HCA Spring Pictures

I'm a sucker for school pictures. The backgrounds may be ridiculous and the prices outrageous, but there is just something about your babies sitting on a treasure chest in front of a fallscape or, in the case of this year's HCA Spring Pictures, on a hay bale beside a picnic basket in a field of .. what, poppies? Tulips?

Regardless.

Though the last thing I need is more pictures of my boys, you know I snatched these bad boys up before that Strawbridge Studios itinerant photographer could say, "CHEEEEEESSEEEE!"

Freddie's shows are the price I paid for leaving
to get to Furman before the boys left for school.
I'd laid out their clothes; I assumed Jeremy would
know to put Freddie in his Sperry's, just like
Jones was in his. I didn't know until we got the pictures
back that Freddie had, instead, picked out his own
footwear. What can you do?

Jones got saved!

Tonite, Jones had had a rough nite. It hadn’t been rough until right at bedtime, and then, everything kind of fell apart for him, so he ended up in bed before Freddie. I tucked Freddie in, and as I walked by Jones’s room and in towards the den, I stuck my head in and said, “Good nite, Jones. I love you.”

He was laying on his stomach and turned his head towards me at the door and said, “Tomorrow nite, can we ask Jesus in my heart?” I walked in his room and said, “We can do it right now, if you want to.” He DID want to, praise the Lord, so just as I walked the path to salvation with one son on Sunday, I was privileged to walk with the other son tonite. I cannot believe what a gift this is!

After we went through everything (he told me his sins, like how he talked to me tonite and how he treated Freddie this afternoon and the way he lied to Jeremy this morning; he also started crying, saying how he didn’t want to be here when the earth burns up, which gave me the chance to tell him the great news of the Gospel), I sang “Over the Moon” to him. It’s been his favorite song, since he learned it at “Space School” VBS at Clyde First Baptist in 2017. I pointed out to him that he’d just done exactly what the song says to do:

“A - Admit to God you’re a sinner and repent to Him!
B - Believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and then
C - Confess your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord,
And you will know eternal life forevermore.”

The incredible thing is that Freddie and I had just prayed that Jones would ask Jesus in his heart.

Best. Easter. EVER.

It will be hard for there to be an Easter happier than this one.

We went about our day, business as usual - Easter Bunny, church, lunch with my family, dinner with Jeremy's - and were putting the boys to bed. I was on Freddie Duty, Jeremy on Jones. The Bear and I were talking about nothing in particular - and certainly not salvation! - when we walked into Jeremy's bathroom to brush Freddie's teeth.

Apropos of nothing, he joyfully blurted out, "I wanna ask Jesus in my heart." Almost immediately, he added, "But I've already asked Him in my heart at my old school." For the last year or so, Freddie's told me he asked Jesus in his heart while singing "Into my Heart" in chapel with Mrs. Shana's class at Clyde First Baptist last year. I had no reason to not believe him, so I never really pushed him on it, waiting instead for things to happen organically - if, in fact, anything else needed to happen.

But I decided to lean in to tonite's random explosion. "Why do you need Jesus in your heart," I asked, eventually getting around to "to save me from my sins" and listing some of his sins, which included not being kind to Jojo, telling on Jojo, and "when you (meaning ME) yell at me (meaning him)," which is an indicator that he has disobeyed or been disrespectful.

From there, we went into his room, where he repeated a prayer after me. In it, we thanked Jesus for dying on the Cross. We praised Him for being strong enough to conquer death. We asked forgiveness for Freddie's sins, and listed the ones mentioned above, and we prayed that God would send the Holy Spirit to help Freddie be the boy He'd have him to be.

As soon as we'd said "Amen," he jumped out of my lap and said, "I'm gonna go tell Daddy." He ran into Jones's room and made his profession to Jeremy. We then when back into Freddie's room, where I sat in the rocking chair, and Freddie stood on his bed, eventually jumping into my lap, saying, "I'm gonna live for Jesus forever!"

That made me erupt into the only song that came to mind:

Living for Jesus, a life that is true.
Striving to please Him in all that I do.
Yielding allegiance, glad-hearted and free.
This is the pathway of blessing for me.

Oh, Jesus, Lord and Savior. 
I give myself to Thee,
for Thou, in Thine atonement,
didst give Thyself for me.
I owe no other Master.
My heart shall be Thy throne.
My life I give henceforth to live,
oh, Christ, to Thee Alone.

I'll be singing that to Freddie a lot now, hoping it'll always be a marker for him of the nite he decided to "live for Jesus forever." As soon as I'd finished tonite's rendition, Freddie asked, "Have YOU asked Jesus in YOUR heart?" When I said YES! he ran to Jones's room and asked Jeremy the same, promising to share his big news at school tomorrow.

I told Freddie he's now not just my son but also my brother in Christ, and then I thought of all of the songs that go with salvation - favorites, like, "There's a New Name Written Down in Glory" and "When He Reached Down His Hand for MEEEEEE!" and then I wept tears of gratitude that God had reached down His hand not only for ME but also for my Freddie Bear.

Best.Easter.EVER.

(pre-) Easter Pictures

With the boys being in school full time, I knew it'd be hard to do
my traditional, spur-of-the-moment, the-light-is-right, pre-Easter photo shoot at the little white chapel in Clyde this year. I was committed to getting it done, though, so this morning, when we woke up to no rain (for the first time in what seems like a long-time), I hurried the boys to get dressed and get in the car, so we could, hopefully, capture a little bit of this morning's Golden Hour.

We didn't.

By the time we got to the Chapel (just before 9 a.m.), it was all backlit and shadows. Thankfully, though, we found a few shady spots at Lake Junaluska, so all was not lost.

The purpose of these "pre-shoots" is to take the stress out of Easter morning. With pictures already taken, I can relax and enjoy the morning without turning into Attila the Hun, who's insisting everyone be dressed and ready early enough to get a good shot before heading to church.

It's worked like a charm.

This year, the boys really, REALLY tried to cooperate. Bless their hearts. Pictures are just HARD for little people. I ended our makeshift "shoot" with another renewed appreciation for what my friend Brooke does day in and day out and at the highest of levels.

Also, just before we left Junaluska, Jones ran over to me with a pair of dandelions he'd picked for me. The boys bring me these on the regular - and man, will I miss it when they outgrow this phase. The photos of him with the impromptu "boutonniere" are some of my favorites. He will definitely be wearing one of those come Resurrection Sunday!