a "courageous" resolution

about a month or two ago, justin and a group of other young fathers concluded a study they'd been doing since the beginning of the year. they chose the study based on the recent movie, "courageous," and each week they completed lessons and discussion based on the characteristics of godly husbands and fathers. when it came time for their final dinner and completing the "resolution" with our pastor and all of the families, justin's dad and stepmom were here visiting. it was great to include them in the event, too!

we met for dinner and to watch the movie all together. some hadn't seen it yet, but justin and i had watched it a few weeks earlier after he started the study. it is a great movie, and very well-done. bring your kleenex!

afterward, we (quickly) moved to the resolution portion. it was getting late and most of our kids were ready for bed! this group is so dear to my heart--many of them are also volunteers with the youth group or were part of the young adults small group we attended right after college. we have quite literally shared our lives together over the past five years, and i was so grateful that our husbands were able to do this together.

the youngest of the group--sweet gabe!

you can see peyton in the background, a very pregnant regan, and of course, lynn and josh playing with gabe and kelsey here up front. in the two months since this event, regan and matt had their baby (staten) and kelsey and josh have announced another pregnancy!

here is our pastor tim explaining the process to the guys...

and all of the guys together

they went through one by one having the guys repeat the resolution to their families. here are our friends, brent and emelie and their son jake and daughter peyton

david, lynn and josh :)

and jeremy, lindsay and collen

we didn't get a picture of us :( i'm not sure how well it would've turned out, anyway. it was way past davis's bedtime and he was barely hanging on with the iphone videos and apps keeping him entertained.

after each family finished, we laid out the copies of the resolutions so each guy could sign the others' as witnesses.

it was quite a flurry of papers and pens as each one got passed down the line.

all the guys lined up and signing...

and one more.

we are planning to find a frame for justin's copy to have it displayed at home

and it makes it even more special to have it signed by all of our dear friends and tim.

we headed home to get davis to bed. he was already lounging in his train chair that grammy and pappy bought him (it's become his favorite seat in the house.)

and pappy helped with story time before he went to bed. i was happy to capture this photo of the three of them :)