Re-Cap Lions and Tigers and Giraffes...oh, my!!

(This was a post I didn't get a chance to put up as our little Katherine came early.)
 
This past weekend was a perfect blend of friends and family! We kicked off the weekend with Bunco Game Night at church.  It was a so much fun to fellowship with our church community.  On Saturday, we got to spend the whole afternoon with family at the Dallas Zoo.  The best part was surprising the girls :)  We live far from Mike's family, so it truly was a gift to get this day with them.  And Michael hasn't been to a zoo since he was 5...what?!?! So it was way overdue for him to visit a zoo.  As I type this, I am wondering how we lived minutes from the Omaha Zoo and never got him there.  Needless to say, he was just as excited as the girls to see all the animals...especially the giraffes.

So thankful for our cousins...family we also get to call friends!! We are looking forward to seeing them again when they come back to Dallas in August :)  

We also celebrated 38 weeks.  The doctor told us it really could be any day now...it was 6 days exactly!  We are so very excited to meet our precious baby!!  

We love you Baby Girl!!

The Month of Big Events

We did it!! This May Mike graduated from seminary! If you look closely, all 3 of us are celebrating :) It was such a special weekend and we were blessed to celebrate with our families. 

My family made the trip into a mini-vacation and we explored the many wonderful adventures of Dallas. The first was the beautiful Dallas Arboretum. Although we have been before, there are always new sights to see.  And it was fun watching my niece explore the flowers. My precious Katie slept through the whole thing! We will have to take her back when she is older. And thanks to my brother for being an awesome photographer!

We also had fun exploring the Dallas Museum of Art...in a tornado warning...and riding the trolley to downtown Dallas. One of the new downtown parks has food trucks making it the perfect place for lunch!

That night we kicked off graduation weekend with a campus BBQ!  Dallas Theological Seminary is celebrating their 90th year making it all the more special.  Mike's dad and his wife came all the way from Ohio to help celebrate the big day...and maybe also to love on their new granddaughter :)  It was truly a blessing to have them there with us!  And it was so much fun watching Grandpa Walker love Katherine. 

The next day was special as we watched Mike graduate with a Master of Arts in Biblical Counseling. It was wonderful to see all his hard work and dedication pay off. God has truly given him a gift for helping others through counseling and I am excited for him to make it into a career.  Not only was it a blessing to have our families with us, we also were blessed to graduate with some of our friends! We were glad we got to share the day with them all.

Keeping ourselves entertained during the ceremony!

Proof Katherine was there to watch her daddy graduate!

This is us celebrating the end of papers, tests, homework, and classes!  Real World...here we come!

  If that wasn't enough for one weekend, we also celebrated Mother's Day with Katherine's Baby Dedication at church. It was such a special ceremony and I will never forget the prayers said over our precious daughter. Even though we are her parents and love her with every fiber of our being, we know she doesn't belong to us. She belongs to the Lord. It is our job, however, to teach and guide her with Godly wisdom and direction.  

 

 We are so thankful to our family and church community for the love they have showered over our sweet Katherine.

Celebrating Katherine's Dedication on Mother's Day is a memory I will never forget. Becoming Katherine's mommy has changed my life and heart for ever and always.  I love her more than words can say.  

 I was so thankful I got to share my first Mother's Day with my own mom. She is not only my mom, but one of my closest and dearest friends. Over the last 27 years, she has showed me what it means to unselfishly love your children, direct them with wisdom, share in their heartaches, rejoice in their celebrations, and believe in their dreams. She has taught me everything I know on how to be a mother. Thank you mom!  

  

Not only did I get to share this day with my mom, but also my sister-in-law.  We were both celebrating our first Mother's Day and we hope our little girls will grow up to be the best of friends!

  

 With our time at DTS coming to an end, we also made sure to spend lots of time with our dear friends.  

May was such a wonderful month filled with many fun activities and special moments! I can't wait to see what this summer brings :)