Farewell Look at Our New England Trip

As you have seen over the past couple of weeks, we had a great trip to new England. It was bittersweet because we were only able to see people for very short visits – and missed seeing many friends and family altogether. But I’m happy we went!

We miss these guys!

Madison’s First Communion

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14

The main reason for our trip to New England was so we could be at Madison’s First Communion. Besides being her uncle, Chris is also Madison’s Godfather – so originally he was just going to fly up for the weekend to be there. But, in the last minute we decided to all go together! Since we’re not Catholic, we don’t know the full meaning or tradition behind first communion ceremonies, but I do know that Madison has taken classes at church leading up to this. I think it’s wonderful that she’s learning about the Lord at an early age, and about the sacrifice he made for us. Our prayer for her is that she will grow into a godly woman and have a personal relationship with Jesus throughout her life!

Madison was SO beautiful! Tanya made Madison’s veil from part of her own wedding veil. I believe that as a baby, her baptism gown was also made from part of Tanya’s wedding dress. It is such a neat idea to use wedding symbolism as Madison joins the church, because as believers we symbolically become the “Bride of Christ”.

Tanya also made an awesome cake shaped like a cross – with patterned fondant and everything – I was very impressed!

Maddy’s brother Avery was quite dashing in his little outfit.

Of course my boys looked very handsome too :).

I’m so glad we were all there for Madison’s special day :)!

Pilgrim Memorial State Park

On Saturday morning, Chris and I took Julia, Gabe and their cousin Avery to Pilgrim Memorial State Park in Massachusetts.

It was a lovely day for a walk along the coast. We played in the parks, looked at Plymouth Rock and posed in front of the Mayflower II.

We found the perfect place to eat lunch with exactly four stools at the counter. We rewarded Gabe and Avery with ice creams for being such good kids :).

Gabe had lots of fun with his buddy – he was so sad when we had to come back home. Hopefully it won’t be long before they can play together again!