Church Christmas Program

This year the church did a musical. Neither of my kids were old enough to be in the main program but they did get to be animals in the Nativity and sing on the last song with everyone. They both sang out great and had a wonderful time! The second service when they did it I was sitting on the ground a few rows back and could hear Ally belting it out above the rest of the kids! I was so glad they were able to participate and have a great time! Here are my little sheep and bull!

Dylan's School Christmas Program

This was Dylan's 3rd year doing a school Christmas program and every year he gets a little more comfortable with it. Notice I said "a little," he still tends to lean towards the shy side but it makes everything that much cuter! They sang "Happy Birthday Jesus" while holding pieces of cake with candles! It was so cute and very uplifting.

Ally's School Christmas Program

Tonight was Ally's first Christmas program at school and she did so well! She sang and did all the hand motions. It is incredible how God uses our children to bless us and remind us to have that childlike faith. What a blessing it was to experience all those children singing songs about God and reciting memory verses!

Power Tools Performance!

Power Tools is the kids choir at church that Dylan has been involved in. They have already had one performance this summer when we had Church in the Park. Today they had a "traveling" engagement! Our church has 3 services and the choir got to perform for all 3 today! The kids did a great job!!! Here is a video from one of the services, enjoy!

Church in the Park

Today we had church in the park down at Montieth Riverfront Park. It was a beautiful day to be worshiping outside! Part of our worship service included the kid's choir performing for us. Since there is a break in Sunday school this summer Dylan was able to be a part of the choir! Here is a video of the performance, you can see his lips moving but you probably won't hear him. At least he looks good!



Here are some pictures from the day also. It was a wonderful day, thankful to be a part of such a wonderful church family!

Dylan's Generous Heart

Last night we went to a Corvallis Knights game with the Hotrum clan, since Uncle Brian is in town! On this particular night they were doing the $1000 Dash for Cash. It was for kids 12 and under so I got the waivers and got Dylan and Ally signed up. The time came and I took them down to the field, not having ANY idea of what to expect. We were standing around all all of a sudden there was a countdown and then money flying everywhere! The kids scrambled and tried not to get squashed by the millions of other people scrambling. Dylan ended up getting $2 dollars and Ally ended up with $1. We got off the field and started walking back to our seats, on the way Dylan holds up one of his dollars and says, "I don't want to keep this one." I think he was feeling a little bad that he had gotten more than his sister. So I told him if he wanted to he could give one of his dollars to his cousin Grace who had come to the game with us. He absolutely lit up at the idea and decided that is what he wanted to do. So when we got up to the seats he shyly but very happily went over to Grace to give her one of the dollars he had "dashed" for. My throat got tight and tears threatened at this generous and selfless act. This is what being a Mom is all about!

Living Lord's Supper and Happy Birthday Grandma Winnie!

Palm Sunday found us attending church at my parents church, Northgate Wesleyan Church. Every year they do a portrayal of the Living Lord's Supper. This year was one of the best performances I have ever seen! Here are a few shots from the show!

After the service the kids got Easter baskets from Poppa and Grandma Jo and Grandma Winnie and Uncle Roger, filled with puzzles, candy, stuffed animals, and a couple other toys. The kids loved them! We also tried to get a family picture. This is the best one....

Then we headed on over to The Great Wall buffet in Salem to celebrate Grandma Winnie's Birthday. The kids helped me pick out a couple of puzzles for her and she was so happy, here's to another wonderful year. We love you Grandma Winnie!!!

Baptised

Today was a very special day!!!!Our children got to witness their Daddy being baptised. Darrin had never been baptised, but after coming to the church we are at now and deciding we would like to make it our home church, he figured this would be a good time. What an amazing thing for our children to witness. Again, I can't help relishing how absolutely blessed we are. Tomorrow we will be becoming members at our church, and then we will be working with Pastor Dave to get our small group up and off the ground.

The Arrival of Willow Ruby Beebe.....A breathtaking amazing experience!

"Ring, Ring!!" Groggily I reach for my cell phone to check what time it is....11:33pm. "WHAT???" "Who in the world is calling me this late???" "I guess I'd better answer it." "Hello?" This is when I went from groggy to adrenaline filled and rushing around like a madwoman....you see it was Pam Dent, my friend Amy's mom calling to tell me Amy's water had broke and I needed to grab my camera and scoot on over! You see I was being given the absolute honor of being able to photograph those amazing moments immediately after birth! I was given the honor after her first daughters birth as well, oh did I mention....she does home birth! It is probably the most amazing thing I have ever seen, if you are able to I would highly recommend it....it is probably the most peaceful thing I have EVER seen in my life!

So I am madly running around throwing clothes on left and right and grabbing what i need to get me through the night. I run down grab my purse and camera and am off!!! It is really nice driving on the freeway at night it is sooo empty!

I get there and walk in and walk over to peek in her room it looks like she is asleep which I later learn she is not.

It is midnight.

So I am pacing everywhere trying to calm down....Pammy gets there and we decide to clean a little since she is as bad as me! So we proceed to clean up the kitchen and then Carol, her midwife, come out and asks us to start boiling some water, she does her home birth in a large tub and the water was cooling off. So we start boiling water....its amazing just like the "olden days."

Its 12:30.

We sit around watching tv and trying to save our energy for the big moment.

Its 1:00am.

We start talking about how we bet that she is going to have the baby within the hour because she had been checked in the last 15 minutes and she was 9-10 cm and the baby was about halfway descended down the birth canal. So I was going to sit by the door so I could be close and listen to see if I was going to be needed for delivery pictures.

It's 1:05am.

I hear her start to push so I make Pammy come over and stand outside the door with me so we can hear when the baby is born. Four pushes and 9 minutes later Baby Willow makes her appearance at 1:14 am April 26th, 2008. I actually looked in as I heard Amy exclaim that she could feel her head and I saw Sean catch his daughter!! What an amazing sight! After Amy get seated I was able to come in and start taking pictures while Willow was still attached by the umbilical cord. Willow was alert and happy with next to no crying! I cannot believe how amazing a woman giving birth can be! It was so amazing to see that strength! Also to hear and see the comments between Sean and Amy. Sean said, "I cannot believe I have 2 little girls!" You could hear the overwhelming joy in his voice, it brings tears to my eyes. Amy said, "Look what we made!" Also with such joy and love in her voice it brought tears. I finished doing some pictures and waited around until it was time to cut the cord, you see they wait until it stops pulsing. Sean got to cut the cord again and then I left to wait. A couple hours later after Mom and Baby were settled I went back in to take pictures while all the baby's stats were being taken. She weighed in at 7 pounds 10 ounces and was 20" long. I am so thankful to have an amazing friends who would let me have the experience of photographing this miraculous event in their lives!

Must be doing something right.....

Wow what an amazing experience I just had. I have felt for awhile that God is doing wonderful things in my life and my families lives, then tonight he just revealed himself in such a small wonderous way.

I was going through Ally's bedtime routine and we brush her teeth, read her book, sing a song, then we pray. Tonight during prayer she was sitting on my lap with her babydoll in her lap...I started praying and she had her hands folded, then all of a sudden realized that baby needed to pray. She proceded to take the babydoll's hands and fold them in prayer. What an amazing feeling to see someone as young as 2 show some level of faith and understanding. God is so wonderful and working so hard in my family to make us what he wants us to be. Praise God for revealing himself to me tonight to remind me that he is working and there for us always!

~Nicole