The Colgan Kids' Art Gallery...our family room!

Our 6 degree temperatures...

Tommy has been more than willing to don the green (his favorite color) froggie hat to brave the cold weather!

Paris got some new pink, cold weather garb for her birthday! It got put to good use on the 6th with 6 degree temps!
Tommy's new bragging rights have centered around getting his clothes on for the day (and his jammies at night) all by himself, "Mom, don't help me!!" He beams with pride when he rounds the corner to show the family his daily accomplishment. Of course, his feat earns him many cheers and accolades from his siblings and parents which he doesn't mind in the least!
Tommy was doing the motion I captured in this photo and when I asked him what he was doing, he replied, "Mom, I'm shaving my armpits!" What? How does he know about that? He certainly had the motion down just right, none-the-less.
Noah reminded me of Ralphie's brother from The Christmas Story movie who was bundled up so much he couldn't lower his arms. He was just bulky to load into the car seat on Paris' birthday morning.

Paris' Baptism, January 2010

The beginning of this video is Charlie interviewing the kids informally about how Paris decided to trust in Jesus. Fletcher shared the Gospel with her over a meal last June when Paris was four. The clips were shared with the students the Wednesday night Paris was baptized January 2010. These clips aren't edited, but I wanted to remember the kids' responses, facial expressions, and sweet voices. Paris has already started dropping her habit of sounding like she's from Boston in the way she said, "Bah-bee (Barbie), bah-n (barn), fah-m (farm), cah (car)." Oh, I'm gonna miss the baby/little kid stages. Tommy is cracking us all up now with his attempts at words. As Paris grows out of the funny words stage, Tommy is definitely entering it. His first sentence was officially, "Oh Momma! Momma toot!" His facial expression as he says this (which he says most days!!) is sooo hilarious! He squinches up his nose, squeezes his eyes almost to a slit, and waves his little hand in front of his face with much gusto exaggerating the extent of the smell (or maybe not!) :)

Fletcher got to baptize Paris

Fletcher shared the gospel with Paris on June 8, 2009 and she said, "I want to pray and ask Jesus to be my Savior." Six year old Fletcher led his four and a half year old sister through a prayer that went something like this, "Dear Jesus, I'm a sinner. Sinners die. I want to be forgiven of my sins, Jesus. Please come into my heart. Thank you for being my Savior. Amen." I got to hear the whole conversation about sin, death, and being separated from God by our sin from the kitchen as they talked around the picnic table on the back porch when we lived in the Walsh's house. I was eavesdropping on them as I put lunch together. I'd heard him sharing Truth with her in the past and she'd always say with an annoyed tone, "Fletcher, I know!!" Occasionally, she'd say, "Fletcher, stop telling me that!" But not on June 8th. She listened quietly. Apparently her heart was softened because she had ears to hear what he was communicating. The cool thing about June 8th is that I'd prayed that same prayer asking for Jesus to forgive me of my sins and be my Savior sixteen years ago to the day! Paris became my sister in Christ that day...my daughter always and now my sister, too! I am sixteen years older than her in Christ. God's timing is so fun!

Am I really gonna be a blogger?

Oh yeah, baby! Looking forward to FINALLY recording some of those thoughts I'm always intending to write in baby books that are nonexistent for our four kiddos!