Happy Easter!

From our family to yours! I hope you all had a wonderful day celebrating our Risen Lord!!!

We actually had a few seconds to snap some pictures before heading to church.  Too bad we didn't have enough time to get E to smile...

And how about those matching eye scars?  Cute, huh? Robert's came from a fight with Emma, and Emma's came from an encounter with our dog, Chapel.  What are the odds? Both are now healing nicely.

No scratch could ever keep E from testing the "twirlability" of a new dress.

Our holy week was encouraging--learning and preparing to celebrate Easter.  I intentionally stayed away from this forum during the week, but we did all the usual activites. 

Making pretzels to remind us to pray.

We grew some Easter grass (chives) to remind us of our new life in Christ and to share with some friends to remind us to love our neighbor.  We were also the recipient of a BEAUTIFUL Easter Lily from a dear friend.  What wonderful love!

We also finished hot cross buns, resurrection cookies (and a beautiful Sedar Dinner with some gracious friends for J and me), but alas, no photographs of any of those.  Regardless, it is one of the most powerful weeks of our year.  Praise Jesus for his love for us, and his perfect obedience all the way to death.  How amazing that you are a RISEN Lord who has redeemed your people!!  

Oh, and even though Robert wasn't quite old enough to fully participate in all our activites, we couldn't forget this smiling face that stayed right near us the whole time!

Hope you and your family had a blessed Easter too!!

Junk Drawers and Lucky Days

Hello blog people. Hope things are hunky dory for you today.  This week has been a whirlwind of activity so far. Good thing it is SUPER nice weather outside, so we have lots of opportunities to run and play!

Amidst the weekly activities: getting ready for holy week, preparing to celebrate two wonderful pregnant moms this weekend, and some birthday parties, I found myself cleaning out this bastion of organization.

I have no clue the last time I cleaned out our junk drawer.  I found no less than 36 pens that don't work,  8 unidentified keys, 5 picture hanging nails, and 2 tire pumping needles.   All that was missing was the partridge in the pear tree.   And to be certain, I didn't wake up one morning with the intention of cleaning out my junk drawer.  It was all because our TV broke.  And naturally, as connected as those two items are, our broken television led to a clean junk drawer.  Unfortunately, I never found the business card of the company who installed our TV, but at least the drawer is a little cleaner.   Maybe this chaos is why it takes me SO long to get anything done!

In other unrelated news, do you think your kids are the funniest people on earth? I think mine are.  I mean, I really do.  I've considered a t-shirt or bumper sticker that reads: "My kids are funnier than your kids."  Think it would sell?   In support of my hypothesis, I show you Emma's window.

E sometimes "displays" books on her window sill.   She keeps them there because when she wakes up before the sun is up, she will go to the window, open the curtains and pull out the blinds until there is enough light for her to "read."  So, I can always tell what's on her reading list by glancing at her window.  It's fair to say you can get a good idea of her mood from her book selections  Well, today, she proudly displayed to the world it was her "Lucky Day."  

And each time I glance at the window, I hear Emma's voice saying, "Hey People.  It's my Lucky Day!  TODAY is my Lucky Day.  Maybe tomorrow can be YOUR lucky day."

Go get 'em kid.

Coming Untrue

Spring always seems to be such a busy time of year for me.  I can find myself lying awake at night wondering how in the world I'm going to get everything done.  I'm sure it is like this for many other people, but I think lots of the world says "the holidays" or "December" or Christmas is their busiest time of year. I totally get that.  December is filled to overflowing with activities, preparations, family, shopping, parties and hopefully, time to celebrate the birth of our Savior.   Sometimes, the world seems to overlook Easter a bit--at least in comparison to Christmas/the holidays.  In a strange way, I'm thankful for this commercial passover.  For better or worse, it seems to produce less worldly pressure on our celebration.  

What the world down plays, I'm hoping to emphasize.  I'm hoping to capitalize on the world's failure to manufacture more commercial business for Easter.  I'm hoping to use this "extra" time as more preparation time. To prepare my heart, and as best I can, the heart of my children, to celebrate the greatest miracle of this world.  The greatest, most horrific, most painful, most gruesome sacrifice made for the most undeserving.   And to prayerfully discern how in the world Jason and I can begin to communicate that gift to Emma and Robert.   For if leaving a Godly heritage on this earth is one of our chief responsibilities, this season carries tremendous weight and responsibility in teaching and instruction. 

As I journey through Lent this year, I find myself continually drawn to the Jason Gray album "Everything Sad is Coming Untrue."  So much so, that I posted the lyrics below.  It is a poetic expression of our Savior's redeeming love for His people.  It has helped me see the Gospel amidst so many seemingly devastating world events.  What if I viewed all the sad things of this world as one fantastic story of a Prince, a Lord, a Savior, coming to rescue His people.  What if each tragedy soaked in human and moral turpitude was merely to juxtapose evil against His perfect LOVE? What if all the terribleness presents an opportunity for us to experience even more of His redeeming mercy? And more still, what if HE is making all the sin, all the sadness and the devastation of this world come untrue?  

And I pinch myself.  

Because.

He is.

See, I will create 

   new heavens and a new earth. 

The former things will not be remembered, 

   nor will they come to mind.

Isaiah 65:17

All by His love for His people and Christ's sacrifice for us.

Hope you enjoy the lyrics too (and please excuse the shameless website plug in the middle).

You can buy the album here.  It is amazing in its entirety.

10 months & Family Fun

Seriously?  I CANNOT BELIEVE IT.  This year is flying by. Warp speed.  The minute I sit down to "enjoy" something, I immediately pay for it with an overscheduled to-do list the next day.  But, I'm slowly learning to let some things go and make more time for what's important.

First up--the chair pictures. Robert cooperated MUCH better this month.  Maybe it was the fact I was holding a trip to the park over his head...

Although you'd never know it.  He was just pretty much all smiles.

And what's behind that smile?  Teeth!  And teeth that bite.  At 10 months, the dude has 4 teeth and is working on a 5th.  He surely knows how to use them too. Thankfully, he puts them to correct use 95% of the time, eating more table foods these days.  The other 5%?  Well, he's only left a few marks on me, the crib, our kitchen island, toys, you know, the usuals.

And he's still clapping up a storm.  He is actually thrilled to clap for himself.  Just tell him "Yeah Robert" and watch the applause roll.

Guess who else was ready to end the photo session and head to the park?  I'll give you two guesses, and the first one doesn't count.

Emma really is a dear big sister to Robert. We're having to "define our roles" more concretely these days though.  Certain jobs are "mom" jobs and not "sister" jobs.  But that doesn't seem to stop her from thinking Robert is her "baby" to be pulled, placed and played with as she sees fit...

Finally, sweet relief and park fun!  We headed to Railroad Park for a picnic and some princess kite flying.

Not so fast guys. Wait for me!

They wouldn't let me play their little kite game.  Babies never get to do any of the fun things.  At least I still have my good looks (and a little lunch leftover on my cheek)

 Oh wait, I found a little more lunch. Lucky me!

It's hot.  They won't let me fly the kite.  This grass is prickly.  I'm getting sunburned.  Can someone get a baby to a crib for a nap?  Please?

What a great Saturday with such beautiful weather!! Happy 10 months Robert!