Baptisms!

Yesterday was a glorious day indeed. Our kids had been asking about being baptized. We had considered it about a year ago, but after talking with them, I just didn't feel like they truly "got" it, that this was a milestone in their Christian walks, an outward profession of their personal decision.

But a few weeks ago, our pastor announced that we'd be having a baptism service - and to make it even more special, it was going to be held on our one year anniversary of being a "real" church (officially recognized by our denomination, upgraded from a church plant).

We went through the class last Sunday, and the kids both asked our pastor more questions than anyone else (something he even commented on again yesterday).  And while I was certainly excited to have our kids take this step, I was super excited that my dear friend AND her daughter (A's bestie) also were baptized.  They've been attending our church for a couple months now, and her parents even joined us for service yesterday.  Squeal!!  So cool to see the good news of Jesus spreading...

We do not have a church building, and we meet for services in a middle school.  Oddly enough they do not have a baptismal, so we do it outside.  In a horse trough.  Following in Jesus' example, Texas style ;)  And yet another little tidbit: notice the shell necklace? Every single person ever baptized at our church was worn that. OK, just had to add these other shots from our semi-official church photographer. The first is when we were before the church (being introduced, explaining the significance, etc. Hubby was behind me on the steps), then additional water shots, family with the pastor, and kids talking to our pastor's wife. Seriously, I can't stop smiling when I look at these!

Our really fabulous family weekend

Saturday night was our town's annual "Praise on the Hill." This is a free event, and had heard nothing but good things about it, but every year there was some sort of scheduling conflict for us. Last year, Matthew West was the featured performer, but I was in San Antonio for the Women of Faith conference. Anyway, this year the Newsboys were the headliners. The last time I saw them in concert was 20 years ago - they'd just released the album Not Ashamed, and I was super close to the stage, dancing around in a very mild version of a mosh pit. And now I'm taking my kids - hilarious! Anyway, the temps were still pretty warm on Saturday, so we didn't go until about 7 PM. We caught part of a performance from Hearts of Saints (quite good) and Rapture Ruckus (not my thing). I definitely had a total "old lady" moment during that performance, as all I could think was, "Wow, they're really loud and I can't understand a single word!" Hubby - the sound geek - did point out that the sound was *really* bad during that performance, which didn't exactly help... Anyhoo, Newsboys finally took the stage and the kids were excited to be able to sing along with some songs (having a good, local Christian radio station rocks!) Michael Tait made a comment about love being a verb (inside joke for old school DC Talk fans, which meant I subjected our children to some vintage videos later, courtesy of YouTube). Our daughter had a ball dancing around, too, in case you can't tell from the picture ;)

Sunday morning: church. I had the preschool class for first service - our lesson: passover. THAT's a fun lesson to teach 2 and 3 year olds! I don't know how much they actually "got" but I will say that it made communion during 2nd service even sweeter for me as I was reflecting on how Jesus became our lamb... After church on Sunday, we headed down to South Padre Island for sandcastle days. Again, something we'd been wanting to check out for the past several years. As we were cruising down Padre Boulevard, I had to laugh at the irony of the Irish Pub offering a Mexican Plate. Seriously, life in south TX is downright hilarious at times. We'd had a cold front blow in the night before, and it was only 71 at the beach. Bliss!! Tons of cool sand sculptures, a few photo ops at Pirate's Landing, and then dinner at a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. Our daughter wanted nachos - holy pile of food, batman! Let's just say we brought quite a bit home... Perfect ending to a busy but relaxing weekend!