Angels Among Us walk--April 26, 2008

On March 30th, my sweet friend and college roommate, Becky Chapman, lost her dad to brain cancer. She organized a team to walk in Duke's Angels Among Us brain cancer walk. The theme at Duke is "at Duke. . . there is HOPE," so Becky named her team "Helton's HOPE. " She put it this way, "Not only do we think of the HOPE we have in Christ, but we think of the ministry program Dad created – H.O.P.E. - Hanging Out Personal Evangelism. This was based on his many years of just “hangin’ out” with people to get to know them personally, so that he may then be able to share the gospel."

SO, Abbie and I decided to join her team. Becky and her family are very special to me and I wanted to do as much as I could to support them. Plus, it raises money for brain cancer research at Duke Hospital. It was a beautiful day and we had such a good time. Abbie worked really hard at riding in the stroller and sleeping through most of the walk, while I sweated my butt off. (wait. . . that might actually be a good thing)

Thanks, Becky, for letting us join your group!!!

Hanging out before the walk.

Post diaper change and pre-nap. Note Abbie's super cool onesie: "Lick Cancer."
Me, Becky, and her husband Rob after the walk.

Video of tricks

Here's a video of a lot of the noises Abbie makes. She's in her "bouncer-saucer." She loves to jump in it and it makes noises when she does. So at one point in the video, she stops to look at the lights. Listen carefully to all her noises! hee hee.

Mr. Fish

This weekend, Scott's parents brought Abbie this clown fish puppet. It looks a lot like a muppet and she LOVES it. Whenever she sees it, even across the room, she gets so excited. She will stare, make her arms really straight, suck in her breath, and shake a little bit. It's weird, but hilarious. She mostly just wants to eat his eyes. I really think she thinks it's real.

Abbie hearing a story from Mr. Fish.

Mr. Fish trying to teach Abbie how to say "cheese" for the camera.
She's obviously playing coy with Mr. Fish. OH, BOY! Kisses from Mr. Fish.

Baptism--April 20, 2008

Abbie was baptised on Sunday during church. We were not allowed to take pictures during the service, but she was very good and quite vocal.

We see infant baptism in the same light as the Jews from the Old Testament saw circumcision. When a baby was born, the male child was circumcised as a symbol that his parents were under the leadership of God and therefore the child was brought under that leadership until he was able to make that commitment himself. So, in the New Testament, with the inclusion of non-Jews in the faith, we see baptism in the same way. By being baptised, Abbie is being brought under our faith in Christ as our Savior until she is able to make a commitment or decision of her own. Congratulations, our sweet covenant baby!

Fun times with Daddy

Whenever Scott has the day off, he takes care of Abbie. They usually go to the park and play around the house. Usually, there's a photo shoot involved. Scott takes a lot of really good photos of Abbie. Here are a few of the latest.

"You're fussy, fussy"

After an especially fussy day, Scott decided to put this bib on Abbie. (It says, "More like Mommy everyday.") How sweet.

Then on another fussy day, we didn't know what to do, so we just layed her down. She finally gave in and fell asleep. This was the one and only time she's fallen asleep without being swaddled or in her carseat.