Hudson's Special Day

Hudson is growing so fast and before we knew what hit us it was time for his baptism and family brunch honoring him. This has been one of my favorite days for each of our children. It is always refreshing to admit before the church body, "Yes, I know that my child is sinful and needs a Savior. And further, yes I will do all I can to teach and lead him in the admonition of the Lord but yes I ask that the church body surrounding us do the same by praying for him (and us as a family), teaching his class and encouraging us along the way." (For those of you not familiar with the covenant of infant baptism you can read the detailed explanation I wrote in Caleb's baptism post.)

The blessing that Neal chose for Hudson:

Hudson Knox, your mother and I love you very much. Our prayer for you is that you'll be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies...that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn. (1 Kings 2:2-3)

(Dean was there, promise. He was standing behind Anna Grace and

beside me. If you look really hard you can see his shoe.)

a picture with Honey & Big Daddy

Caleb was ready amid the chaos.

a picture with Juju & Ottie

What a sweet day for Hudson as well as our family. We are richly blessed.

Lake Rats

We were invited to go with the Josh Huff family for a long weekend at the beach this past July. It was going to be our family vacation, and their's too. But when an unnamed family member allowed our condo to sell out from under us (I hold no grudge, promise!) we had to come up with an alternative to Sandestin. The only logical thing to do was to pack up the families and head to Lake Martin. Here we go...1 house, 1 lake, 8 children, 4 parents with 4 full days on our hands...

We filled our days with basically three things: 1. swim, 2. tube and 3. ski. We successfully taught Cameron, the triplets (Abby, Caroline and Logan) as well as Anna Grace to ski. They all learned in a day and once they learned that is all the children wanted to do (with the exception of a little swimming, tubing and sea-doo riding). We had a great time and I don't think anyone in the bunch wished we had gone to the beach.

tubing

(Caleb loves tubing but we failed to get his picture.

Holt...well...Holt gave it one try and we failed to get a picture of it too.)

Abby and Caroline

Anna Grace and Caroline

Dean and Logan

Hudson's first boat ride.

little faces

one happy crew

(During the above picture I was holding Hudson up front and

Caleb had plans of his own...)

skiing

Abby

Caroline

Logan

Anna Grace

extra shots

And when they were relaxing from water sports

they were plugged in.

one last photo before ending our vacation

Neal and I choose to believe that Anna Grace is trying to express

her feelings about the end of the vacation and not her disgust

at posing for pictures in 100 degree heat.

And finally Anna Grace's video of her learning to ski.

If you want to watch it, here is the video of her first long ski; she is a natural.

Pirate's Ahoy!

Back in June Dean turned 4 and it was quite a celebration at the park. He decided he wanted a pirate party and we did it up right for him. Complete with a surprise pirate guest...Pirate Ottie. Since this was only the third time in my life to see Ottie in costume myself it was a fun surprise for all. It would be foolish for me to assume that he wouldn't do such a thing since the "one eyed one horned flying purple people eater" appeared at a youth group event when I was in the 8th grade.

Big Man, you are a blessing to our family. You are my helper, often times the voice of reason for your fearless siblings and most definitely your own man. I would say those three things sum you up pretty well.

As I sat down to type this letter today I could not help but smile thinking about you. Here we are a typically loud family and you are right in the middle of it all soft spoken, happily doing your thing. Don't get me wrong you are all boy running around, getting hyper, wanting to play catch, etc. but even in all of that there is a gentleness running through you. Thinking about the way you relate to your siblings, each so differently, amazes me. With Anna Grace for the most part you go with the flow, play what she asks and you enter her world. With Caleb you laugh and cut up, wreck cars, wrestle and stand your ground requesting he conform to your plan. And then with Hudson you get on his level and laugh and talk to him in the sweetest voice, and hold him and kiss him - truly dote over him. To be four you are incredibly complex.

I love and appreciate your predictability, for example you are currently watching Stuart Little 3 for rest time for about the 4th day in a row. You almost always want the exact same thing for lunch - peanut butter and jelly with yogurt, fruit and a glass of milk; you will pick David and Goliath anytime you get to pick a Bible story; you will ask every chance you can if we can go to the enchilada restaurant. You are consistent!

You have made your dad so proud with your excitement for the PS3 and Wii. Don't tell her (she may have figured it out actually) but you are certainly better than Anna Grace at the Batman game and LittleBigPlanet and you are way better than I ever thought about being at either. Your excitement about baseball is also something that you share with Daddy. I know he is looking forward to fall ball - we are all excited about watching you play. As we should be because you have been so gracious to watch Anna Grace dance and sing for the past year.

It has been so much fun to watch you get more and more comfortable swimming and riding the tube this summer as well. I know that there can be no one in the world who enjoys a boat ride as much as you however everyone loves cheering you on in the tube after observing your patience as others tube and ski first. Daddy just reminded me that when he asked you if you wanted to tube during one long afternoon in the boat while we taught Anna Grace and the Triplets to ski you said, "No, I want Caroline and Anna Grace to get up on skis first." You exhibited the patience of Job that day.

You have one of the most amazing gifts - one that I certainly don't have; you know everyone's name. I am constantly amazed as we walk through the halls at church and you see children of all ages (close to yours but not in your class) and you say hey and call them by name. I still have not figured out how you can do that or how you know them. I guess it is only fitting that Mrs. Dana at the barber shop each month calls you by name out of the line up to come get your hair cut even though you don't say much more than hey, thank you and can I have a sucker.

You love your family and we sure love you, Big Man! I say it all the time you are our gentle giant...you blend in, kind, thoughtful but you are opinionated, you know what you want and you go for it - usually when we are not paying attention - and often times you bring a few people along with you in your endeavor. I hope that you never get too cool to give me a hug and a kiss and the girls better look out because if they are anything like me your dimples will make them melt...we will have to address girls and how to deal with them another time but for now ask nicely with a smile and they are bound to say yes and share.

As always I will continue to pray that God will shower down his grace and mercy on you, fill you with a spirit that longs to serve him and a heart that passionately knows and follows his word. Years ago Daddy prayed the charge of David (1 Kings 2:2-3) for your life and this day I pray something so similar that you would "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." (Colossians 1:10)

I love you, Dean Freeman!

pictures from the day