"The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song I will praise Him." (Psalm 28:7)
The first part of the verse above has been hanging in Zeke's room since he was a baby. His name, Ezekiel, means, "May God strengthen him," or "God is my strength." We pray that God will strengthen Zeke all the days of his life.
Over the past year, Adalynn has blossomed into a new little girl. We prayed that she would find joy in the Lord and not fear. She was acting timid and we want her to enjoy the blessings from the Lord. God placed Psalm 28:7 on my heart again and I didn't even connect that it was the verse Zeke had hanging in his room. The second part calling for the heart to greatly rejoice and praise Him was my prayer focus for her.
Wow...how amazing that God led me to a verse that, when read as a whole, allows me to lift up my hearts desire for both of my children! God is SO good!
Please join Gregg and me in praying this complete verse for BOTH Zeke and Adalynn over the coming year!
Now onto some of our celebrations...
We were thrilled to get to celebrate Zeke's birthday in Johns Creek and home in Americus. We decided to have a roller skating party in Johns Creek. It turned out to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated, but the kids still had fun. The adults all got an arm workout trying to hold our children up while walking along in our shoes! Well, except Jared who was always an amazing skater!
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| Our big boy! |
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| My friend, Dena, and her family joined in the fun! |
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| See that arm workout I mentioned above?!! |
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| Precious! |
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| Now that's balance! |
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| Harper got to join in! |
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| I thought this picture was neat with the kid in motion |
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| Phia had a knack for it (like Daddy!) |
We knew we'd get to celebrate with GeeGee, Jared, Jami, Kariss, Sophia, and Harper, in addition to some of our friends that live in the Atlanta area. We didn't know the Hablinskis would still be visiting, so that was a fun added treat!
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| Action shot! |
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| My friend Katie brought her son, Lee, too! |
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| Enjoying the snacks and fellowship. |
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| Hablinskis and Stargels taking it all in |
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| So thankful Ellen was there! |
To celebrate in Americus, we had "breakfast for dinner" with Cherian, Sheeba, Joshua, Nikita, Paul (Shannan was out of town), Sterling and Christian. We are very thankful for the dear ones God has brought into our lives here!
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| The four of us! |
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| Zeke helping me decorate the day before the dinner! |
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| The table setup (thankful for Grandma's extra chairs!) |
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| Daddy loving on the kids while Mommy cooks! |
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| Adalynn took Mommy's chair...so happy! |
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| The boys playing |
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| Blowing out his candles in his waffle (I didn't put 5 because they were wobbly!) |
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| Thomas the train birthday train from Cherian and family! |
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| Adalynn was thoroughly enjoying herself! |
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| Train time! |
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| I love the pure joy on all of their faces! |
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| Piggy back ride! |
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| She started out afraid of the balloon, but Cherian and Josh helped her grow to enjoy it! |
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| Precious picture (I wish you could see Cherian's face!) |
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| Time to be silly! |
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| ...more silliness! |
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| ...and more silliness! |
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| Well, that's about the best we got! |
As you can see, we Zeke has enjoyed celebrating his 5th birthday. We are incredibly humbled and thankful for all of our family and friends who love us and our children!
I'll close with a collage of Zeke over the last 5 years. It's hard to believe he is 5 years old!
