Elijah's 6th Birthday

 Praise the Lord, Elijah recovered from his sickness in time for his 6th birthday!  It was fun to see his siblings wake him up and sing happy birthday to him.  Finally we could open the present Grandma sent.  I love how Emily is helping open it also.

 After school we had his fun party with the Kindergarten class.  These kids are ready for fun!

 Elijah loves track and field day, so I had to use the hurdles for at least one game!

 Malachi loved to be a part of the party with the "big" kids.  Duck-Duck-Squeeze!  Love the expressions on these kids' faces.

 Elijah next to his two best buddies.  Sojo and Silas have known Elijah his whole life!  Sojo has been at every birthday party of his since he was 1--what true life friends!

 We actually had so much fun having a double birthday party, shared with Jaydin.  What a blessing to have so many friends.

Happy Birthday, Jaydin and Elijah!  Thank you, Lord, for friends and for life!  What a gift!

Happy 95th Birthday Great-Grandpa Ghormley!

 On Monday, November 4th, my Grandpa, Malachi's Great-Grandpa, turned 95!!  He was born in 1918!  Imagine all the history he has lived through.  AND he is still walking and still married!  Amazing!  What a testimony of God's grace and faithfulness to let him live to see his children's children's children!

Malachi made him this play-dough cake and put as many "candles" as he could on top.

Here I am with both of my grandparents one year ago at Micah's wedding (Oct 2012).  This is the last time I saw them!  I hope to see them again in this life, but I know they love Jesus and will be with us forever with Him if God decides to take them before I get back to America again.

Thank you, Lord, for blessing my grandparents with a long life, with health and many children.  Thank you for their faithful prayers for each of us daily, and for their faithfulness to you.  YOU have been faithful to them, Lord, and we give you praise for 95 years!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA!!

"And many more!!!"

The Beckers 6--Birthday Photo Shoot

 For my birthday present I asked the fam to do a fun photo shoot with me!  I planned the whole wardrobe around this one outfit that my sister, Sarah Emily, gave to her namesake Emily.  I praised God for a fun day and great weather (and lighting).  I also praise God for my family and for 34 years of life!

 Here are some of our favorites--but there are LOTS of good ones!  Two of our favorites are being used for this blog--notice the new header and the new profile picture to the right.

 Buff brothers.

 "Don't Mess With Her".  Protective older brothers!

 My romantic, loving husband!

My favorite, favorite one!!  This one got printed and framed for the piano.

Thanks to Elise, our photographer!  GREAT JOB!  I recommend her.  See her blog:

http://lightonmylens.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-b-family.html

Spirit Week and Packages

 This week is Spirit week at school!  It is almost like having halloween every single day--so many costumes to think of!  Even though Elijah is our only boy in school, Malachi and Luke wanted to walk in the parade too!  Elijah was having fun on the first day--sports day!

 I love to see the little guys following their older brother, and Elijah looking up to the older boys at school.

 Meanwhile, back at the home front, Malachi got his birthday package from Grandma Bruce!  So fun!  What's inside?!

 I found the bottom of this kitchen set for sale at a cheap price at a used surplus store.  What a blessing!  Then I had Kuya Arman fix it for me and add the top shelves.  It was fun to put little things in it for Malachi, but so perfect was the fact that Mom found some pans that fit just right on the top.  Thanks Grandma!

 Malachi loves to cook, and I love to watch him pretend!

 Malachi is sitting down to enjoy the meal he just made.  Love the cupcakes, Mom!

 Day two Elijah was a King.  He looks so funny!

 And Sojo was his princess!  Oh, he got 2 princesses--Mika too!

 Day three Elijah was a tree, Malachi was the sun, Luke a leaf, and Papa was a rain cloud.

 I don't think Eljiah liked day 3 as much.  His arms were tired from holding up his branches.  Note to self: Do not make a costume that requires holding arms up for ten minutes, and do not make paper costumes.

 Malachi is one serious-looking sun!  Hahaha!  Oh, I think Moms have more laughs on spirit week than the kids do.  Who would like to make a caption for this photo?

Soccer season has started!  I am now officially a "soccer mom".  I always knew I would be one day--and that day has come!  So fun to have snacks with friends after a great rainy practice.

Malachi's 4th Birthday

 My Malachi turned 4 last week!  He requested a green taxi cake.  We have a lot of colored taxis around our city now--they used to all be white.  Now we find pink, orange, yellow, mint, and Malachi's fave--green!  This is my attempt.  (Cheri and Beckie, I always praise God for you when I decorate cakes)!

 I had so much fun watching Malachi at 6:30 A.M. discovering all the birthday surprises I left for him.  He put his presents in a nice tidy pile and then stood on the table to look at his balloons.  "Mom, you should put balloons in the kitchen too," he chided me!

 I took Malachi on a MacDo breakfast date for pancakes.  On our way through the school we saw Papa!  What a happy boy, sitting with both parents and no siblings.  He felt special.

 Yay!  I'm 4!  Big boy!

 His party was after school, so that Elijah and friends could come.  We has a Bible story from Leviticus 7--who knew!  God gave a recipe for cakes in the Bible!  To give thanks to God you can make a cake. We were off to make our own too!

 The kids got their aprons on and partnered up.  Time to crack some eggs!  Thanks to my wonderful helpers, especially Ate Mary Jane, who baked 10 little cakes for party favors (later we decorated).

 Malachi loves to watch Dora, so I made him his own treasure map.  He carried it all the way through to the treasure--his presents!

 I love how he studied the map I made for him.  We still play with it during the day at home--the map IS the treasure!

 4 candles!  I love the glow in his eyes when it was finally his turn to be the one with the candles to blow.  Both brothers birthdays were in May, so he wondered when it would finally be HIS turn!  Thank you, Lord, for friends!

 Time to eat our cake!  We also enjoyed homemade ice cream--thanks to Kaci for giving us that maker!

 The cakes finally cooled and it was time to decorate.  Luke, how many sprinkles did you put on there!?  Wow, that is a lot of umbrellas.  So fun--our party favors.  I think Luke was licking the purple frosting.

Right after the party Nate and I had to jet off on a plane to Manila for our embassy visit with Emily.  So to make it up to the boys, we went swimming on Saturday for a family day.  Emily is in on the sand fun with her darling little suit!

See Facebook for an album of 62 photos!

Malachi's 3rd Birthday--Niagara Falls

 Malachi is 3 years old!  What a precious boy!  I love you, Malachi Tyndale!

 After staying with other people for most of the months of June, July and August, we were thankful to have 2 nights just the Beckers 5!  What a gift!  Thank you,  Lord!  Your creation is breathtaking!  Nate and I were here 4 years ago on our 3rd wedding anniversary.  We had baby Elijah with us.  Now in the same place we have 3 boys!

 The place is for tourists, but I have noticed how many things in the world are clamoring for my attention.  You have to get through the gauntlet of greed to finally reach the glory of God's creation at the falls!  Lord, please don't let my heart get drawn to the world, but keep my eyes on Jesus!

 4 years ago in this same place....a special place with my special man!

 Oh, another special little man, Malachi!  Happy birthday son!  Mama loves you!

CLICK TO SEE CANDLES, PRESENTS and RAINCOATS

A Birthday, A Dedication & A Baptism

 This is one of two new posts, so please check the one below also: "A death, a birth and a graduation."

This is my last time to post from the Philippines!  We plan to fly out tomorrow and begin our 4-day journey.  Please pray for us as we travel with 1 Great God, on 2 continents, with 3 small boys, for 4 days, 5 Beckers, 6 flights, 7 cities, and will we get 8 hours of sleep a night?  Pray for grace and strength!

 Today, on our last day, we celebrated Luke's first birthday!  A year ago I was giving birth at home to this little precious lamb.  Nate caught him with his own proud Papa hands.  Elijah and Malachi were excited to hear him wake up, so they could start celebrating his birthday together!

 We had saved this present from Grandma Bruce for this special occasion.  You see the cute guy with his birthday shirt, but you do not see Elijah and Malachi about to rip the wrapping off for him.  Fun brothers!  Luke had fun drumming the box while his brothers played with the new toys.  Thanks, Mom and Dad!

 Then at church we dedicated Luke Robert to the Lord!  Some of our most special friends were there as "Ninongs" (The Filipino "God-parents" idea).  Thank you, Lord, for such precious friends and for this loving community.  We will miss you all, but we hope to be back soon!

 Pastor Norman prayed to dedicate Luke's life to Jesus, praying that he would come to salvation and live for the Lord. 

 Luke's little friend, Elleya, was happy to share crackers.  What cute buddies in their darling church clothes (thanks, Mom, for the outfit--perfect for the dedication!).

 To add one more special aspect to the day, it was baptism Sunday!  Elijah loves to see people choose to "follow Jesus." He can't wait to be baptized, but he said, "I want to follow Jesus," a precious declaration from my son's mouth.  Yes, Lord, may all our sons put their faith in You at an early age and follow you all their days!

 Here's a back view, you can see Elijah is front and center.  Here you can also see our church body!

 After church we had a little pizza and ice cream lunch at the covered court by Nate's class.  It was a little bitter-sweet because it was also our "Despidida" (going-away party).  It was very special to be together with our closest friends one more time.  They are like our family here.

Luke loved tasting chocolate for the first time.  He lasted through the party, but then wiped out for a 3 hour nap.  Thank you, Lord, for our boy and for his special first year of life!  Now we are ready to fly!