Micah's Baby Dedication & Mother's Day

Oh, Blogger, sweet Blogger. You just don't seem to want to cooperate with me tonight, and I'm not really in any mood to keep trying. It's already been an hour of me rotating pictures in my software program. I have moved, shuffled, turned off, logged in, logged out, and stood on one foot facing north with my tongue stick out to the south as I closed my eyes and twirled three times.

The magic dance did not work.

So all the pictures my sister took of the baby dedication that are turned up and down/horizontal? Well, they are all sideways when I try to upload them to Blogger. I'm sure you don't want to read this entire post with your head tilted over, so I guess these few pics will have to do. Boo!

This is my first Mother's Day, of course you probably figured that out as Micah is my first child. Today was also the day that baby dedications were happening at our church (as probably many Southern Baptist churches throughout the USA. Ha!) We were so excited to bring Micah before the Lord to dedicate ourselves to raising him in a Godly, Christian home. Man, the thought of the responsibility of his little soul is resting on my shoulders, and that scares me so much! I pray daily that we can live a life that pleases the Lord so that Micah can, in turn, learn to love and live for Jesus.

Before we left for church, we took some pictures. First, I took a picture of Daddy with Micah.

Then, Daddy took a picture of Mommy with Micah.

We left for church veeeerrrrry early this morning (around 8:40AM) so we could arrive in time for our family portrait to be taken in the preschool wing. I can't wait to see those pictures! I'll post them when I get them in from our church. Here's our little family (thanks, Aunt KerKer for taking pictures!) before the service started. We sat way close down front today which was a bit odd.
Our pastor, Bro. Danny Sinquefield, is talking to us about the responsibility of Christian parenting. He's reading several verses of the Bible that refer to loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, & mind.

Micah, of course, is chilling with his two little fingers in his mouth. I wasn't watching myself on the jumbotron (because I'd have a heart attack seeing myself in all my glory that big), but I wonder what his little fingers looked like multiplied by 900?

This is where I tell you to turn your head to the left. I just love this picture so much. I had to include it. Brother Danny is praying over our little family that the Lord will provide guidance as we raise Micah. I'm telling you, I get chills thinking sobering thoughts at the importance of our jobs as Godly parents!

After the prayer, Mrs. Vicki (our preschool "minister") presented us with a blue New Testament and a certificate commemorating this special day.

All the while, Micah was still just chilling with his fingers.
Afterwards, we came back to our house for a barbeque with my entire family and Mr. C's entire family. That's right. We had aunts, uncles, two sets of grandparents, four cousins, two dogs, and a partridge in a pear tree in attendance. Here's my "original" family. Micah was sleeping, and Mr. C. was grilling out!

We continued to celebrate the mothers in our lives with massive gift giving. Seriously, it was insane. We showered both grandmothers with gifts of pictures of the grandchildren. My mom is showing one of her presents. The grandparents showered me (for my first Mother's Day) with presents. They should not have done that! After all, I'm the daughter/daughter-in-law. Although, without me there'd be no Micah. Ok, maybe I did deserve it. I'm so kidding!! :) Keren even got in on the present action from my mom and dad. THANKS, MAMA!! WE LOVE YOU!!

All in all, it was a wonderful, happy, hectic day! Whew! I'm tired! I think my house just exhaled from all the people who were in the tiny quarters today. Thank goodness for sunny days, fenced backyards, and swingsets! :)

And no Mother's Day post would be complete without a picture of me with my own wonderful, amazing, giving, selfless mother.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!
I prayed for this child, and the LORD has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD.” 1 Samuel 1:27-28

Our Vacation to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, & Glacier National Parks

Over at Kelly's Korner today she's talking vacations! What a fun topic! We've been all over the place, but I thought I'd pick one of my favorite places to blog about.

In the summer of 2002, I moved to Montana to do mission work. I was single, and I had just finished my first year of teaching. I fell in love with the West (and Montana in particular) years earlier. My parents took our family on a vacation when I was in middle school, and we went again when I was in my twenties. The raw beauty of the West has captivated me to this day. I think if I didn't have such a great family in Tennessee, I could live there.I have fallen in love with the people, the scenery, & the laid back lifestyle.

My goal is to make it out West at least every five years, but I talked about it so much from our dating days and into our marriage that Mr. Confident was curious about what a Montana visit would hold. For our fifth anniversary (July 2009), we decided to head to Montana and Wyoming. We visited Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Parks covering 2,000 miles by car in one week! We have a total of 1,124 pictures all taken with our fancypants camera. =0) I could go on and on and on and on about Montana. These pictures do not even do it justice. There is a reason why they call it "Big Sky Country" as you can see from my pics. Enjoy as I relive one of our favorite vacations together! And if you can go to Montana & Wyoming in your life--RUN dont walk! :)

(All pictures were taken by my husband and belong to Confident Until Completion Blog.)

Me & the entrance to Yellowstone

Mountains with rivers are the most beautiful thing to me on Earth. I'm obsessed with them like other people love the beaches!

Part of the cliffs in the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

I'm a teacher, so all latitude visits must be captured appropriately on film.

On the banks of the Yellowstone River

President Roosevelt commissioned this great entryway to be built marking the entrance into the park.

Our family outside of the gate to enter Yellowstone. This was our last anniversary trip before Micah. On our sixth anniversary trip, I was preggers. :)

The beauty of a wildflower in the Montana wilderness on a hike.

Entrance to Glacier National Park

Standing in front of the Grand Teton Mountain Range in Wyoming

Mama buffalo & her baby (in honor of Mother's Day of course!)

Mr. & Mrs. Confident at the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone on a hike down.

Lake Yellowstone

Driving out in the Montana countryside towards Glacier National Park

The majesty of God's creation. On the way to Glacier National Park

The closer to Glacier, the colder it got outside. One of the natural rivers on the side of the road.

On our hike to the Hidden Lake (IN JULY), we saw this little guy following after his mother! Yes, that is snow! In July!!

This is the most ridiculous thing we've ever done as a married couple. We looked up hostels in the area of GNP, and found The Backpacker's Inn. It was $28 a night, and Glacier was not part of our original travel plans. At the last minute, we drove eight hours to go to GNP and hike. We stayed in this little cottage which wasn't that bad! Some of our greatest memories from the crazy sidetrack we took on vacation.

We hiked to the Hidden Lake and rode on Going to the Sun Road.

Sorry the pictures are out of order! No trip to Yellowstone would be complete with out an Old Faithful picture. She's getting ready to blow!

Mr. Confident took a hike to the top of a mountain (long story) while I read in the car. He came across this herd which consequently almost ran some other tourists down!

We hope you enjoyed some of our vacation photos!! Can't wait to see where you've gone. If you want to, link back up at Kelly's Korner!

(All pictures were taken by my husband and belong to Confident Until Completion Blog.)

A day at a Tennessee state park.

Mr. Confident has been off from work the past three days. Ahem. Actually, he's been burning his last three days of vacay before the fiscal year for his company resets days in June. Anywhoodles, I'm not working so therefore no real vacation for us. Instead, we've tried to think of some stuff to do around here that we never do to and get out of the house. We've visited some family including Mr. C's sister & my parents. Then we took our trip to Arkansas to look at flood waters.

Yesterday, I happened to remember a Tennessee state park we used to frequent in college for our sorority party. (YES, I was in a sorority in college. NO, we weren't like that. Our sorority actually held Bible studies. No, I'm not kidding. Yes, it was wonderful.) I don't know why I hadn't remembered this place, but I brought it up to Mr. Confident. I honestly didn't remember much about it, so we went with me stating, "I hope it is as nice as I remember it in my head."

I mean, twelve-ish years have gone by since I've darkened the door of Chickasaw State Park.

Twelve-ish years. ::Sigh:: How does time slip by so quickly??

I remembered basically a huge lake, some paddle boats, a swimming hole, and a locale in the middle of nowhere. Well, Chickasaw State Park did not disappoint, my friends! At least my memory is not completely gone. Not only did it have everything I remembered, but it also had a restaurant, a store, ATV trails, walking trails, campsites & cabins on the water, and lots of various playgrounds. For free. FREE! Well, plus the cost of gas to get there, and it is about an hour away from Memphis.

Our trip was a whirlwind trip followed by a stop to eat lunch in the sleepy town of Henderson, Tennessee, since the lake restaurant wasn't actually open today. It did give us a great opportunity to get out of the city and take Micah on a walk around the lake. I can imagine this would be a great place for him when he's older and could swim or play on the playground.

The trip isn't for the faint at heart as it is in the middle of nowhere. I knew where it was because I used to work in Henderson, Tennessee. However, it isn't hard to get there from here. You just have to drive through a lot of sleepy Tennessee towns. I think the view on Lake Placid this beautiful spring day after weeks of torrential rain, floods, and tornadoes was worth the drive. Enjoy our pictures!

On the path about to head to the lake trails.

Daddy & Micah ready to hit the trail!

One trail goes across the center of the lake. As you can see, it is a nice, long trail across the water.

Mommy & Micah about the head along the trail.

Those cabins can be rented directly on the lake.

A view from the path on the lake.

A shot of the swimming area, canteen, & playground.

Mississippi River flood.

Today Mr. Confident & I went on a little adventure of sorts. It was raining a ridiculous amount of rain (I dunno maybe five inches in one day?), and the Mississippi River is steadily rising. It is supposed to crest at 48 feet in a week, and the last time this happened was during the Flood of 1937. Well seeing as we weren't around in 1937, and this is being broadcast as one of those historical kind of deals...we thought we'd go look at it. In the middle of the pouring rain. With a five month old. And a not so good camera. While I tried to take pictures from a moving vehicle.

Yes, my friends. These are some cherished memories. "Micah, when you were five months old, your father and I drove you out in the monsoons so we could get swept away by flood waters while you napped in the back of the truck."

It was an absolute brilliant plan, I tell you.

At any rate, these pictures are HORRIBLE. I mean it. Horrible. I'm not even gonna pretend they are some good pictures because they are not. However, you might get an idea of how high the water is from the pictures. At least, it is enough for us to remember The Great Flood of 2011 by in any case. (If you want some really good overhead pictures go here. This will give you a much better idea of what it looks like here.)

On with the pics! My bad ones.

First, we were going to go down by the river, but we quickly discovered everything is closed off because it is so high. Roads are flooded or closed in downtown Memphis, so we decided to drive into Arkansas instead.

Headed into AR. Bottom right is Mud Island.

On the "new bridge" crossing into Arkansas.

Looking back towards Memphis/Mud Island

Still on the bridge.

Ok, now we are no longer on a bridge. We're on elevated interstate where fields are usually below, but obviously....it is still river.

Just look how high the water is from the guardrail. It's very close to coming on up.

That'd be trees that are usually in the middle of a field surrounded by water.

The point of this picture is to show the sign on the side of the road and how the water is covering the side. Imagine your interstate having water surrounding interstate signs.

ALSO note the camper that somehow got flooded out on the road below.

Now this is where the elevated highway gets lower, but look at how close the water is to the road. And it is going to continue to spread out daily.

It keeps taking over the trees!

At this point, we had turned around to head back to Memphis.

Elevated highway usually above fields & pastures, but notice how high the water is! It is hard to see, but there is also a train bridge that is going across the water in the middle of the trees.

I told you the pics were horrible, didn't I?

This is coming into Memphis, about to enter the "new bridge."

This is how high the river had come to the roads. I mean, you can see it lapping up where the road had been closed.