and several times during our dinner, she rifled through it to find 'something', although I never ended up finding out exactly what that something was. I made sure to focus on her the entire time=moving at 'Sadie speed' (slow), jumping over everything (she loves to see how high and far she can jump these days), and talking non-stop without being interrupted by her brothers. We had a great time!

The boys in their jerseys

(courtesy of Uncle Kyle, as gifts for being the bestman and ring bearer in his wedding)

They, too, had a great time. Matt took Wyatt to Maxwell's for wings beforehand (just like Matt does with all his buddies, so Wyatt was feeling like one of the 'guys'). And the game ended up being the 'back to school' night from Target, so they handed out Twins backpacks with colored pencils inside--perfect!!! And Kael and Wyatt both got sundaes inside the plastic Twins helmets at the game--another highlight!

Never gets easier

We're pretty good at doing this......

but we're not good at being the ones staying behind and having to goodbye to those leaving. For our entire lives, we've been the ones leaving. So when we moved in to our house and I told the kids we were done moving, I didn't really think about the possibility that other people could move away from us and how tough that would be. Unfortunately we have had to experience this much too soon in our time here in our house. I have said on this blog (on many occasions) how thankful we are for the neighbors we have and the neighborhood we live in--in large part due to the wonderful families we have gotten to know. And last week, one of those families had to move away....and not just away, but FAR away to Texas. The neighborhood just isn't the same without them and it will be really tough when someone else moves in to the "Van Beveren's House", but before they left, we were able to spend lots of time with them.

Kendall 'directly' Sadie and Emily as she took their picture

Wyatt, Kendall, Emily and Sadie

Kendall 'the photographer'

I took these next two pictures as Roger was telling Wyatt and Kendall that they could only have a popsicle if they could open the freezer on their own......and then reach in and get them out!

These two had more fun the 3 days prior to Kendall moving than they had all summer with one another.....so fun but also so sad!

Emmy just looked so cute watching the movers load the truck

......so sad....

Wyatt and the 'big kids' as we call them in our house

Sadie and Emmy with their favorite babysitter, Andrea

Wyatt (5 yrs old) and Ryan (15yrs old)

But don't tell Wyatt there is such a big age gap--he thinks they are almost the same age!

And Melissa, I had to take this picture. We all know this wasn't Kendall being emotional about the move, but rather about a much bigger deal--her splinter!

How we all felt that day.....love you Roger, Melissa, 'Big Grace', Kendall, and Emmy

what else can you do when the heat index is 104 degrees?

The weather last week was just unbearably hot! And its a bit too much work for me to take all 3 kids up to the pool by myself with Blake usually needing a nap by the time we get there, so we created our own 'pool' fun at home.

I love this picture.....Blake loved the splashes that came his way, keeping him cooled off!

As you've probably noticed from the last few posts, Blake adores his big brother. I took these next three pictures over the course of about 10 seconds and they are so precious to me!

My beauty

...she has such a great imagination. Not sure what she was doing her, but the smirk on her face perfectly captures her personality.

...dancing...

I couldn't resist posting a few pics of the the 'jumps, dives, and slides' they were doing. I am quite sure that they hurt themselves a few times, but they were having so much fun that I didn't say anything. I believe they emptied the water out of the pool about 10 times by splashing so much and refilling it, but that's what hoses are for, right?