Sunday we celebrated James as we watched him publicly profess his faith in Jesus Christ.  My first thought heading into this wonderful weekend was that I was a proud mother.  While I was, I was more than that.  I was a grateful sister in Christ to the young man.  Nothing that I did caused this.  nothing that James did caused this.  This event that we celebrated can only be credited to one being-the Almighty God.  Ryan and I looked on and counted ourselves blessed as James confessed his sin before the Lord last fall.  We participated in  a discussion about the scriptures with him to help him understand what the Bible tells us about our sin, our need for a savior, and God's plan to provide for us.  But only God can claim to a be the Proud Parent for this event.  It is true that there is no greater joy than to know that our children are walking in the Truth, but it is not because we accomplished something, rather that we  know that God has accomplished something in them.  So this weekend we celebrated as join heirs with James.  We were pleased that he wanted to stand before his church family and proclaim Jesus as the Lord.  Here are the words he shared, 

"My name is James Ryan Yoho.

I am 5 1/2 years old.

Today I am getting baptized because I believe Jesus was God and died on the cross to save me from my sins.  I know I have sinned against a holy God by disobeying Him.

I need a savior because the Bible says when you sin you earn death.  Jesus loved us so much that he died for our sins and then rose after three days and went back to heaven.  This was his way of rescuing me. 

Now that I am a Christian, I want my life to be different.  I know I will still have trouble with sin.  One thing that is hard for me is putting others before myself, especially my brother.  That is something the Bible says we should do. 

But the Holy Spirit came into my heart.  Now He is helping me be more like Jesus.  He said to love your neighbors as yourself.  Two ways He did that was by washing the disciple’s feet and dying on the cross for you and me."

And here is what I, and James' entire extended family, including all of his cousins (except those who were in the nursery!!) witnessed....Ryan was the Elder facilitating the baptisms on Sunday and he had the great joy of baptizing his son.  He did an incredible job!

We decided to make the whole weekend a celebration so we had many other fun events to help celebrate with James.  Cousin sleepover with the Milnes......A Nationals tailgate and game with best buddy Jacob, and a cake reception with the family and church body to celebrate our young man.

We love you James.  Thanks you for allowing us to celebrate with you this weekend!!