Dedication

This morning Clara was dedicated at church. It was a really special day. We wrote a letter to her and read it to the congregation and then pastor Russ said a few words and prayed for her/us. I'm so glad we were able to fit it in before Leah & Trav move to California (in just over one week - ugh). It was such a blessing that many family members could be there and stand beside us. Here is our letter -for family and friends far away- to get a little taste of the day and to stand beside us in prayer as we raise our little girl...

Dear Clara Girl,

We awaited your arrival with anticipation and now are overjoyed to have you in our lives. You are truly a miracle and we thank the Lord every day that He entrusted you to us. You have surprised us already by showing us an ever-increasing capacity to love. This love continues to grow with each new day. It is already amazing to watch your personality unfold as you change and grow. You are beautiful in every way and we love you so much.

We promise you, precious one, that we will raise you with all the love we can give. We promise that we will be on our knees for you, Clara, praying to the Lord who gave us this Love. We commit to loving the Lord with our hearts first and seeking Him. We trust him with our lives and now we trust Him with your life. We realize that you are His child. You are a gift from Him and we want to daily give you back to the Lord, who gave us the greatest gift, his son, and continues to give us all good things.

We pray that you will grow to know Jesus, too, Clara. We pray that you will learn to love and trust Him as your savior and closest friend. We look forward to serving and loving each other as a family and extending this service and love to the community and world around us. While we commit to praying that the Lord protect you from the evil in this world, we also pray that you will learn to love and engage the world. We pray you will make a difference for His Kingdom using the unique gifts and talents he has blessed you with. We are excited to watch these gifts unfold.

We love you so much, Clara Joanne, and we are certain that you are the biggest blessing in our lives so far. You are truly a gift from God. Our lives are forever changed since you came into our world and we will be thankful always.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Old Friends

At this time in life it feels like weddings are reunions. They bring together friends from near and far. My friend from high school, Angie, got married this weekend. I definitely had the shortest commute...

Janie (Seattle area), Sara (NY city), Me, Kim (LA), Holly (San Diego)

It is always great to see old friends. There is nothing like reconnecting as if nothing has changed even when we are all in such different places! I'm definitely the first to bust into the realm of motherhood, but I think I'm okay with that:). Hopefully they won't be too far behind.

Our Little Cowgirl

A few months before Clara was born, someone asked me if I was considering using cloth diapers. My immediate response was no! I didn't want to mess around with those square diapers with the scary pins. After a conversation with a friend who was pregnant and considering cloth diapers, though, I learned that they have come a long way since the white squares with the pins from yester-year:). I started doing some research and was quite impressed with what I found. After reading all about them online and talking to some friends who have loved using cloth, I decided to give it a go. My initial reasons for giving in were:

1. $$$ Even though they are pretty expensive up-front, we will never have to buy diapers because they are one-size (they snap into three different sizes so they'll grow as she grows).

2. Saving the Planet:)! Although they require water in order to launder, no diapers from the Hook household are clogging our nations landfills.

3. They're soft and cuddly. This was not a huge factor for us, but many people switch to cloth after their kids have allergies or other reactions to disposables.

If I am truly honest with myself, however, I really fell for the whole cloth diaper thing when I saw that happy heinys (yes, that is one of the brand names - the other I use is Bum Genius - great names, I know) came in prints. So here is my confession/true reason for buying cloth:

4. They are cute.

Next summer we'll be sure to take some pictures of the little darling running around in her silly monkey, cow print, or cheetah diapers...or the five or six other solid colors that currently adorn her backside. There's nothing wrong with saving the planet and wearing coordinating bows at the same time, right? :)

Week at the Lake

We just got back from our week at the lake with my family. This year we started calling our gathering a reunion which is funny in some ways because I've always associated reunions w/ large extended-family gatherings. I don't know if it's because there is now a grandchild or if we are kind of spread-out and true gatherings happen infrequently (Dev & Laris are in Portland and Leah & Trav were in Uganda, are temporarily in Spokane, and are soon on their way to Orange County). Needless to say, time together as the 10 of us is precious. It always seems to go by too fast!

Just a few highlights from the week included...

*Getting to go on some runs & bike rides + taking some naps while aunts & uncles or Mema/Popsie (yes, these are the names my parents have chosen for Clara to call them:)) watched Clara.

*Dressing Clara in her two new swimsuits. The girl is getting chubbier by the day!

*Taking a hike and seeing our first BEAR in the wild. Jonathan took this picture with Clara in the front-pack. We got kind of close before it started grunting and we were reminded that we were in the wild, not in a zoo!

*Celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary by going out for a nice dinner at Hill's Resort.

*Cutting Jono & Ethan's hair.

*Playing every sort of game/sport possible (soccer, golfing off the dock, home run derby, volleyball, tennis at Hills) and being reminded of how out-of-control our family can be when we get together and start competing:). This is just one of the boys setting up for golf.

*Witnessing lots of smiles, including these in the 4th of July outfit.

*Watching the firework display at Hill's Resort.

*Watching Clara experience the Priest Lake cold water for the first time. As you can see from the series of pictures, she did not like it (and I had a hard time watching it too - although you can tell Jonathan got a kick out of it:)).

Mose in Socks

Last weekend was Hoopfest in Spokane. For those of you non-Spokanites, it's on of our city's claims to fame, as it is the world's largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament. I grew up playing in Hoopfest and watching family and friends play, so going downtown and being a part of the action this year was nothing new. However, it may have been the five-year hiatus, but I must say, I saw Hoopfest through different eyes this year. It is a pretty incredible event. Everything downtown shuts down and some 400 courts appear overnight. There were something like 6,400 teams this year. I can't imagine the undertaking in order to organize such an event. Not only that, but as I walked through downtown and riverfront park, I was reminded of the beauty of downtown. Way to go, Spokane:).

Jonathan played with a few buddies this year (Neal, Luke & Chris) and they ended up doing pretty well. There were only a few minor incidents of crazy street-ball behavior and everyone came out of it (mostly) injury-free (which is, sadly, the #1 goal when you're getting old and don't play ball much anymore). I did realize during the experience, yet again, that I have a long way to go when it comes to getting my competitive spirit under control. I need to start working on that now or our children are going to be helpless:).

Here are some pictures of the basketball action. Ten golden stars for anyone who knows the story behind the team name...

The little munchkin, asleep on the sidelines