The first week of August we celebrated John's 20th birthday and him graduating into manhood.
Friday night we had dinner at William's Tavern in Historic Washington State Park with family. We had wonderful fried chicken, new potatoes, green beans, and apple cobbler!
Singing "Happy Birthday"
After dinner we had a time of the parents and grandparents sharing Scriptures with John and any memories that they had of him. There were some very funny stories told about when he was growing up!
Grandma telling the funny story of when she gave John a spanking.
Dad praying over John.
Opening presents! The quilt that Mom made him was the Tennessee Star pattern, as John was born in Tennessee.
The scrapbook Mom put together of John's life.
John's first G-shock watch.
Laughing over some pictures in the scrapbook of John's crazy side.
The next day we had John's Manhood Ceremony at our church, Mount Olive Baptist.
Will, Amanda, John, and Jared sang "Rock of Ages, Keep My Soul"
Our family sang "God's Word Will Stand"
Signing the Manhood Pledge
The grandfathers prayed a special prayer of blessing over John.
Afterwards we had a reception at the Willisville Community Center where we enjoyed lots of good food, cake, and ice cream.
Grace and Brittany did a good job serving the drinks.
As always, Amanda made a wonderful cake!
We had John's quilt and scrapbook laid out for people to look at.
Pap, Nana, and Aunt Lynn.
Grandpa and Grandma Hellwig.
It was nice to get to see Uncle David, Aunt Kerri, and all their kids.
