Ella & Justine's Baptism

Early in October, Ella decided she wanted to be baptized again. She had already been baptized when she was 9, but she doesn't remember it. There were actually a bunch of youth age kids getting baptized...Justine included. He had been baptized before as well, but didn't remember it either. 

It just so happened on the Sunday they were getting baptized, October 13th, Justine and Ella were also on the worship team. I had to get Ella to church early in order to for her to practice. 

I was sitting in the sanctuary listening to them practice and I decided I wanted to get a picture of the team. 

Justine saw what I was doing so he kept turning away trying to make it so I couldn't get a picture of the front of his face. Ella kept looking at him like he was crazy because he just kept looking all around. 

Finally I was able to snag a picture of them both looking forward! Silly guy! 

During the last worship song Justine and Ella left so they could go change into their baptism clothes. The church provided each of the people being baptized with one of the burgundy shirts with the church logo on them. Then they just wore a pair of shorts or swim trunks. 

 

Yeaab, our church's Youth Pastor, was the one getting to baptize everyone which made it even more special. Justine was the second person to be baptized! 

It's so cool hearing these kids' hearts! 

Ella was the first girl to be baptized. She said she was really nervous, but I think she did great. She just wouldn't look out at the congregation! 

It was fun that Pa was there helping the kids out of the tank....he's in the background of almost every picture that day! 

Once they were baptized they hung out on the mats off to the side so they could watch the other people get baptized. 

So proud of these two and everyone that was baptized. It's so great to get a front row seat to their journey! 

The Washington State Fair AKA The Puyallup Fair!

Early spring 2024 one of Michael's co-workers found out that Lauren Daigle was coming to the Puyallup fair. She asked Michael if he thought we would like to go with her. That was a big huge YES...since Lauren Daigle is Ella's favorite singer. She then asked if Ella would like Justine to come and I thought that sounded like fun so I had her get 3 tickets for us. I found out that the tickets included entrance into the fair so our plan was to spend the whole day at the fair and then go to the concert. 

On the morning of Saturday, August 31st, Ella and I picked Justine up around noon and then headed out. We stopped at Jack in the Box for lunch so we wouldn't have to eat two extremely overpriced meals that day. I also told the kids that I would be paying for parking and dinner, but it was up to them if they wanted to buy any trinkets or tickets to go on rides. 

We came in at the Gold Gate and normally the Sasquatch is right there when you first come in, but they are doing some sort of construction so he was moved over to the entrance to the Pavilion.

 

We went in the Pavilion and had fun looking around at all the things. I found a sign I wanted to buy Robin and the kids found some cute things, but we didn't want to carry them around all day so we decided to come back right before the concert and buy them. Ella didn't want the rock she wanted to be sold so she hid them under one of the decorations and decided it would be meant to be if it was still there when we came back. 

As we were walking along we came to the firefighter booth. They had a spinning wheel where you go to spin for prizes. If I remember correctly...I won a Fire Hydrant squishy, Ella won a pencil and Justine won playing cards. As we were walking around we found this fun stage area with live music. They also had covered areas with picnic tables which was so nice because it was supposed to get to 90 degrees that day. We sat and listened to music and Justine taught us a new card game. 

I had been looking at the map/program with all the times so we could take advantage of all the free stuff. Ella really wanted to see the horses so we planned to go to the next show. 

When it was getting close to the time we walked right over to the arena and found seats. It was hot in there!!! 

We watched the show horses and it was fun seeing them, but we honestly could barely make out what the announcer was saying. The sound system could use some help. 

After being so hot I wanted something yummy and cool so we walked over and found the Dole Whips. 

We shared one and it was so yummy! 

After that we walked through some of the other barns...I was hoping there was going to be bunnies or something cute to look at, but there pigeons! 

Around this time we were getting hungry so we went in search of food. These kids are the most indecisive kids ever! They finally decided on a chicken sandwich and fries. I was paying for their food and then I turned around and they were gone. I was like where are they! They saw that I was looking for them and wasn't seeing them so they climbed up and started waving their hands around to get my attention. 

While they waited for their food to be ready I walked over and got my favorite...a Greek Gyro. After that we walked back to the stage area to eat so we could sit in the shade. Unfortunately I didn't notice my Gyro didn't have any sauce on it. I wasn't about to walk all the way back so I just ate it...it was still yummy! 

When I was looking at the schedule times I saw they had some free plays you could see so we planned to go see Beauty and the Beast. It's my favorite Disney movie ever. This play was not that though....it was a rendition of Beauty and the Beast and it was so outlandish. It was a dumpster fire you couldn't look away from. After the opening song I looked at the kids and was like....we can go! They wanted to stay so we did and it didn't really get any better. When it was over Ella was like...well that was a waste of time! It sure was! 

We also went and saw baby piglets, artwork which we got to vote for and the horticultural displays that we also got to vote for. As it got closer to the concert we decided to head back to the Pavilion to buy the stuff we found earlier. The kids' rocks were still there so they bought them. I bought the funny sign for Robin and a ring. 

Even though it was 90 degrees I wasn't sure how cold it would get once the sun went down so we walked over to the van so I could grab my sweatshirt. 

On our way to the Grandstand we saw they had free archery so went in there to try it out. Justine and I gave it a shot while Ella watched. 

The first shot I didn't have my elbow rotated out so the string caught my arm...thankful it looks worse than it felt. It was really fun though! 

We got in line to go into the Grandstand literally having no idea where the seats were. As we started walking in I realized that we weren't going to the Grandstands we were on the floor! 

We were in row 18!! At first we showed up at our seats and there were people sitting in them. I doubled checked our tickets and sure enough they were ours. We talked to the people sitting there and then they realized they were actually in row 8 not 18. They were totally fine moving after that. 

I had no idea where Lisa and Jan (Michael's co-workers who got the tickets) were, but they showed up a bit before the show. I thought they had been at the fair all day, but they had actually been out thrifting instead. 

Blessing Offer was the opening act for Lauren Daigle and he was awesome....I love his song Brighter Days. After he was finished it took quite a while for Lauren to come out, but she was worth the wait. 

Our seats were on the aisle and instead of being blocked by the person in front of them Ella and Justine decided to just stand out in the aisle. It was so fun standing up and singing worship songs with a bunch of strangers. It was awesome and it was so great for Ella and Justine to have their first concert be together. 

After the concert was over Lisa wanted to treat everyone to Crepes. Who was I to say no! Actually I did tell her that we could all share one and she was totally fine if we each wanted to get one. I said we'd just get two so we could try two different flavors, but then standing in line it was so hard to decide and she told me to just get 1 for each of us so that's what we ended up doing. The favorite one was definitely the strawberries and Nutella one. 

The second one we tried was a turtle one and I didn't care for that one much. 

We also got the banana and chocolate one...it was just chocolate syrup. If it had been Nutella it would have been better, but it was still yummy! 

The Crepe gang!!! 

In September after we got back from Maui, I found out that the youth group wanted to go to the fair. I went to the school district to get our kids their free tickets to the fair and I got one for me since I'm an educator. It ended up only being Yeaab (Youth Pastor), Me, Jack, Ella and Justine. I decided to drive since it was such a small group. 

One cool thing was we got free parking because the machine to run cards wasn't working so that saved us about $20! Prior to going into the fair I decided to I wanted a pink drink from Starbucks so we went over there and I bought everyone a drink. Yummy! 

Once we got inside our first stop was the free archery. 

This time everyone tried it out. 

Even Ella! 

I had an even better teacher than the last time and I actually hit in the yellow and red. The first time I tried it I was almost off the target completely. 

We hadn't walked around in that same area much the first time we were there since we had to get to the concert so this time we wandered around. We found these giant chess boards and decided to play a couple of games. 

I beat Ella, but she did pretty good since she's really never played before. 

Then I played against Justine and he kicked my butt! 

When we finished up with chess we headed outside and found a band playing. Some of their dance moves were interesting, but it was fun! 

More sasquatch pictures! 

We spent a bunch of time in the ShowPlex where all the booths are where you can buy stuff. Jack and Justine tested out some of the mattresses. Ella ended up buying music note earrings, I bought 5 packets of season that you mix with sour cream and mayo to make dips and Jack bought a really cool leather bracelet. We also tried some very interesting flavors of popcorn. I actually was able to trick the kids into trying dill flavor. There were some really yummy flavors too, but the bags were so expensive plus I didn't want to carry around bags of popcorn all day. Thankfully the dips packets fit inside my purse. 

For lunch we wandered around for a bit. Ella and Justine couldn't figure out what they wanted. Jack decided on a piece of pizza and a lemonade. Yeaab and I wanted BBQ so we went to Pete's BBQ. I didn't realize that it was the same BBQ place that's close to our church. It was yummy! 

We were able to find seats together under the covered seating. I didn't eat all my food so I shared with Ella & Justine. 

This is my all-time favorite picture of them! 

I also brought cards with me just in case Justine forgot his. We went over to the same stage area where we could sit under the covered area and listen to music and play cards. The musical acts weren't as good as the ones we saw before, but it was still nice to take a break and chill. 

We did a few other things as well...we were able to walk through the horse barn and see all the horses, we saw the baby piglets again, we saw cows and then we went through the artwork area again. 

To finish off our day I bought a Strawberry and Nutella Crepe for Jack and I to share and Justine got one for him and Ella to share. If I remember correctly Yeaab tried a Dole Whip for the first time. We weren't able to stay very late because Jack had a birthday party he needed to get to. This year was actually the most fun I've had at the fair since I was a kid. Tickets for the rides are always so expensive and I usually just get pissed off with how much money we are spending, but the two times we visited this year it was really fun to try to find ways to have fun without spending an insane amount of money. Plus just hanging out with these kids is fun all by itself! 

Ella Is Officially Dating!

Edited: They both read this post and were completely okay with me posting it. I would never post something without their permission! 

 Okay let's start at the beginning. Ella started going to youth group during the summer of 2022 and there weren't any girls attending at that time. Thankfully that has changed now, but at the time it was just her and she was actually okay with it. She has 3 brothers so she's used to being around boys. During her time at youth group she got to know a particular boy his name is Justine. They would hang out, laugh and have a good time together on Wednesday nights.

Justine didn't volunteer at the Fall Festival last year, but he hung out for a bit. Obviously he's the one sitting next to Ella. This was when I really took notice that he was kind of her shadow whenever they were together...always following her around and you could tell he really enjoyed making her laugh. 

A little bit after this I asked Ella if she liked anyone and she said, "Justine!" She really wanted him to know that she liked him, but she didn't know what she should do. I told her she could just write him a note if that would make it easier. So that's just what she did. She wrote a note that basically said she liked him, she thought he was a very nice person and she really wanted to get to know him better. She even put that if he didn't like her that way that it was okay she'd be happy just being friends. 

This started the over 2 months of weirdness on Justine's part. He didn't really know what to do with that information and instead of talking to Ella about it he just avoided her and stuck close to his mom and once church was over they left. Ella of course was upset. She was mad that she had ever written the letter because she really liked having Justine as a friend and now he wasn't even that. 

Fast forward to Winter Camp at the end of January...a few of the youth kids pulled Justine aside and said..."Yo dude do you like Ella or not cuz you're kind of being a jerk!" I'm paraphrasing! :) This got Justine thinking and he realized yeah I'm not being very cool at all I should probably fix that. So on that trip they started talking again. 

Fast forward to Valentine's Day....he gave Ella a card and some chocolates! She was over the moon excited! 

They started talking again like normal after this and then one Wednesday night she came home from Youth Group so excited because Justine finally told her that he liked her too! By this point they were only seeing each other on Sunday's at church and Wednesday's at youth group. 

For the Easter Adventure at church they wanted to volunteer together so they ran the Egg Toss Game. Ella asked Justine if he had anything going on the rest of the day and he didn't so we ended up taking him home with us to hang out. 

Ella had been talking to him about sea glass and he wanted to go find some so we headed to the beach at Redondo. 

It was freezing, but I sat out there huddled under the beach blanket while they searched for sea glass.

One of the number one things that we've always told the kids is that whoever they like they have to make sure they love Jesus. I told Ella if she was serious about moving forward with Justine she would have to ask him. At first she pushed back a little and said well of course he's a Christian he goes to church. However, that's not true....I'm sure there are lots of people that are at church that haven't actually committed their lives to Jesus. So she went ahead and asked him and he said yes. 

A couple Sunday's after this Justine came over and hung out at our house again. I think it was around this time that they started texting during the week. During this whole time, Ella and I had been talking about relationships and what we were okay with and not okay with. We have open communication with our kids...we talk about everything in our house. The ground rules had already been laid stating that Justine couldn't go upstairs....they aren't going to be hanging out in her room. They can't be in a room by themselves with the door shut. There also isn't privacy at this point in regards to their text messages. I read their texts messages at the end of every day. I know that some people might think this is being a helicopter parent or too controlling, but she's my 14 year old daughter and lots of kids have gotten themselves in to sticky situations in regards to texting and she isn't going to be one of them thank you very much! 

Fast forward to Sunday, April 21st, we decided it was time to have the official "Boundaries" talk. Justine's mom had come over to pick him up so she was present as well. We had already been texting so she knew what our boundaries were and she agreed with all of them. We told the kids that if they wanted to actually date that we were okay with it, but there were going to be boundaries in place. On top of the ones I already listed we told them we were okay with them holding hands and giving hugs. That's it! No sitting in each others laps, no laying their head on each other's lap and no kissing...at least until Ella is 16. Those are our rules! We talked about how this conversation was going to be on-going and how we want them to feel comfortable talking to us. I even said that there will most likely come a time when they are irritated at the boundaries we've set and I want them to feel comfortable saying so. We'll listen to them with open ears and we can discuss why they feel the way they feel and how we're going to move forward, but for now those are our rules. One thing I've talked with Ella about in regards to not kissing until she's at least 16 is how nice it will be to take that out of the equation. There won't be that nervous feeling of...is he going to kiss me now, should I kiss him and so on. It's not an option so there's no need to worry about it. 

After we had the talk Justine's mom asked if he had anything he wanted to ask us. They are Filipino and she was insisting that he do things the Filipino way. Justine was so nervous he was like a deer in the headlights. He was trying to figure out what he wanted to say and how to say it respectfully. Finally after a bit of encouragement he looked at Michael and said, "Mr. Michael" and then looked at me and said, "Miss Lyndsay can I date your daughter?" His voice ended up going up during the word 'date' and so he immediately berated himself and said, "Why did I say it like that?" 

It was so cute! Of course we said yes and then went onto to tell him that his mom has raised an upstanding young man. He's very kind and respectful and just a overall good kid. Of course he is....if he wasn't Ella wouldn't be interested in him. 

After that he and Ella went out on the deck so he could officially ask her. It took him awhile, but he finally asked, "If she would do him the greatest honor and be his girlfriend." Awww!

After they came in I got their picture. That's Justine's mom giving him bunny ears. She told him you know you can put your arm around her. 

Cuties! 

Just a few days later was Ella's choir performance on Friday, April 26th. Logan Ella's best friend and Justine got to come watch her. After her performance they weren't ready for Justine to go home so we decided to go on the hunt for some dessert to celebrate. After going to two Jack in the Box's and them not having cheesecake we decided to introduce Justine to Crumbl Cookie. 

While we waited for them to package up the cookies I snag a picture of them with Ella in her choir uniform. Justine had just cut his hair the day before and he looked so nice. He wanted to make sure to make a good impression since he was basically meeting all of Ella's friends that night. 

They love their peace signs! 

Logan was with us the whole weekend and she was completely okay with Justine coming over and hanging out on Saturday. They played pool together and we went to the park to play volleyball. 

Justine came over on Sunday afternoon as well....not only do they hang out together, but we usually end up playing some sort of game with them. I really appreciate that Justine likes to hang out with our family. One of the best things in my opinion was the fact that he was friends with the older boys first. They really like him and that speaks volumes! He also seems to be fine around Michael which is huge! 

 

This was their one week anniversary so we had to commemorate it with a picture! 

Just this last Sunday, May 5th, we were playing Five Crowns with him and I decided to take their picture. I commented on what a cute couple and showed them the picture. 

This was the picture! Haha!

Okay okay....they are a cute couple too!

Last year if you would have asked me if I would be okay with Ella dating at 14 I probably would have laughed in your face and said...NO WAY!!! This has been a really interesting process to me because it's just been lots and lots of conversations with my girl. Ella and I are closer than we ever have been...and it's having that open communication that has really made me feel okay with this. Also the fact that we set up boundaries from the beginning and they both know what we expect and they know they need to respect those rules. It also helps that neither of them have their driver's license. It's not like they can drive off alone somewhere. They are dependent on us to get them places. I have told them if they'd like to go see a movie we are okay with that, but we'll be at the movies with them....maybe not sitting right next to them, but just down the row a bit. If they want to go out to dinner we will take them and we'll just sit at another table in the restaurant. I know that some people will think we're nuts for letting our 14 year old date and then there will be other people that will think we're being overbearing with all our rules, but my response to that is...she's our kid! We know her and we are doing the best that we know how to keep her safe while at the same time allowing her to grow up a little bit at a time.