Dedication

This past week, we dedicated Eden to the Lord at our church.  I was actually thinking a bit about why we do something like this and why it is a significant event as parents.  First of all, dedication is a committment.  Our committment is to raise Eden in the ways of the Lord, which is no small task.  It's not something that is easy or something that comes naturally.  It's something that only God can help us do, and part of us dedicating Eden is admitting that we can't do this on our own.  I think this is an important piece that can sometimes be overlooked.  I can have great intentions and desires, but they will fall short apart from the supernatural power of God.  So, for me, dedicating Eden was a reminder of how much I need the Lord.  I need his power in my life, and I need his Word to guide me. 

Secondly, dedication is public.  This is important to me because it means that I am part of a community, a body.  There are people in our lives that care about us, love us, and want to encourage us as we parent our children.  This is invaluable.  Parenting is a hard work, and we need people to strengthen us (in the Lord) along the way. 

Eden means "delight".  When we pick out verses for our kids, we like to pick a verse that coordinates with the meaning of their name as well as something that we desire for them.  Our specific desire for Eden is that she becomes a woman who delights in the God's Word.  We want her to love what God has to say.  We want her to observe the benefits of obeying God and, as a result, be compelled to follow Him wholeheartedly.  We were reminded of the Psalmist, David, who had a correct view of who God is and expressed a genuine love for God's law.  The verse we chose for Eden is Psalm 119: 34&35-"Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.  Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it." 

 

  

Royal Oaks

I can hardly believe that fall is officially here.  This year is truly flying by.  To celebrate the transition from summer to fall, we went to visit one of our favorite apple orchards, Royal Oaks.  We love Royal Oaks-it has lots of fun things for the kids to do (including tractors, a "train" ride, a small petting zoo, and more), great apples for picking, yummy apple cider donuts, and good food.  It was supposed to be a rainy day, so we got there shortly after it opened hoping that we could get our apple picking done before the rain hit, and the weather ended up being great while we were there (it did start to rain as we were leaving). 

We went with Judah last year which was fun, but this year was more fun since he was able to tell us what he wanted to do.  His favorite things were sitting on the tractor and riding on the little train.  He also loved that a tractor was pulling us for apple picking.  As far as apple picking was concerned, he was more interested in picking up the apples that were already on the ground (which we had to keep telling him to keep out of his mouth) and running up and down the orchard aisles.  Eric wanted to get some of the good apples on top of the trees, so he decided to lift Judah up and have Judah try to get some, which Judah thought was funny.  I also attempted to get a fall-ish picture of the two kids which proved to be a challenge....hmmm...getting two kids to look at you (and not look funny) is harder than I thought it would be, but I'm up for the challenge!  

It's tractor time!

Judah enjoyed the tractor last year with daddy, too.

 Posing for the camera...

 Little sister was there, too, although she wasn't into the whole apple picking thing. :)

 "Look at my apple!"

 Seeing if she was ready to pick apples...

 maybe next year

 Eric spotted some good ones and was telling Judah what to do...

 success!

 Judah was loving the tractor rides

 First attempt at a photo of the two of them...ummm...

 she may not be able to move much, but if she can grab it, she will.

 

This was Judah at Royal Oaks last year...what a cutie.

Second attempt at a sibling photo...Eden is looking at the ground.

 Attempt #3: Judah has a super cheezy smile.

 Attempt #4: Judah kissing Eden (not what I was going for, but very cute)

 Attempt #5: Both kids looking up and decent faces...this will have to do. :)

 Last but not least, the train ride!

Big tractor wheels!

 Last year's photo

We look forward to many more fall experiences this year as well as in the years to come! 

Rice Cereal

A couple of days ago, we introduced Eden to rice cereal.  I think the first "eating" experience is so cute.  Of course, Eden pushed most of the food out of her mouth with her tongue since she's not used to the whole eating from a spoon thing yet, but she seemed to like it.  By the end, she was opening her mouth when she saw the spoon coming towards her.  Most of the cereal ended up on her face and bib, but she should get the hang of it in no time.

 What do I do with this?

 Messy girl

 Looking for more food

 She likes it!

 

Photo Shoot

Here are just a few photos that I took of the kids last week or so.  They are getting so big (sniff, sniff)!