Easter Bunny & Egg Hunt

My Baptism Testimony

My name is Melissa Neufeld. Some of you know me as Jonathan’s wife, and God has truly blessed me with an amazing husband and a wonderful marriage. Some of you know me as David, Noah, Angeline and Samara’s mom (or the crazy lady who had 4 children in 5 years). Despite severe sleep deprivation and a house that is never tidy I have been truly blessed by through motherhood as well. But the reason I stand before you today is because I am a daughter, not only of my earthly parents (whom I love deeply) but also of my heavenly Father… your sister in Christ.

Believing in God is not something new to me. In fact I can not remember a time when I didn’t believe in God. Going to church on the other hand was not something that was a regular part of my life growing up. I did attend enough to know what church was and to learn some bible stories. I also have memories of praying when I was quite a young child. Believing in God has always been part of who I am so much so that I can honestly say believing there is no god requires much more faith to me then believing THERE IS.

I have had many turning points in my 28 years of life and though I can not name an exact date I would say that I became a Christian when I was about 16 years old. At this point I was regularly attending church and youth group, reading my bible daily and just growing in my understanding of God. I would have to describe my conversion to be when my believing faith transformed into faith in action. I accepted Christ’s sacrifice on the cross (which we are celebrating this Easter Sunday), experienced healing and reconciliation through the acknowledgement and forgiveness of my sins and made a decision to live for God’s purposes rather than my own.

So, why wasn’t I baptized then?

All of this took place in and surrounding the Catholic Church I was part of, baptized into when I was a baby. There was no reason for me to even think to be baptized at that point in my faith journey. As I continued on in my teenage years I also attended a Baptist church and youth group and eventually associated myself more as a “Christian” not wanting to chose a denomination as a title be it “Catholic” or “Baptist.” Whenever baptism came up I felt uneasy and I have never been comfortable with the idea of re-baptism BUT I always said that if God spoke to my heart to be baptized as an adult that I would. It was in February of this year that I was driving in my mini van with my beautiful children… listening to “Praise” on the radio in just an ordinary moment that God’s Spirit spoke. So here I am.

God has been at work in my heart and in my life and has been convicting me of what I came to know so many years ago. I believe that God is calling me to be obedient to his word through baptism and in my everyday life.

1 John 2:5-6 says:

“If anyone obeys his word, love for God^[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: ⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”

This truth is something I can not escape from. I am reminded of it as I listen to the chorus of this song by Casting Crowns (If We Are The Body).

But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way
There is a way 

I want to raise my children to know “There is a way”… to know that God loves them… to know that sin separates them from God. To know that Jesus is God’s son who’s death on the cross is THE WAY to make atonement for our sins and to reconcile us to God. I know that seeing me love God, obey His Word and live like Christ will teach them these truths more then hearing it from my lips.

As I publicly proclaim my faith I am making a commitment to be obedient to God’s word and to live like Christ.

Easter Baptism

I (Melissa) decided in February that I would like to be baptized as an adult (was already baptized when I was a baby). We have set the date for Easter Sunday during the 11am service at Bethany Baptist Church in Richmond. Easter is a busy time filled with family events and dinners and many will be away or simply unable to attend but I wanted to get the word out in case anyone wanted to come. I will be posting my testimony on Easter Sunday for those who can't make it but are interested in reading what it is all about. If you are interested in coming and need more information please contact me.

Spring Break

Not a lot changes for us during Spring Break... other then some of our usual activities are cancelled. But this years Spring Break was a Break from the rain and a visit with my sister. Aunty Mandy spent the week with us and it was nice having the extra hands and someone to walk with in the afternoons. We walked 5km almost every day that she was here. I think I really needed the company and the sunshine this week. I was certainly glad to have both. I was also glad to be able to hang the cloth diapers outside... I thought this day would never come! 

After 2 nice days in a row Angeline woke up yesterday, looked outside and said "It's grey outside... Go away Grey!" Today we have blue skies again. Looking forward to being able to do the dishes while they play in the yard and to spending some time in the sun as well.

Our big Girl & Our baby Girl

March is always a busy month in our family for birthdays. Grandpa Rob turned 50 this month, I celebrated my 28th, Samara is now 3 months old and Angeline turned 2 on Monday. Still more March birthdays to come. We were able to celebrate during our time on the Island as well as since we've been home. Angeline has LOVED all the extra attention as you can probably tell from this picture of her with her cup cake. She spent a good part of her birthday singing "Happy Birthday" to herself... very cute.
Samara LOVES to talk anytime anyone is willing to listen and now gives very big smiles as you can also see from the picture. She isn't full out laughing but she had a little laughing noise that you can tell is a laugh. She hasn't rolled over as of yet but she pulls her arms into her chest and lifts her head like she is going to. At 3 months she weighs 11 lbs 5 oz.
Jonathan and I are LOVING our family. It was nice to be able to go to the Island together and for Jonathan to have a bit of time off work.
I am especially looking forward to some warmer, sunnier days... finding the rain and the cold a bit much at the moment.

Family Photo

It was definitely time to update our family picture. We were able to do this on Sunday thanks to Tony. Jonathan took pictures of the Mitchell's and Tony took pictures of us. These are our 4 favorites. Which one is your favorite??? Thanks again Tony!

Not a Newborn anymore...

Samara is now 10 weeks old and it was just over a week ago that she moved from newborn to baby. She started smiling and cooing and just staying awake more in general. She had her first shots at 9 weeks old and weighed 10 lbs 3oz last Friday. She is between the 25th and 50th percentile. Had to share this adorable video of some of her first coo's... it melts our hearts! We love her to bits... she make me want 2 more!

A Beautiful Day

Before & After

Here are just a few pictures to show how much progress has been made. Tomorrow the grout will go in and then hopefully Saturday it will be sealed and my new washer and dryer moved in and hooked up! I think we might have to have a party to celebrate!

Busy, Busy, Busy

We are certainly BUSY x3. Not only do we have a 7 week old baby but we are also undergoing major renovations. Jonathan and Bob have been working on adding a bathroom to our basement. It has been a long process... beginning in September (and I have not had a washer and dryer hooked up since then). And I am very happy to say that it is almost complete! This means that not only has Jonathan been working long hours at work but he has been coming home and working late on the bathroom and then getting up early the next morning for work. I don't know how he does it but I am very thankful that he is a hard worker and I am proud of him for what he has learned and accomplished with Bob's help (THANK YOU BOB)! I just wanted to post some more pictures of Samara and one of Angeline being silly. I hope to post the before and after pictures of the bathroom addition soon.

Our creative son...

This is a video that David took of himself spinning.

Look away if you get motion sickness :P

5 weeks already!

My little Samara is 5 weeks old already. Between Christmas and us all being sick into early January the time since her birth has certainly gone by fast. She had a check up at the doctors yesterday and she is doing well, weighing 8 pounds and 15 ounces. She slept a lot at first but we now enjoy more awake time with her. David and Angeline love to lay beside her and hold her hands. This months tasks include getting used to taking all 3 kids out on my own and thus getting back to our regular scheduled programing. I am also hoping to get Samara sleeping in her crib and sleeping for longer periods during the night. We should probably work on getting a family picture of the 5 of us as well.
The plan is to have our basement bathroom reno's completed this month and that keeps Jonathan quite busy between work and work at home. It is almost ready for some paint and then a floor. I CAN'T WAIT until it is finished.
Looking forward to hopefully going for some walks when we have some sunny days. I normally find January to be quite long so I am both happy and surprised that it is almost half way over. I am hoping for an early Spring this year!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Merry Christmas from us all! We had a nice Christmas this year with family celebrations on the 18th, 25th, 26th & 27th! It has been a special Christmas celebrating with our newest addition Samara. On the other hand it has been a difficult Christmas as we have all had a bad cold. David and Angeline started us off and are now mostly recovered and Jonathan, Samara and myself are still on the mend.

I did manage to get some Christmas cards out before Samara was born... still have a few to send. I think I should have stuck with my original idea and just sent Happy New Year cards this year. Oh well! Nothing "eventful" planned for 2011 so far but certainly lots to enjoy and keep us busy. We are working more and more with David to get him ready for Home Schooling Kindergarden in September. We have plans to potty train Angeline in the Spring... she does occasionally pee for a smarty when she is thinking of it. I am hoping to start walking more often as the weather improves and running some too in the next couple of months. Jonathan is really enjoying photography at the moment and there is a link to his new blog under our blog list. And Samara... what can I say about our little Samara? Hmmm... if you asked my a few days ago I would say that she is our best sleeper so far (I think she might be going through a growth spurt at the moment as well as battling her first cold). She is a very "easy" baby... always happy unless she is hungry. She poops a lot! And she also is a spitter! Not all the time but when she does you won't miss this.... apparently she gets this from Daddy. She is quiet so far but I am sure this will change as she learns to compete with her brother and sister. We are looking forward to watching them all as they continue to grow throughout the new year!

No official family picture since the one we took at the hospital but I thought I would post the two we have of the 3 kids together. Happy New Year!

Samara is 1 week old today!

When Jonathan came home from work today we set up a little photo shoot for Samara's one week birthday. All of these pictures were taken this afternoon. She did very well and once we were done she was ready for another nap. She does spend most of her time sleeping as most new borns do. She is also having more awake time and more time with her eyes open every day and she has started gaining weight again after her initial loss (which is normal). At the doctors yesterday she was back up to 6lbs 14oz. Her hair is dark but it we will have to keep guessing as David started out dark as well. Her eyes seem blue... David's we could tell from day one were going to be brown but she may surprise us with that as well. I couldn't ask for a "better" baby... she gives me 5-6 hours of sleep a night and is never fussy unless she has to wait for a meal. Our cuddle time is precious but I think mommy is being shared rather well.

I also wanted to say congratulations to Uncle Ches for winning the baby pool. He was the only one to guess the right date and he got the gender right too! Good job! And thanks to everyone who guessed.

Sunday's Christmas Play

Just a few pictures of David and Angeline in the Christmas Play on Sunday. Neither one of them ran off in tears so I think they did pretty good. Maybe in a few years Angeline will get the part for the Christmas Star. David wasn't too excited about it but he does like to perform... maybe he will be more into it next year.