Mother's Day/Baby Dedication

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old

he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6

This morning was baby dedication for both kids at church. What a special day to make a promise to the Lord to do everything in our power to raise our children in a Christian home.

Jarrod and I went out on a date Saturday night. The two of us don't get away alone very often so it was a nice treat! In honor of Mother's day he let me choose the restaurant! We enjoyed dinner at Outback Steakhouse. It was nice to be able to have both hands free to enjoy my meal and to talk to Jarrod without being interrupted. We didn't even talk about the kids. Much!

After dinner we browsed at Barnes & Noble. I could spend hours looking at greeting cards and they have the best selction there! I also spent awhile skimming Kate Gosselin's new book, 'I Just Want You to Know'. It contains individual heartfelt letters written to each of her eight children. Each letter is so tender and loving and is several pages in length. In the book Kate tells about her faith. She shared that she needed God more than any other time in her life after the sextuplets were born (I can only imagine!). She writes that God chose her to be he mother of those EXACT children. That hit me like a ton of bricks and brought joyful tears to my eyes. How powerful of a statement - and what a privilege and honor that God chose ME to be the mother of Emma Grace and Owen Barrett! Some days it is extremely overwhelming, but God doesn't give us anything we can't handle. How amazing that God knew my children before I did. He knows exactly how many hairs are on their heads (albeit Owen doesn't have many!) (Luke 12:7). He also knows my prayers before I pray them (Dear Lord, please help this child sleep tonight.) (Matthew 6:8).

We enjoyed breakfast with Jarrod's mom and lunch with my mom.

I felt very appreciated on Mother's day. Jarrod brought home a BEAUTIFUL flower arrangement on Friday (including a dozen hot pink roses, my fav)! My parents and J's aunt gave me some fun goodies. The kids got me a cute exercise clothing set for aerobics class and perfume. Jarrod always makes me a sweet video with photos from the past year (if you haven't heard Taylor Swift's song 'The Best Day' you should grab a box of Kleenex and find it)!