Precious pic...Confirmation

Oney's Confirmation in the church. I know these childish days are numbered. But, I love the fact that he still looked over at his Mom to smile for the picture. 

He looked so handsome this morning. He did a great job with his confirmation class. Tim was able to do this class with all three of the kids and he did a FABULOUS job. 

So proud of my man and what a gentleman he is developing into. 

Confirmation Sunday

Awesome day in the life of a Christian. Oney was Confirmed in the Church. After completing a pretty strict Confirmation semester, He was more than prepared to make his decision. Judson and I are so proud of him. The pictures below capture a few of my most precious moments of the day.

Oney and Maddie...WOW is about all I can say...

Oney and Cade Carter...Handsome men

Oney lighting his candle...

Oney in his new sport coat his Sittie took him shopping for...good looking...

Oney's cross that his Jidi gave him...special...

Can you tell how thrilled Oney was for his Dad to be teaching him how to tie his tie? 

Jidi and Oney

#thankful

Youth Group Goes to St. Louis

So, while Ally and I were in Nashville and Judson and Oney were in Pickwick, Abby headed to St. Louis with the Youth Group from Church. I (WE) hesitated on her going because we have been gone so much this Summer. Also, the group would not return until the night before school started. But, Abby knew that she would be glad that she went and regret it if she didn't go. So they were off! Tim, our Minister, had a packed itinerary for them. They went to Grant's Farm, a Basilica, Six Flags, a Cardinals baseball game, the Arch, the Children's Museum, the Zoo, etc. You name it...they DID it! 

Abby always enjoys spending time with Abbey Beasley and Raygen Escue at church functions! I am so glad my kids have their different "groups" of friends...church, school, the lake, athletics, etc. It is nice to have a mix of friends in different aspects of life. I try to teach my kids that you can NEVER have TOO MANY FRIENDS!

The group at the arch in St. Louis! GREAT picture! 

THANKS to Tim our Minister and all of the adult chaperones that attended the trip with the kids! 

My Sweet Abby

Abby completed the Confirmation class last week. Tim, our Minister, does a very thorough job with this Sacrament. The kids have attended numerous classes, completed readings at home, visited a Jewish Synagogue, a Catholic Cathedral, attended a weekend retreat, etc. I really feel like they have a very thorough understanding of their commitment/profession of Faith. How BEAUTIFUL is my sweet Abby in these pictures?

These pictures are from the weekend retreat that Abby went on to Pinson Mounds State Park. We met her there for a closing ceremony on Sunday. They had a weekend packed full of activities preparing them for their decisions/commitments that they would be making to the Lord and our Church.

Abby absolutely adored her mentor, Robin Racine. They really hit it off from the start. I cannot thank her enough for her dedication of time and love to Abby. She is such a great person!

Since Sittie celebrated her 70th birthday just a few days ago, we had a few special guests in town as well. Tish, Aunt Cindy and Aunt Nancy. Abby felt extra special having them attend her confirmation.

THANKS to Sittie, Ginny, Aunt Jan, and Daph for preparing all of the food for the meal. It was delicious. I know Abby loved EVERY minute of it.

Abby...Dad and I are so PROUD of you. You have made us so proud thus far. Please keep up the wise decisions and continue to follow the right paths.

Confirmation Class

It is a special season for Abby...she is going through Confirmation Class at our Church. Rev. Tim Carpenter does an excellent job with Confirmation. Ally completed her class the year before last. She really enjoyed all of the activities and getting to grow closer to her Church family. Tim has events or meetings planned every weekend between now and their Confirmation in the Church. They will visit a Jewish Synagogue and a Catholic Church, too. They also have a weekend retreat planned. Abby is so excited about her mentor, Robin Racine. She is really enjoying their time together.

Abby will be confirmed in the Church on April 22, 2012. Sittie has a special day planned for her...a delicious meal with lots of family and friends! Sittie was nice enough to do this for Ally since I had just had surgery. Of course, she wanted to do the same for Abby!

We are looking forward to this special day, Abby. I still remember my Confirmation at Elm Grove Methodist. It seems like yesterday.

Youth Group Goes Bowling

Judson and I were the chaperones at our youth outing this month. We went bowling at Cordova lanes. The night before, we had Ally, Abby, Anna Claire, Grace, Joze, and Brooke spend the night after the Valentine's Dance. Needless to say after the bowling alley, we all came home and put on our pjs for the night. I was exhausted even though this is a really good group of kids.

The picture above is of Jason, our Youth Director, and his "new" girlfriend, Amy. She is so cute and sweet...the kids and I really like her a lot!

As you can tell from the picture of Judson above, he is NOT a good loser. He didn't lose but he missed out on getting a strike, It killed him!

As you can tell from my picture (yes, that's me and someone really took MY picture), I am not a good winner either! I didn't win but I did bowl a STRIKE on this turn! Whooo hoooo!

The group on the way out the door. Jack and Ethan just LOVE getting their picture made...NOT! Judson and I always enjoy going with the youth. We should do it more often.

Church Membership

Wouldn't you know that I do NOT have a picture to go along with this post. Judson and I were married in the Methodist Church in 1995. We attended there until Ally was old enough for children's activities. We were really the only young couple that attended regularly with children at the time.

We made the decision to move our membership to the First Presbyterian Church around 2000. They had many more children and therefore a great children's program. The nursery school that the girls attended was joint effort between churches. A few years later, the Presbyterian church began to change a bit. And after the turnover of several ministers, the change in children's activities, etc we made the decision to start attending the Methodist Church again. We decided not to officially move our membership back until we were sure about it.

After attending at the Methodist church for several, several years, we decided it would be our permanent home. We discussed moving our membership back when Ally was confirmed in the church last Spring. My surgery interfered with that weekend. It just was one of those things where we didn't make it a priority. Until Tim approached me a few Sundays ago and asked me about our membership. I was so glad he did because he gave us the little "nudge" that we needed to put this on our calendars and "get it done"!

We "rejoined" our home church and made it official. We were both anticipating a bunch of silly questions from church members, but it ended up not being a big deal at all. We are glad to be Methodists again!

Ally was baptised and confirmed in the Methodist church. Abby was baptised and will be confirmed this Spring in the Methodist Church. Oney was baptised in the Presbyterian church and will hopefully be confirmed in the Methodist Church in a few years. I don't think it matters where you do it, just do it!