The best weekend!

If our crawfish boil weekend was a good weekend, then this past weekend was the best weekend! We started things off by spending Friday morning with McConnell and Ruffin. I watched all four kids while Merritt ran errands. The pictures tell the story better than I could...it was the kids vs. the family room, and the kids won:



On Friday afternoon, Abuelita Bibi arrived for a visit. The kids were so excited. Over lunch, Gussy heard me mention Bibi's name and he threw his arms up in the air and said, "Bibi...yeah!" I was thinking the same thing because Bibi is sooooo good with the kids and when she comes to visit, it's always a nice break for Mama and Papa. Just hours after she got here, we took advantage of the free babysitting and went back over to the Barrows' for a bbq/baby shower for our friends, Mac and Beth. It was a wonderful evening...the weather was perfect and the party was very laid-back and fun. I brought my camera, but forgot to take pictures. :(

On Saturday, we attended our friend, Harrison's, birthday party. It was so much fun for kids, parents, and grandparents alike. We love the Raineys and we were so happy to celebrate sweet Harrison's 2nd birthday with them!

The bouncy castle was a huge hit!



So was Harrison's mini-golfcart!



The birthday boy:



Abuela Glo and Abuelo Loup spent the night with us on Saturday night, so, as you can imagine, between the two of them and Bibi, the kids were showered with affection and attention that only grandparents can give. They loved every minute of it. The next morning, we were joined by Louie's aunt and uncle, Tia "Doo Doo" and Tio Dave, for the baptism.

The baptism itself was really special. I emailed our pastor, Geoff, and asked him to mention that the kids were adopted and to share a few special verses (see previous blog posting). There's a portion of our church service when Geoff calls all the kiddos up to the front for the children's message. Well, he called us up, too, and used Romans 8:14-17 as the children's message. He said he had some folks he wanted them to meet and introduced Cati and Gus and said that they were adopted and that their little brother, Max, is still in Guatemala and will be coming home to join us soon. He tied it all back to the "spirit of adoption" that we all receive as part of the family of God and it was just perfect. It really meant a lot to us. Then, Geoff baptized Cati, who was a little thrown-off by all the eyes on her, so she was very serious and hanging on to her mama's neck. Gussy, on the other hand, went right into Geoff's arms, immediately pointed to baptismal fount, and said right into Geoff’s microphone, “Wah-wer!” Everyone laughed, of course. It was priceless!

When he is performing a baptism, Geoff always recites the meanings of the person’s names. In our case, he phrased them really beautifully. For Cati, he said, “Pure sea of sun and roses,” and for Gussy, “God’s warrior and powerful protector.” I looked it all up on an ancestry website, just to double-check and he was pretty much right-on. I also looked up Max’s name, which is now Arturo Maximiliano, but will be changed once he’s home.

Catalina – Pure
Marisol – Maria/Mary (Drop of the sea or star of the sea) + Sol (Sun)
Rosa – Rose

Louis – Famous warrior
Gustavo – Staff of the gods
Requelme – Powerful protection

Mateo – Gift of God
Maximiliano – Greatest

Their names are beautiful, just like the little people they represent. Here are the photos from our very special Sunday.





Sweet Fraser and her adorably pregnant belly attended the service with us:



Cati’s baptism:



Gussy’s baptism:



Family photos after the service:





Gus and Cati were playing in the fountain outside our church and Gus kept putting water on his own head, I guess imitating what Geoff had done during the service. Hilarious!





Well, you must really love us if you made it through that long, long posting. Thanks and we love you, too. That’s all for now. Have a good day!