Tuesdays of Praise

For some reason I got my days mixed up this week and thought yesterday was still Monday. Imagine my surprise when I woke up today and it was already Wednesday! :-) So, here is my Tuesdays of Praise post... a day late.

Psalm 148

¹ Praise the LORD.

   Praise the LORD from the heavens;
   praise him in the heights above.
² Praise him, all his angels;
   praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
³ Praise him, sun and moon;
   praise him, all you shining stars.
⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens
   and you waters above the skies.

 ⁵ Let them praise the name of the LORD,
   for at his command they were created,
⁶ and he established them for ever and ever—
   he issued a decree that will never pass away.

 ⁷ Praise the LORD from the earth,
   you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,
⁸ lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
   stormy winds that do his bidding,
⁹ you mountains and all hills,
   fruit trees and all cedars,
¹⁰ wild animals and all cattle,
   small creatures and flying birds,
¹¹ kings of the earth and all nations,
   you princes and all rulers on earth,
¹² young men and women,
   old men and children.

 ¹³ Let them praise the name of the LORD,
   for his name alone is exalted;
   his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
¹⁴ And he has raised up for his people a horn,
   the praise of all his faithful servants,
   of Israel, the people close to his heart.

   Praise the LORD.

Playing at the park

There is a nice little playground near the fields where Jason plays soccer, so the kids and I went with him yesterday. Jason asked Tom (our brother-in-law) to play soccer too, and Anna and her girls came to meet us at the playground. We were pleasantly surprised to find several of our other friends there to play as well... I guess this nice weather is too good to resist!

Ruby and Charlotte wanted to swing and swing and swing some more.

Just a couple of monkeys on the bars.

Ella was giving Sophie a spin while Chaney and Chloe watched.

Chaney and Audrey got some swing time in too.

In case you don't know, this look says, "no one likes me" or "nobody wants to play with me." You may have seen this look on Sophie as well. We like to recycle things around here... even attitude! :-)

Chloe was baptized!

Chloe was baptized on Sunday! It was an exciting day for her as well as Jason and I. Jason's brother, two sisters, brother-in-law, five nephews, mother, my folks, sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces all joined us for the special morning. I took a short video. I cut out most of the questions (I was trying to get a picture too), but you can still see Jay baptize her.

These are Chloe's own words (printed in the bulletin):

"I was five years old. I was in my mom and dad's room. I prayed for Jesus to be my forever friend. It means that I believe in Jesus. I want to be baptized so I can show everybody I love Jesus."

Matthew 28:19

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...

Cousins

Sophie has said that she and Audrey are "BFF cousins". I think that goes for Charlotte and Ruby too.

We had just finished watching Chloe's soccer game on Saturday... This kind of stuff just melts my heart!

Back to the Zoo

We were back at the zoo on Friday making the most of the great weather and our membership! This time we went with my friend, Amy, and her two little guys, Ryker and Camden, along with her cousin, Jalyn, and her children, Ashlyn and Carter. It was another gorgeous day to be outside visiting all the animals at the zoo and enjoying time with friends!

Charlotte and Henry at the start of the day

Ryker and Charlotte checking out the tiger

I think Amy wanted a sweet picture of them on top of the rock, but instead they were growling like the tiger they just saw. Look at the sunshine streaming through the trees though!

The bear was having a great time playing with his (or her?) toys in the water.

Just three little monkeys hanging around before the dolphin show.

I love the meerkats! (Side note: spell check wants to turn "meerkats" into "beermats" - ha!) Charlotte was petting them through the glass.

They had just as much fun playing in the leaves as they did watching the animals.

It won't be too long before these little guys are running around with the others.

"I swear... it was this big!"

The cheetah exhibit is so cool!

Carter, Charlotte, Ryker and Ashlyn were all looking at the little baby elephant. (They lined up in birth order: 2, 3, 3, and 4.)

Thanks for inviting us, Amy!

Friends

Here are some future pals...

(Raendra had Cameron in July, I had Henry in August, and Amy had Camden in September.)

This was how they looked lined up at the start of Bible study this morning.