And now... my son is my brother!!

Can it get any better than this??? As many of you saw, a few weeks ago my daughter claimed Christ as her savior and was baptized. The REALLY cool/freaky/ God-thing about it: while she was at camp at ACU, Riley was here with us. On the way home from Wednesday night church, Riley announced: "I really want to talk about getting baptized."

whispery-secret: I'm sure some super-spiritual people out there will tell you how the light shone from heaven, and their conversation regarding their children's baptism came naturally and was totally spirit-filled. Let me tell you this: few things in parenting have made me feel so completely inept, and if the Spirit was telling me what to say or how to react, this is how it sounded inside my head: (Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooossssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh). Big vacuum-o-nothin'.

I told him we could do some talking/ studying (but first I had to talk to the Lord and do some studying myself, evidently). It was less than an hour later that we got the text message from his sister that said that she HAD to be baptized. I was a little freaked out. And at peace at the same time. God was AFTER my children -- and I couldn't have been any happier.

It was yet another situation that highlighted my children's individual personalities: Ashley wanted NO. ONE. THERE!!! And Riley wanted to be at 'big church' with all of his friends, families, and plenty of total strangers as witnesses. Fine by me.

Grandparents were able to come in and witness the wonderful event. All of the same "high" that I got with sister -- all the same again! Very exciting and just so, so grateful that I have a God that will hunt down and claim my children, when I am just so ... me as a parent. If anything on the planet is evidence of God's grace, faithful children are it. Humbled and grateful and full-to-the-brim with joy am I.

Here is Troy introducing Riley to our church family.

Y'all, this precious man that prayed over us -- I can't say enough about (and not just because you read my blog, Bill). He is one of our shepherds, and he and his wife both have the most beautiful spirit. And, he's just funny -- which is always a bonus in my book.This picture makes me cry -- well, they all do, and partly because I seem to have way-layed my camera with a crowbar-type object while in San Antonio, and I do believe it is on borrowed time. I digress. This picture makes me cry because it is what church is to me: young, old, and in between, all family, all loving, all looking toward heaven, and rejoicing to welcome one more to go with us. The two young men in front are two of Riley's dear friends. In 7 years we'll see some embarassing pictures of them on Senior Sunday. Until then, I pray they may model Christ to each other, and sharpen each other as iron sharpens iron.

All in all, my "What I did during summer vacation" was to welcome my children into the family of Christ. I think I may take a few weeks off as a mother! :-)