Colton Spiritual Birthday

I have been SO blessed watching  the Holy Spirit working in Colton's life, as he is so tender towards God's ways.  I can try to instruct Colton's actions, but only God can mold Colton's heart and motives, and I am SO grateful that He is!  Colton truly wants to obey God and be who God wants him to be.  Colton has a string of 5-6 regular prayer requests for himself as he desires to grow more Christ-like in his actions, and I have seen God answering those prayers!  He is fighting his natural sinful tendencies with prayer, and is truly repentant when he makes a mistake.  He has grown so much in his servant heart, both at school and especially in regards to his sisters.  He has desired and prayed for boldness at school in his faith and was so excited to share with me the day when his buddy joined him in praying before they ate lunch, and now it is a routine for them to take turns thanking God for their food together!   I have loved watching how God uses Colton's silly, fun, confident personality that draws kids into friendship, and how several of his guy friends are so excited to come with him to Wednesday night Clubs at our church to learn more about God's love for them.  I love watching how Colton truly listens from the heart to his Bible reading and devotions each morning and how he takes his Bible memory verses to heart - I see the impact it makes on his actions both at home and at school.  I am so thankful for our church, who regularly teaches truth to Colton!  I am so grateful for God's Holy Spirit living in Colton, as I watch him distinguish truth from untruth on things that he hears, and for His constant protection over Colton's life.  I am so proud of the boy Colton is growing into, and I pray the Lord continue to bless and teach him, and grow his faith and his love for others!  And so, it was with GREAT excitement that we celebrated Colton's FOURTH spiritual birthday, the day that Colton committed his life to Jesus.  Our celebration for Colton's decision had three parts:

1) MEAL: Colton picked and cooked a meal for the family.
2) REMEMBERING: We read/listened to the blog post/video of Colton's spiritual journey and decision as a family
3) GIFT:  He received one gift to encourage him in growing in his faith

Meal

Colton's spiritual birthday fell on a Saturday this year, so after much deliberation and DAYS of looking at various recipes, he chose to make the family breakfast!  He got up when everyone else was still in bed and quietly "woke" me to come help him in the kitchen :).  He chose to make Neapolitan waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs, and fruit.  He also chose a special dessert, hot chocolate mug cakes!

He mixed the waffle mix as normal....

But added melted chocolate chips to a third, strawberry preserves to a third (along with red food coloring), and vanilla flavoring to a third. 

 

The dessert he chose, he made entirely by himself, adding each of the above ingredients to five separate mugs, to make hot chocolate mug cakes!

He added marshmallows, whip cream, and chocolate syrup to the top :)

Happy 4th spiritual birthday, buddy!

Remembering

We love looking back and remembering how God worked (and is still working) in Colton's life on his spiritual birthday.  Click here for the link to the blog post we read together as a family, rejoicing at how God drew Colton to himself.  I love this video, taken discreetly so he didn't know at the time, hearing his little voice talking to God...and how his faith has continued to grow so much!  (More videos and his story leading up to this video found at the above link).

Gift

This year we chose for Colton volume 2 of the Bible in "Your Story Hour" CD's, which he loves listening to.  Between Summer and Colton, they own Acts of the Apostles, the Gospels, and the the beginning books of the Bible, and they have LOVED listening to these while they get ready for school, do chores, or before bed, both together or individually.  Both Summer and Colton eat up these dramatized stories straight from the Bible.  The volume we gave Colton for his spiritual birthday has many stories about King David and adventures before, during, and after his reign.  He was really excited!

Happy 4th Spiritual Birthday, Bud!  We love you and are so proud of you!!!!

Larkyn Dance Recital

Larkyn had her first dance recital last weekend!  She takes dance from Ms. Daria, an amazing neighbor of ours who teaches dance from her home and keeps dance fun, modest, affordable, and it is Larkyn's favorite part of the week!  Larkyn's recital was held at a local nursing home, where both residents and dancers' families could enjoy the performances!  I'll include a video of each of her two dances, as well as a few pictures!

Ballet



Tap

Larkyn and Ms Daria

Summer and Colton were SO sweet and supportive of Larkyn!  It was so fun to see Larkyn get to be the reason we were all going to watch one of the kids do something!

Grandma K came!

I was very impressed with how our "sometimes shy in new situations" kiddo had confidence and poise and did a fantastic job with both dances.  Great job, Larkyn!

Larkyn's 1st Spiritual Birthday

Larkyn spent weeks looking forward to her spiritual birthday, where we celebrate her personal decision to trust Jesus as her Savior (read about it here!).  Spiritual Birthday celebrations at our house have several parts:

1) Kid Planned Menu (they usually go on Pinterest with me and save recipes they like!)
2) Kid Cooked Dinner (acting as a servant to the family, they LOVE it!)
3) One gift to encourage their spiritual growth
4) Time at family dinner talking about their spiritual journey and reading past blog posts that relate to their decision to trust Christ.

Larkyn has watched her two siblings have several spiritual birthday celebrations, and she was so excited to have her own!  She planned the whole menu, but unfortunately she was very sick that week, so I didn't let her help cook as much as we traditionally do, so as to avoid getting the rest of the family sick, however I let her do some things :).  Larkyn picked to make Italian Dunkers (the kids' favorite school lunch that we attempted to duplicate using a St. Paul public school recipe!), fruit salad, brown sugar and honey carrots, and a special jello dessert she found on pinterest :).

Sidenote - we read her Bible together every morning when she wakes up and have read through many children's Bibles, but this so far has been one of my all-time favorites!  We have read a weeks worth so far, since she got it last Friday, and the stories are complete, well written in kid-friendly language, tie the Bible together chronologically, and point to Jesus!  I highly recommend it!

We are so proud of how you love Jesus, Larkyn!  I love listening to your constant joyful singing...sometimes songs from Sunday School, BSF, Wednsday night clubs, or your many Bible verse CD's....and other times they are worship songs made up by you!  I love your heart for others and how once a need is presented, you continue to pray again and again for that person/persons in your prayers weeks and months later.  I love your amazing memory as you memorize God's Word.  I love your heart for others to know Jesus, choosing to give one of your Bibles to a friend who didn't have one and truly wanting others to trust Christ as Savior.  We pray you always continue to grow closer to Him each day, in all that you do, and that you listen to the Holy Spirit as he directs your life.  We pray for godly teachers, friends, and someday spouse.  We pray the Lord's spiritual protection over your life and the many distractions and pulls of this world and that as you grow you would bring glory to HIM and bring others into His kingdom as you follow Him.  We love you, Larkyn!



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Just as an aside, here are a few pictures of Larkyn on her ACTUAL spiritual birthday (January 16th) and the day after...poor baby was hit hard with stomach flu, constant cough, and ear infection all at once!  Despite the fact that she wasn't able to cook as much as she had hoped, she was able to enjoy her meal when we celebrated two days later!

Sweet Girl!