August

Moving right along at a blistering pace:

The month of August began with getting back to school and routine, but also another very momentous day. Since making a huge theological switch from being Presbyterian (for many years) to Reformed Baptist, our two eldest who have made professions of faith needed to be Biblically baptized in order to join our new church. We talked with them about this, our pastor talked with them, and they confirmed that they wanted to be baptized. We went down to the Rivanna River for our church service that morning, and they gave their professions and were baptized in the river. It was a moving service. I didn't get pictures of their baptisms, but the videos follow.
Our wonderful pastor:
Shiloh read her testimony:

Cora read her testimony:

Two freezing girls and a thankful Daddy:

Another rite of passage came at the end of August. Jackson became a Cub Scout! Daniel is his den leader, and may I just say how adorable this is? Jackson is SO excited to be a Cub Scout, and he's really taken the motto and promise to heart.

My adorable gap-toothed boy!

At the end of August, we headed out to Virginia Beach for our family vacation. We stay at the Dam Neck annex, a military installation that has cabins for government civilians as well. This was the first time that Adah and Nathaniel had seen the ocean, and they were impressed. :) Adah also liked seeing the dolphins. This picture was taken the night we arrived, and Cora's face is saying, "PLEASE STOP TAKING PICTURES - I NEED TO GET IN THE WATER!" The water was calmer than we expected the first night and day, and the kids actually got to swim. It got rougher from that point on because of Hurricane Earl's imminent arrival, and the beach was actually shut down one day. We went to a water park instead, but we also had to cut our vacation short. The kids voted to go to a cabin in the mountains next year instead - no hurricanes. :)

Nathaniel was a little unsure:

Holding tightly to Daddy:

This was the water park we went to. It was small enough that I could lie on a beach chair reading a book and keeping an eye on Nathaniel while letting the other kids roam through the park. Nathaniel went down a couple of slides, but he decided he preferred the wading pool - with his vest on, of course. (He didn't need it; he just really liked it.)

This was the biggest mistake of the trip - renting a cart propelled by foot power to go along the boardwalk of Virginia Beach. IT WAS MUCH HARDER THAN IT LOOKED! And it wasn't just our load; we saw other people with looks of regret and sweat streaming down their faces trying to get the carts back to the store. On top of that, our cart lost its rusty chains twice and we finally ended up with just Daniel and me pedaling back to the store. We were a little sore the next day.

Sunrise over the ocean. I took this picture, because I was the only one up. :)

Back to the water park another day.

Sisters! Shiloh wanted a picture with Cora for the frame that she bought on the Virginia Beach boardwalk.

Adah definitely turned into a beach bunny while we were there! She didn't mind being knocked about by the waves; she recovered quickly. Jackson looks cold!

This is the phenomenon known as "Abigail beach hair." It's truly something to behold. After being sculpted this way by the wind and the salt water, it would stay that way until she got a shower. :)

After getting splashed too many times in the face, Nathaniel decided he preferred the sandcastles.

I'm not sure what Jackson is doing here, but I'm always entertained by him.

We took the kids to the Virginia Aquarium the day we left. Adah and Nathaniel were brave enough to try petting the manta rays. Adah was grossed out. Nathaniel would have leapt into the water with them if we had let him. Shiloh is trying to hold him back from catapulting himself in:

Photo op of our cute family:
And that wraps up August (well, I actually snuck in two pictures from September, because we left the beach on the 2nd :) ).