Double the Weekend for Double the Fun

I realized in all the love of Valentine's Day that I never posted about last weekend. Friday night, the gals from our life group went out to Loxley's for dinner. All seven of us made it, and I had a nice time getting to know these women better.

On Saturday, we celebrated Ian's first birthday with his parents Suz and Greg. Caleb was still napping when it was time to leave for the party, so Shawn stayed home with him and I took the Bean. I think Joshua missed his brother. There were lots of babies, but no one his age to play with. Eventually he decided it looked like fun to play with some of the older kids there (her relatives). I suggested that he go up to these bigger kids and tell them his name and ask if he could play with them. It amazed me when he did - he went right up to an older kid (I'm going to guess he was 10ish) and said "My name's Joshua, can I play with you?"

Sunday night was life group, and our babysitter Miranda watched the boys for us. Afterward we went on a "date." We also spent some time that evening looking at baby names. We're really struggling with this child! I'm seeing how much God renamed people in the Bible. Abram was renamed Abraham, Sarai became Sarah, Jacob was renamed Israel, Hoshea was renamed Joshua and the list goes on and on. I'm hoping to get our son's name right the first time! Shawn & I disagree on names. We do have one name picked out that if we don't settle on another, we'll go with it. But, it's an awesome responsibility to name a child. Our baby is going to hear it the rest of his life, and we as parents are going to say it often as well! All that said, thus ended last weekend, and I already posted about the week in between.

The above picture was from Joshua's most recent swim lesson this past Thursday night. We tried to take Caleb along to see how he would do. And we got our answer - not well! He wanted to dive right into the water, too, without his swimsuit on (or our permission). So, I ended up taking him to the minivan so Daddy could watch Joshua's swim lesson. The next several times I'll go with the Bean and Caleb will have some one-on-one time with Daddy.

I already posted about Joshua's birthday on Friday. Saturday was an extremely windy day - with gusts up to 60-miles an hour, I heard. It was the most blistering awful wind, which was a rude awakening with how gorgeous the days previously had been. I was afraid our kids might blow away! We decided to go to the Manheim Township Public Library as a family. I was specifically looking for books on losing teeth, but I didn't find any good ones. I heard there was one about the Berenstain Bears going to the Dentist. But, it didn't show up when I looked at the electronic card catalog. I also heard there was one where one of Franklin's friends lost their teeth, and Franklin was asking all about it. But again, nothing came up in my search. I finally asked the librarian and she brought me back one on wiggling loose teeth. Since Joshua's were not lost in the typical fashion, the book would have made no sense to him. We left there a little bummed. But, we did check out a book on dinosaurs for Joshua.

Sunday we went to church as a family and heard a fantastic message on how God knit us together in the womb. We have to trust in the raw materials He created us with and be who we were meant to be - not trying to perfect who we're not or pretend like we're someone else. We can't become who God created us to be if we resent who God created us to be. While we can't use the "I was made that way" to sin, we do need to be ourselves and use our strengths and abilities if we want to live the full, abundant life God has planned for us. It really made me think. On the way home, the boys told me how much they enjoyed their classes and showed me the crafts they made. Joshua told me that he's going to tell EVERYONE about Jesus (their takeaway point from the lesson). I said "GREAT! What will you tell them about Jesus?" After thinking for a moment, he said "I don't know!" I realize we have some teaching to do! But, I love his enthusiasm! And it's great that he shares a room with his friends Kyler and Veda.

Sunday afternoon, we dropped the boys off at my Mom's house and went to Piero's for dinner where we met 14 of Shawn's extended family members to celebrate Grandma Good's birthday. As she put it, this is her 37th celebration of turning 30 (or something like that!). We enjoyed catching up with the family. When we picked up the boys, they also had new outfits for their bears that Mamaw had bought them (thanks so much!). We let the boys watch a video while we cleaned up the house and Shawn got prepared for his business trip this week. Thus ended another weekend at the Good household. :)