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!

May: Growing Boys



Luke turned 11 months on April 27th,
but I was so busy I didn't get his pics 'til May 1!  Handsome guys!



Luke is such a joyful boy.  Thank you, Lord!

He's learning to pull himself up and stand.

May 8th, Elijah turned 4!  Here is his fire truck cake.
(Cheri, thanks for the new bags!)

We got to open Grandma's present--3 boys!
(P.S. This post is mostly for my Mom!  Bear with us here on the multiple
family pics =)...also this is only one day of the many we've had lately--no time for pics).

A new outfit from the Grandparents.  E loves frogs!  Special birthday boy!

The party started with E's favorite game.
We did "Pin the dalmation on the fire truck".

His little friends gathered by his side for story time.

I'm thankful to Rachel for taking pics for me.
If you enlarge this, you can see how sweaty I am!  You'd think
I had really gone into a fire or something crazy!

Our buddy Michael came to join the fun.
I laugh the most at myself in this one, drippy sweaty Mama,
pouring out buckets of love for this guy.

Here are the attendees, with Elijah in the middle saying,
"I'm FOUR!"

Little firemen putting out the big fire with spray bottles.

Swimming fun (after the crazy water balloon toss in the front).

Mr. Becker brought his band class to the house (out the back gate)
for a "Happy Birthday to Elijah" song.

Then for a surprise date, I took Elijah to find some real fire trucks.
His face looks so terrified in this as I just randomly posed him for a pic.
He was afraid it would start moving for a real emergency. I guess
I should have prepped him more before the picture.
Did you know they have green fire trucks?!  Also white, red, yellow...

There were no firemen at the green one, so we found the
oldest station in the city.  Elijah still isn't sure about this,
but Mama knows it will be FUN!

I think I'm having more fun than E.  We got to sit in the truck
and how fun to randomly show up and get a tour!  Only in the Philippines!

For fun they even rang the bell for us, and this
fireman got his gear on and slid down the pole for a demo.
This time I had to prep E so he would know it wasn't a real emergency.

I think this was a pretty fun date. Do you recognize that cute firefighter?
Yes, I remember being in elementary school and wishing I could try it on.
Now is my chance!  E didn't want to try the hat.  Very hot and heavy!

Finally, at the end I think he was warming up to the truck.
What a fun birthday!  I can't believe in four years you can graduate from college,
or you can have 3 babies!  Crazy years--full years--special years!

Luke 10 Months

 Malachi gets buried in the sand.  Fun boy--toes sticking out!

 Elijah is such a cute little guy.  He keeps telling Malachi that he gets to do things because he's "almost 4".  Kids really like to speed up their growth, eh?  He'll be 4 in one month!

 Luke turned 10 months on March 27th.  He is finally weaned!  That is actually the earliest that I've had a son weaned, but when I say finally I really mean to emphasize the fact that I finally get to sleep all night!!  Yay!

 He is such a cuddly guy--but he may be a while before he walks.  I think I just like to hold him so much (and protect him from older brother).

I love this one with my baby!  Son, Mama loves you!  Thank you, Lord, for my boy!  What a blessing!

Luke is 9 Months

 February 27, 2012: Luke is 9 months!  What a cute little guy.  He is finally sitting alone, with pillows for when he falls.  At this stage Elijah was already cruising around the furniture, but this guy was being held back since his brothers like to jump on him when I try to let him practice.

 Oh, he'll be crawling soon, but my friends say "Enjoy it now, since he will be a busy guy as soon as he is mobile."  Good point.  One more guy to find where he has gone.

 What a cutie!  This guy has always been so joyful and peaceful even from birth.  9 months of pregnancy, 9 months of his life.  Now he is really growing up.  Finally, he is sleeping more at night.  I moved him to his own room!  Nate was happy =)

 Cute toes! 

 "Take a picture of me!"  It is sometimes hard to get Luke's pictures, since the boys keep wanting to jump in the camera.  Those previous ones were taken by me when the other 2 were still sleeping.  Elijah has a nice smile too =)

 I always like a pic with my 3 boys!  You can see them all growing and laughing together.  Thank you, Lord!  I'm blessed beyond my belief!

 Mom, you can see the chair here--now it is Luke's!  Elijah likes to feed him bananas.

 Here is a random pic of Elijah, so you can see our street after a hard rain.  Thankfully, our house doesn't flood, like many other houses do.  We just make it into a pond for Elijah to boat in.

Elijah is such a fun boy.  This is what we do during church: find a pair of boots in the back to play with!