adoption celebration & vow renewal

We were so blessed to spend this past weekend celebrating so many wonderful events with church family!

Saturday night we welcomed Anthony Michael into the Thrush family!

Derek and Kristen are now the parents of 6 kids! Five of their own and now sweet little Anthony! Through a lot of prayer and God's graciousness, Anthony joined their family as a foster baby and is now with them for GOOD! Praise God! It's clear {in so many ways and in so many answers to prayer} that Anthony was meant to be a Thrush....he even looks like them all a little bit!

He's excited to be a part of a wonderful family!

Over 70 friends and family gathered to celebrate God's gift to not only the Thrush family, but all of ours as well!

Of course, all the new church babies were there.

Let's start with these 2 cuties....

Oh hey ladies man!

And a few more on either end...

Oh my goodness babies EVERYWHERE! Our church is definitely growing!

Then there's all the big kids :0)

It's such a joy to spend time with our church family.

Derek and Kristen shared a bit about their adoption journey near the middle of the evening and played a very touching slide show with pictures illustrating Anthony's life throughout the last year.

It's hard to believe it all started with a tug on Kristen's hear to reach out.

Fast forward a bit to Sunday afternoon. It was hot. And sunny. And the perfect afternoon for a couple in our church to renew their wedding vows....10 years!

They had a beautiful, yet simple, set up of blankets and flowers for the ceremony.

The vow renewal itself was fairly short, but the impression of love and respect they had for one another was very strong. It's clear Harmony and Sam are dedicated to one another....for as long as they both shall live.

I wish I had a picture of the front of Harmony's dress -- it was ruffly and soooo cute!

I even got a white rose :0)

We are so blessed to have such a great supportive church family!