mother’s day means…

most of the day went Kim’s way.  I say “most” because she is, after all, still “mom,” which brings a certain level of responsibility that cannot be shrugged off, even one day of the year!  But this past Sunday was pretty much a win for Kim.

We dedicated our four adopted children to the Lord Sunday morning in a ceremony at midtown.  While Annabelle and Josie have already come to believe in Jesus, Isaac and Charlie have not.  This act of dedication isn’t a good luck charm or a guarantee that they’ll eventually believe; it’s more of a promise on our part to do everything we can as parents, family, and community to help them grow up to love Jesus.

After church we all gathered around the table to eat Kim’s choice: mush and BLTs!  Before we started chowing down, I had each one of us share something that they appreciated about Kim.  It was a beautiful moment for our family, as each one of us shared something unique and personal.

Kim’s one big desire for the day was for us to plant a garden as a family.  She got more than she asked for.  Not only did we get the box garden roto-tilled and planted, we planted several boxes of lettuce, sunflowers, and pumpkins, washed and vacuumed her van and pulled a pile of weeds out of one of the flower beds.  Just about the time we wrapped things up, a gentle rain started to fall.  It’s still falling as I write this, more than 24 hours of free water for the freshly planted garden!

We capped the night with a family version of Settlers of Catan–the expansion set!  It was wonderfully crowded around the table, but that meant that the board was equally crowded.  Though the game started off slowly, the pace reached fever-pitch by the end.  The kids ganged up on me in an attempt to keep me from winning, but they could only hold off the inevitable for a few more rounds.  I wish that Kim had been the one to win since it was Mother’s Day…maybe next time!

Here are a few pics from the day…