Happy birthday!

Today is Victoria's birthday!  Hard to believe she's only six.  Tee hee!  She certainly acts like she's at least twelve, if not twenty!  She's our chatty, happy kid.  We always thought Caroline talked a lot....and then we had Victoria.  We thought Peter was our stubborn one...and then we had Victoria.  And we wouldn't want her any other way!

Best decision ever!

Tuesday night, Victoria accepted Christ as her Savior!!  She was doing her nightly devotion time with her daddy (just the sweetest thing ever, btw), and she decided to pray a prayer of salvation.  She has loved Jesus for a long time (for a six-year-old).  She sings songs to Him (that she made up!), she thanks Him for things, she has even known why Christ died on the cross ("to save me from my sins so I can go to heaven").  Yes, she knows she sins and what sin is (not living up to God's standards).  We'd even allowed her to take communion because we felt she loved Jesus as much as any person could - with her whole heart.

But Tuesday night....she prayed to Jesus and trusted Him as the only way she can get to heaven!  Praise Jesus!

Do you know where YOU'RE going when you die?  Wouldn't you like to be sure?

Straight Teeth!

Before braces

Jonathan had terrible teeth.  He had a narrow face and an extra tooth (!).  Last year, he got an expander to give him more room in his mouth.  He also had his extra baby tooth pulled, and we waited to see which of his two (!) canines would be straighter.  Then we had the crooked-er tooth pulled.  He was a trooper.  He was in SO much pain when he got the expander and then when he finally got braces on his top teeth.

After braces - with GUM!

But look at the results!!  We (well, I) had hemmed and hawed, hoping that we could do just one "phase" of orthodontics, but two Christmases ago, his Sunday school was acting out the Christmas story and one little girl didn't want to "be his 'wife'" in the skit because his teeth were ugly.  It crushed me, because Jonathan is THE sweetest kid.  Seriously.  Anyone who knows him knows his loving heart.  We had a good talk about where your worth comes from (which is who you are in Christ), and whether the outside is a good reflection of what you are inside (it's not).  It was also good to have his brother and sisters be just as horrified at this girl's reaction. By the way, I don't know who it was, and she's just a kid - kids say mean things, mine included - so I'm not mad.  I was just sad for my sweet boy.

Onto the rest of the story....if you look at his calendar page from 2011, there are very few smiling pictures of Jonathan.  2012, however....almost all of them are smiles!!

Well worth the cost, I say!