Fun with Cousins!

Last weekend we had a great time with Jay's family and the cousins! We all piled into our apartment and had a great time. We all went to our Maundy Thursday serve and it was so precious to have my niece and nephew!
We headed over the American Girl Boutique and this was Emma's first time. They enjoyed shopping, Anli's doll got her ears pierced, and they each got a new outfit for their dolls! It was heaven for these girls...and Grammy and Aunt Amy too!

We had come to this mall to get family photos with the grandparents for Linda's birthday present. They turned out great and we were able to have it matted and framed for them to take home and put on their walls!

Then, it was time for some fun! We headed to the carousel...

with their American girl dolls of course!

How cute is Emma? I love that she chose an elephant!

Parker and Grammy had a good time on the lion! He is a cutie too...the only boy cousin...bless his heart! We had a great time with Jay's family and were glad to have the girls home.

Egg Hunts!

On Saturday morning, we got up and headed over to a church that was having an egg hunt that morning. It was a overcast and blustery day...but the girls were not to be deterred from a chance to hunt eggs and get lots of candy! Here we are in the sanctuary glad to be out of the wind for a few minutes. My mom gave the girls these beautiful metal baskets! Thanks Sassy!!!
This egg hunt was wonderful! They divided the kids up into 3 age groups and this was the oldest group of kids. There were more eggs than I could imagine! They lined up all the kids and then let them go for it!

Anli races to fill her basket full!

Virginia found tons of eggs...filled with her favorite...CHOCOLATE!

There were so many eggs that kids had full baskets before the eggs were all gathered! It was nice and relaxed since everyone had more than their fill of eggs. There were "golden eggs" but we didn't find any of those. Who cares about a dollar when you have CHOCOLATE?

Anli and her basketful of goodies! She looks beautiful in her purple sweater!

Virginia is thrilled with hers too!

Our pretty girls with an amazing azalea bush! I love spring!!

We emptied our eggs and gave the plastic eggs back (thankfully, since I have more than enough plastic eggs in my house!). We met some of our friends there and the kids enjoyed trading loot with each other.

Then we dug into wonderfully decorated cupcakes, cookies, and juice! This hunt was so well done and not crowded at all. There were plenty of families, but nothing overwhelming!

We only came home long enough to boil a dozen eggs for our trip to our friends' house that night...then we headed outside to our apartment's egg hunt. Complete with a visit from the Easter Bunny!

Then, we headed over to a friend's house to decorate real hard boiled eggs! It was so much fun and brought back tons of memories. The girls loved all the colors, stickers, markers, stencils, and friends!

Anli and her best friend Ravenn decorate together. We had SO many eggs to decorate! Every child got a dozen to paint and color. They had the best time!

Here are Virginia's eggs...Jay's is in the middle. He did a cool stained glass egg! I love the smiley face with the little tongue sticking out! So cute!

Here are Anli's eggs...she and I tried our hand at the stained glass technique and it turned out pretty. We had so much fun and truly are blessed! It was one fun and

Blessed Resurrection Day!

Today, we had the most wonderful Resurrection Day! We began last night with our annual Empty Tomb cookies...well, actually they are more like meringue cookies with a really great story that walks our family through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus!
We use vinegar and read about the way Jesus fulfilled Scripture by asking for vinegar wine on the cross. We talked about how Jesus suffered on the cross for our sins. Then, we added and beat 3 egg whites to remind us that Jesus is the Way, Truth, and LIFE. The white eggs remind us also of the purity of Jesus which allowed Him to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Anli loved whipping the egg whites...it took a while to get those stiff peaks we needed so we all put in time with the blender!

Then, we add and taste salt and read about how the women wept over Jesus' death at the foot of the cross. We then, added sugar and read John 3:16 that reminds of the sweet gift God gave us through Jesus Christ!

Once we had those stiff peaks, we dipped spoonfuls of the cookies onto the cookie sheets to look like little tombs where they buried Jesus. We had the oven preheated to 300 degrees and then turned it off before we placed the cookies in the oven.

Then, the girls taped the oven shut to symbolize how the stone was rolled to seal the tomb with Jesus inside. Then, we placed our "guard" on the counter to guard the tomb all night! When you have a house full of girls...the guard is an American Girl doll!

Then, this morning...we rushed to the tomb and opened to see our little "tombs" were cracked open and empty inside! We have done this for the past 4 years and the girls love it and get excited every Easter morning to see the EMPTY TOMB! What a way to start a Resurrection Day!

We had the best service worshipping with our Noonday family! Both the girls joined me for the service which was absolutely awesome. Worshipping with my girls is just a little taste of heaven on earth for me. Jay was down dealing with Easter madness in the children's area...and we missed him!

After the service, Virginia (who usually is in our children's worship time) asked if she could join Anli and I every week in the service...YOU BETCHA baby doll:)

We came home and enjoyed a yummy spaghetti and salad lunch and then a little rest! But, around 4pm we decided that we would not just sit at the house today...we all wanted to get out and enjoy our Easter in God's beautiful creation together as a family. So, we loaded up the bikes, scooters, kite, and stopped by Kentucky Fried for a picnic dinner and headed to a local school where we love to ride bikes and play!

The girls loved riding their bikes around the 1 mile track!

Jay and I enjoyed walking together behind them. It was a glorious day and we constantly thanked God for the amazing family He has given us! We are blessed beyond measure!

Daddy bought us a kite at Wal-mart and I was thrilled to see it was a ladybug...it's my favorite animal in the world...since it is red! So, after bike riding, we headed to the soccer field there and started flying it...but had a little trouble to start. Then, Jay found the problem and we had a great time!

We found a nice spot for a great picnic dinner. You can't get better than crispy chicken, corn on the cobb, mashed potatoes, biscuits and sweet tea...yummm!

We headed to the park that is also right there and enjoyed the playground all to ourselves. Anli is a little monkey!

Virginia and I love to swing! Notice the little ladybug on my shirt...yep it borders on a sickness really.

Easter flowers and pretty girls!

While we were swinging, we noticed that Daddy had gotten our kite up in the air! Way up! We rushed back onto the field and enjoyed flying our kite! Virginia was thrilled to finally get to fly the kite after being patient while it made numerous nose dives into the ground. Way to go Daddy!

Anli trying her hand.

Virginia took this picture and I have to say it is one of my favorites of Jay and I of all time. It is extra great because my sweet girl took it for us! I had jumped on Jay's back while we were watching Anli fly the kite and Virginia took it.

As we headed home, we pulled into our apartment and next to where we parked our car we saw our very own little Easter bunny! What a perfect Resurrection Day!!!

I pray that you are basking in the reality of the victory Christ has over sin and death. I pray that you truly grasp the depth of depravity that is in each of us...allowing you to truly find endless worth in Christ's blood. I pray that you give up the facade of perfection that allows those around you to simply see you instead of the beauty of the Gospel. I pray that you embrace the Cross and the Resurrection as your only hope today. I pray that your life will live and breathe and find it's being in Christ.

Blessed Resurrection Day...

Weekend Update

Well, I haven't been posting recently because of two reasons. One, I have been out of town the past two days leading a ladies retreat in Alabama...and two, my girls are out of town with Jay's family. Jay's family came into town on Friday evening and then left with our girls for Spring Break on Saturday morning.

They are headed to spend a wonderful few days with their family in Alabama running and playing with horses, cows, dogs, cats, cotton seed (I got a photo from Jay's sister on my phone last night of them up to their ears in cotton!) and much more. They have already been fishing, made smores over a bonfire, caught caterpillars in their bug catchers, and played with too many cousins and family to count! They are having a blast!


Jay and I couldn't go with them this week because I had a retreat to lead Sunday and this is one busy week at our church for Jay. We have a Seder service on Wednesday night, Maundi Thursday service on Thursday...and the girls will be back on Friday (hopefully sooner!). But, we have truly enjoyed our time together as a couple too!

Jay was able to drive with me to Alabama on Sunday after church to the retreat. Then, we spent the night with my family and I was able to spend some quality time with my mom and dad...and my precious nephew Julian. Jay then drove me back home yesterday and I spent the day changing over winter clothes to summer...just in time for it to SNOW! What's up with this?

So, blogging will be less this week...it makes me miss my girls more...since this blog is all about our family. But, Jay and I are loving our "honeymoon week" as he calls it!

Thanks to those who prayed for the retreat! An update is on the DFM blog!

Seder Plates

Our girls got amazingly cute calendars for Christmas and have put them up on the wall above their desks so that they know the date and what is going on that week. Well, this morning right before we began our family morning devotion time she asked a wonderful questions..."What is Passover?" she asked.

We took just a few moments right then to explain it to the girls and then went on with our morning reading and missions time. Well, her question got me thinking. Our church is doing a Seder dinner next Wednesday night, but the girls will be on their spring break with Jay's family.

So, I looked online and found this wonderful idea that is super kid-friendly and really allowed us to go through the passover meal and see Christ in every single piece.

Jay and I have had the opportunity to be involved with two Seder dinners led by Messianic Jewish ministers and it blew us away! So, we wanted to share a little of that with our girls.

We each made a Seder Plate after our family dinner tonight. Jay walked us through the scriptures of why the Jewish people had the Passover meal and how it shows us the need for a Savior. He then brought us to the New Testament where we walked through the last supper and Jesus' fulfillment of Old Testament prophesy! It was really good and the girls really got it!

Each part of the meal clearly shows us Christ! Jay even stopped by the grocery store and brought home Matzo bread so that the girls could taste it and know what it was like. We talked about how the stripes of the bread reminded us of the stripes of Christ by which we were healed.

All of our Seder Plates looked different!
Then, for dessert we decorated sugar cookies for Jay's family...and ourselves! Don't they look so cute? The girls did a great job.
This was a lamb that Anli made...how precious is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! Take special time as we focus on the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry, death, and resurrection. Don't let this time pass without sharing the gift of Jesus Christ with those in your family...and those you come into contact with all week.

Happy April Fools Day!

Well, happy April Fools Day to you! This morning has already been filled with pranks and fun...we've been laughing a lot this morning! I had read about a great and fun April Fools Day prank to play on my family this morning at breakfast. I got our breakfast cereal ready and on the table and since we always have breakfast together and do our family devotion at that time...no one suspected a thing! But, little did they know that lying at the bottom of the innocent bowl of cereal...was FOOD COLORING! This is what Anli found when I poured her milk into the cereal bowl: And Virginia found this:
Yep, a crazy color milk prank! It is so cute and so harmless that it doesn't even change the taste of the cereal! They LOVED it and I was laughing so hard I was crying...I was quite proud of myself for pulling it off...even in Jay's bowl! I'm not a prankster at all, so NO ONE expected ME to pull off the first April Fools Prank of the day!!

Though it would gross me out to even think about eating this...my girls slurped that cereal up in record time! They thought it was the coolest!

And Anli even got a blue mouth as a souvenir of the prank! So fun!

Anli had been planning her prank for daddy since yesterday. So, while she took her bowl into the kitchen to put it away, she wrapped clear tape around the sink sprayer thingie...and when dad went to rinse out his bowl...he got scooted!! Look at Anli's laugh! That girl cracks me up!

Dad was surprised and got a good laugh too. He and I have one more prank for the girls we "cooked" up a few days ago We'll be pulling that one of at lunch. I'll post our results afterwards.

I pray that my children remember our home as one of prayer, love, God's Word, shelter...and laughter! Home is a haven and I am so blessed to share it with these precious people...blue and pink mouths and all. Happy April Fools Day!