Dear Daddy,

The girls received these oh-so-cute dolls from Nana for their dedication on September 29, 2010. They're made by my friend Kiley here at: Hidden in My Heart's Etsy site and the girls fell in love with them.

Just thought I'd post some of our favorite pictures from November, check out our beautiful girls.

Now that Joel and I have found a "home church" and are members of Christ Community Church, we decided that we wanted both of the girls to be dedicated. A few people we've come across aren't exactly sure what being "dedicated" means.

Our church says this about dedication and the difference from baptism:

"At Christ Community, we wait until children are old enough to believe and understand the true meaning of salvation and baptism before we baptize them.

Some churches practice a "baptism of confirmation" for children. This ceremony is intended to be a covenant between the parents and God on behalf of the child. The parents promise to raise their child in the faith until the child is old enough to make his own personal confession of Christ. This custom began about 300 years after the Bible was completed and is not found in the Bible.

This custom is different from baptism as mentioned in the Bible because scriptural baptism is only for those old enough to believe. The purpose is to publicly confess your personal commitment to Christ.

At Christ Community, we have a dedication service for infants and children that emphasize the parent's role in raising a child to follow Christ."

Basically, we decided we would like the world to know (and help us) that we want to raise our daughters in a Christian home and try to be the best Christian examples that we can be to them. We are giving them to God and pray that they will in their own time decide they want to follow Jesus, but we believe that that will be their choice to make and should they choose Christianity then we would love for them to be baptized.

Unfortunately the service was during the week and at night so many of our family and friends were unable to make it being out of state but we had two amazing families, that we're very close to and we hold dear in our hearts who showed up to support our decision and be there for us and the girls. Thanks so much McKinley's and Woerner's!! (That's your shout out ;) )

Here are some pictures of us and our Pastor Jack, we love him!! And some of us and our children.

Enjoy some photos of this amazing event! 9-29-2010





(Coincidentally all of our children are very close in age, Avery is the oldest, Abigail is the middle, Abbey and Bryce are the youngest of the "Big Kids," then Colbie is the oldest of the babies, Noele's son (who was at home) William is the middle baby and Chayse is the youngest baby and yes we were all pregnant at the same time, with all of our children!)

Everyone knows it doesn't have to be the month of November or even Thanksgiving Day to be Thankful in their lives, I am truly blessed that God has chosen me to be the mommy to these two beautiful, amazing, delightful little girls.

There are some things in life that just can't be captured with a camera or words and for those memories God gave us minds. Unforuntately even those, with time I'm afraid will not preserve my exact memories. And no matter how hard I try to grasp those memories I know they too will slip away.

So, I'm enjoying every moment. From the smell of Colbie's hair after bath, to going into their rooms each night to make sure they're safe and sound, watching them laugh and smile at each other because they love their sister, the feel of Avery's crazy wonderful hair and deciding each day what new fun thing to do with it, the delight in Avery's eyes when I ask her to help me in the kitchen, and the giggles from baby Colbie as I tickle her tummy.

Nothing can compare, I'm so thankful for those moments, so thankful that I am able to stay at home with my little ones, I get those moments, to hold onto, to cherish, to smile and cry about, at least for a little while. So here's to my girls, my beautiful little girls, they're so different and unique and I love you both with all of my heart!

I love my girls and they love each other. They are both each other's favorite people in the world and my heart melts because of that! I couldn't have asked for anything more. Avery calls Colbie aka Sissy her best friend and is constantly giving her kisses and telling her that she loves her and Colbie lights up, wiggles and laughs at her big sister.

Here are a few pictures of our two gorgeous girls, Smiley and the Hair Monster, we'll leave it up to you to figure out who's who ;)