One Taufe & One Segnen

 Today was extra special.

  Emma was baptized (or in German - Taufe).  Nato, her Daddy got to officiate and our whole little German branch stayed after regular services for the special ordinance.

 Although we are far from home it was really full of love.  This little branch, though almost completely native German speakers, did there best to love and support Emma by allowing us to have all the songs and speakers perform in English so that it could be special for her.  It was very neat to hear them all stumble through the English words to "I am Trying to be Like Jesus."  I really appreciated all of their efforts to try to sing along.  I knew exactly how much effort it takes to sing a long in a different language.  It really made us love them all the more. 

 All the primary children did get up and sing one song for Emma in German and that was special and a nice memory for her.  She was really showered and loved and given all kinds of attention today.  In fact our whole family did.

 One of the best parts was that Emma's longest and dearest friend, Megan,(and her family) just got stationed in Northern Italy.  It is about a 12 hour drive, but from over here it seems like "just around the corner."  Especially for an event like this.  Megan's whole family came and spent an extra long weekend with us.   

 To top it all off, Nato also blessed (or in German - Segnen) Lois today.  Wow, Nato was busy!  But neat for Lois and Emma to share today and look back on it together.

The Other Side of the Story

As we mentioned this was a special day.  Full of special people and wonderful events.  But getting there was quite a battle.  Here is the other side of the story.

This morning we had 16 people to get up, dressed, fed and out the door by 8:30 a.m. for church.  As we all had a late night of chatting and catching up with friends we all new this would be difficult.  I (Robin) prayed for extra help to get to church and have a great attitude upon arrival to the church.

I think the first test came when we lost Philip's belt.  We have never encounter this on a Sunday morning, but we found a spare that was too big for Philip but only slightly too big for Benjamin.  We swapped things around and Philip wore Benjamin's and Benjamin wore the spare.  

Then 2 minutes to "go time" and Jacob comes to inform me that his pants split right down the middle while he was wrestling with his best friend, Josh.  I took a deep breath and found a new pair for Jacob on his shelf, just waiting for him to out grow his current pair.  I guess he out grew them today!

On climbing in the van, Emma informed me that she had dirt on her dress, but she had already grabbed a wash cloth to dab away at it, though it never came out.

Then Nato let me know that his car, (we have to drive two cars everywhere because we have outgrown our van) was out of gas.  We decided to have him squeeze in the back of the van, just because we HAD to.

As we drove to church I decided to try to calm all the frazzles by pointing out one thing each kid did this morning to help us on our way.   It was easy to find something for each one.  Lets face it, we got 16 people ready and out the door on time, PLUS the many Oreos, Fudge Stripe Cookies, Nutter Butters, Pecan Sandies and Oranges we were going to share with all our German friends after the baptism.

BUT. . . just as I finished complimenting each child in the van. . . 

Philip threw up!

Yup, it was awesome!

It took all my strength to stay calm and just drive.  What a blessing I still had an extra pair of pants in my big church bag from back in the potty training days last summer.  Hallelujah, I never cleaned out that bag!

So we got there, we got Philip cleaned up (it was a car sick thing, not a germ sick thing) and everyone to the correct classes.  Whew!

But we were not done.  About 1 hour into church, Lois pooped all over the white dress my mom crocheted for all our little girls to be blessed in.  Since sacrament meeting is last, she didn't get blessed in the pretty white dress, but a back up dress I had in my bag.

Luckily, no one went naked, and everyone had so many cookies I didn't have to make lunch!  There is always a bright side.  But honestly, by the time we got to the actually ordinances performed today, we had all the bugs worked out and everything was really nice.  

But getting there is still a pretty funny story. . . Now that it is a few hours later.

I Need to Take more Photos!

  As I looked back on the last couple weeks and all the time we have enjoyed home as a family.  I realized one thing.  I need to take more photos.  They are all growing so fast and I think I might be missing some of it.   Here is at least a little of us this month. . .  

Jane is enjoying the roll of big sister.  She has even started to ask to have her hair done in a "Big Sister" way.

 Matthew will still pose ANY time he sees the camera.  Seriously catching a candid shot of him is very difficult.  But we will take his cute smile anyway.

Benjamin is up holding our family tradition of dressing up.  This is just one of MANY people the boys have dressed up to be this month. 

Lois is growing.  Growing Bigger. 

And growing sweeter.

Here she is at one month old already!