Caleb

Immediately after Catherine's party was done, I took off to return borrowed chairs and find an outfit for Caleb for his dedication. Then, back home to finish loading the car and leave for Branson. Although we didn't get there until 9:30, the ride really was not bad. First trip without a paci, way past bedtimes, so he cried for a bit. The sweetest thing was hearing him calm down when we sang to him. It was such a fast trip, only 24 hours, but probably one of the best. Amazing how when Buddy and I talked about it after we got home neither of us felt wipe out, as we have in the past. The service was beautiful. Caleb fell asleep in Buddy's arms while we were singing, and slept for a good 30 minutes, even when we went forward to present him to the Lord. Of course, when he was born and even before, we knew that we would raise him to know God in a real and personal way, to follow Jesus and live life according to the Bible. This was a public commitment to that- raise him to know God, train him to follow His ways, and to provide for him everything he needs as God blesses us. Then the Pastor layed hands on each child and spoke a blessing over them. Very sweet and special.

Here we are after the service. Our first family picture in quite a while. Caleb's ready for sleep, you can tell.

Just a nice sunset on the way home.

It's been about 1.5 weeks since we took away Caleb's paci and it has gone well. No problems with nap and only a little crying at night. Now we sing and pont out facial parts and snuggle. Almost as soon as we sit down he says, "eye" and is digging in my eyes.

Charissa, bless her, took Caleb with her during C's party. He said "doggy" for her and asked if they were "all done" when they were shopping. It's pretty cool how he's developing. He walks almost everywhere and only crawls if he wants to get somewhere really fast. He knows how to take things out and put them back in, which is really great when he's taken his favorite plastic containers out and I'm helping him learn to clean up after himself! He's discovring the joys of the toilet, so I bought him a potty seat very early, I know, to get him used to sitting every once in a while and being ok with it.

There are so many other things he's doing, but that's enough for today! I'm making bread and need to help Samuel finish up school.