Hey, have you heard that Jesus rules?!

Last Saturday, our church had a baptism at the beach. Anyone who wanted to be baptised came out to St. George Island with the rest of the church. We had a picnic and lots of fun playing in the water and sand. Noodle began asking questions about baptism.

"What's baba-tis-im?" she questioned me next evening. I explained to her that people who ask Jesus to come into their heart can show everyone that they've become a new person by being baptised. It's a symbol of dying to sin, being washed clean, and starting a new life.

"I believe in Jesus," she stated, "can I be baptised?"


"Well," I said, "You have to pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart and be your savior. Do you want to do that right now?"


"Yes," she replied, "but I don't know what to say. Can you help me pray?" I led Noodle in a simple prayer that night, and she knows for sure that she is a Christian!

Then, on Sunday, we went as a family back to St. George Island. Noodle asked if she could be "baba-tised." Seth and I looked at each other for a moment, thinking. Why not? So we did it. Noodle was baptised in the Gulf of Mexico with her mommy, daddy and sister there with her.

The Babysitter At the Lake

Okay, I just have to rant about something for a minute. I know that my "youthful" appearance will be great when I'm 40, but I'm almost positive it's the reason for my latest irritating experience. I made a last-minute decision to take the girls to the lake yesterday for some post-VBS fun. I didn't have a swimsuit with me, but Noodle had one and I just stripped Hopers down to a swim diaper. There is a sandy beach area that gently trails off into the lake water, creating a shallow swimming area. Noodle is an excellent swimmer and jumped into the water among the throng of camp children that were there. Hopers preferred to spend most of her time wandering around the sand and eating snacks that I'd brought. This was fine with me. I stood in the shade of a bordering oak tree and watched my kids with amusement. Hopers would wander into the water (about waist deep for her) and Noodle would pick her up and splash around with her. Of course, she constantly fell down, getting her face in the water. I would walk out to her and help her get up if she needed it. At one point while I was standing out in the water after picking up Hopers, I realized a large woman was wading towards me after saying to her friend, "I'm going to say something!" The hostility in her look was all I needed to understand her point.
"Are you his babysitter?" she questioned me, moving closer.
I felt confused. Was she talking to me? I pointed at Hopers and shook my head.
"Are you the mom?" she said in a positively rude tone of voice.
I nodded.
"Are you sure?" she said, sneering.
I raised my eyebrows and nodded again. What was this lady's problem?
"Well I'm just shocked," she said and began making her way back to her friend.
I pretended to ignore her comment. She apparently thought I was some teenage babysitter who didn't know what she was doing!
A few minutes later I noticed she was talking with Noodle out in the water. I asked Noodle on the way home what the woman had said to her. It seems that the woman still hadn't believed I was the parent and was questioning Noodle as to whether or not I was the babysitter for her and her "baby brother". Noodle, of course, set her straight on both accounts. (Poor Hopers!) I am still feeling miffed about the whole incident. What makes people think it's okay to act that way?

South Florida Trip Part Hair

One of the other big events that happened while we were on our trip to South Florida was Haircut Day! Noodle has been asking for a haircut for quite a while now. We continued to put it off because I wanted to make sure Noodle was SURE. Well, Caleb and Jakey both needed their hair done also, so we decided to take them all together! As seen above, the kids were all looking pretty shaggy. But they all cooperated and now are looking fabulous! Hopers decided to keep her mullet for a little while longer.

And here's the gang from the second half of our trip.

South Florida Trip Part IV

Our big event for the day was going to the Palm Beach Zoo. We almost didn't get to go because there was a problem with Michelle's van (befuddled by technology!) and we couldn't get out of the driveway for a little while. But, Steve came to the rescue and we were off on our big adventure. Michelle, Caleb, Jacob, Hopers, Noodle and I took the short drive up there. It was a great zoo with lots of big ficus trees (shade!) and interesting animals. Noodle, Caleb and Jakey found a fantastic climbing tree that we spent a while exploring. Hopers liked watching the ducks and learned a new word. "Duck." We were joined by more friends later on...Caleb's little friend, Flora, joined our pile of kids (and her baby brother). Best of all, there was a fabulous water play fountain area for the kids to run around in at the end. They donned their swimsuits and ran in circles through the spraying water while the moms watched. The zoo was not very crowded, quite shady and mostly overcast and warm. All in all, really nice. Oh yeah, and Noodle found a TEN dollar bill on the ground! She chose to buy two toys at the gift shop with it.

All of the kids actually stood quietly for about 4 precious seconds. It was definitely a photo-op.

South Florida Trip Part III

Yesterday, we went to the beach with our friends. It was more like a picnic with lots of sand, because we didn't stay very long. By the time we were able to unload and set up all the kid's stuff, it was almost time to eat lunch. We played in the water, dug in the sand, ate lunch, ate sand, and then packed up to go. It was still very fun! The girls have been begging me to take them. I hope we get another chance to go while we're down here. Here are photos of Hopers, Noodle, Elijah, and Jacob. Baby Luke, Tamar, Michelle and I were also there.