What else have we been doing?

Life has kept on going on even as it has changed quite a bit for us.  I'll blog more about ministry later but I thought I'd post a few pictures from our adventures over the last couple weeks. 

Kale had baseball tryouts a couple weeks ago.  80 8yr olds were on the field to hit, and field a couple grounders.  He wound up on his old team, The Red Sox, but we decided to move him to a different team because his old coach, Jerome, wasn't coaching.  He's now playing for the A's.  A whole new team.  All new kids.  A new coach.  This will be an experience for all of us.

 

A random picture of my littlest with eye black on during naptime...

  

Mark's parents were in town for our busy Easter weekend.  We had a Good Friday worship service and then our church hosted our first Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning.  It was a great success.  Over 200 people came.

 The hunt itself was total chaos however!  And unfortunately some kids didn't get eggs.  So we talked to our kids about sharing what they had found with those who didn't have any, and much to my surprise they willingly shared almost all their eggs.  We talked to them about how God takes care of us when we give generously.  The crazy thing was after they did that, God proved this to be true.  Both Kale and Kate won cupcakes in the cake walk and Kale won a bag of chocolate mints from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory...I finally asked God to hold off on the generous amounts of sugar he was blessing my kids with....But I smile to think of God showing my kids what it means to be generous.  What an awesome God!

 Easter itself was wonderful.  They announced our new job to the congregation like I mentioned before.  Mark did an awesome job with his sermon.  We had a delicious dinner of pot roast and potatoes and pink "salad" afterwards.  And another egg hunt in the back yard.  I have no idea why I have no pictures from any of it.  I think Mark got them all on his phone.  Bummer.

Mark's 38th birthday was last Friday.  We got up and went out to breakfast.  Here's our proof of that.  After breakfast, we walked around downtown for a bit and found Mark his birthday present (new hiking boots).  I had to work that afternoon and we had small group that evening so this was the celebration for the day.  We did have pie and ice cream and played spoons at small group though!

 

 I posted this picture on facebook last week.  I took a picture of the map I'm using, in addition to Kale's curriculum, to teach him about the US.  This isn't the actual map - it's the outside picture that you see through the packaging.  But I laughed at the state we supposedly live in...Thankfully the actual map is much more accurate.

And lastly I thought I'd share another issue we had with our trampoline.  Last year we had a huge gust of wind that just turned it over.  Kinda crazy.  Well last week we had another huge gust of wind and when I looked outside to where the trampoline was supposed to be I found this.  The brown spot is it's normal location.

When I looked around I finally saw it over on the other side of the fence!  Can you see it there behind that tree?  Grrrrr!  Unfortunately it got a small hole in it.  We've got to figure out how to patch it :(  Apparently we need to stake it down with tent stakes or put sandbags all over the bottom.  It's a huge, heavy sail and I'm afraid someday it'll wind up in our neighbors yard!

And that's what I had on my phone for now.  Don't you just love how I come up with posts for you based on what is on my phone?

On the Hunt

We did do an Easter Egg hunt a day or two after Easter. So no pictures here of adorable Easter outfits or anything.

Just adorable kids looking for eggs
in the grass
outside
with Walmart sacks.

Yeah I'm so not that mom who has everything together...

Lovely picture of the propane tank in the background....you might be a redneck if....

the golden egg...
not like they cared

And that's it! Just enough to show that we did do a little candy hunt. Not sure why I had to prove that but I did. :P

Terrible Easter Dinner Pictures :(

My new phone has been taking way better pictures than my old one...until yesterday. Sadly I thought these pictures were ok until I loaded them on the computer to put on here. Bummer, but they're the only ones I got so I have to include them. *sigh*

Mark and I have not been doing much on Easter in the previous years because we don't have family here. We've been kinda lame actually... We decided to change that this year. We invited family-less people (like ourselves) in our small group over to our house for an Easter feast! And it was so fun!

We had 18 people here (that included our family). We almost had 20 but 2 of them got sick. I cooked a ham, some cheesy hashbrown potato things and a key lime dessert. Everyone else brought tons of delicious food. It was definitely a feast!

It was also our friends' daughter's 3rd birthday so we sang happy birthday and the kids got yummy cupcakes. Here are Jachin, Lori and Sara and a bunch of kids singing to little miss Shiloh.

LuLu, Elizabeth, Sarah and Sharon and a bunch of kids...

Mark, Mike, Jachin and a bunch of kids....

See a pattern here? Yeah there were a bunch of kids. 9 total I believe. They had a great time. Unfortunately it has been raining here for the last 2 days so outside was so super muddy it was impossible to have the kids run around out there. They did great inside, though, and the adults actually had a time to eat and talk! I consider that successful!

I definitely want to do this again next year with our family of choice! It made Easter that much more special.

Sunday's Coming!

I was enjoying my morning coffee while 2 of my 3 children were sleeping in, reading blogs and catching up on the blog world, when I read my friend, Nate's, post. And it struck me.

The day after Jesus was crucified had to be one of the most sad, depressing, anxious, confusing, hopeless days for the disciples. They had just seen the man that they loved, had given up everything to follow, had learned truths from, had put all their hope in, murdered. Dead. And with Him, their hope. They were confused, lonely, anxious for their own futures.Jesus had spoken to them about so many things and told them about raising up the temple in 3 days but I don't think they really understood what that meant. Maybe they wondered if it was really real. Was He going to rise from the dead to free them? To lead them? Or were they putting their hopes into something that wasn't real. To them it seemed like God had just lost the battle. They had no idea that Sunday was coming.

I can only imagine how helpless they felt. How hopeless they felt.

And I can bet that we've all been there! That we've been through some dark, dark times of confusion, of hopelessness, of wondering if God was really there and is there really a hope. But we didn't know that Sunday was coming.

Sunday came! Jesus rose from the dead, conquering death, freeing us from our sins, paying our debts! Sunday came!And it will come for you. If you are in a dark place and feeling hopeless please know that if you surrender your life to Christ, Sunday will come. He brings hope. He brings salvation. He brings Truth. He brings life.

Sunday is coming! Hallelujah!

Happy Passover!

No we are still not Jewish.

But the more I learn about passover the more I love that Easter is the Christian passover - the fulfillment of the Jewish passover. Let me explain.

God's chosen people are the Jewish people. That doesn't mean He doesn't like the rest of us, but it does mean that they are very, very special to Him. The whole Old Testament shares story after story of God protecting, providing, disciplining and loving His people - the Hebrews/Israelites.

The Jewish Passover meal celebrates God's protection for their ancestor's children. When Moses was in Egypt trying to convince Pharaoh to let God's people go, and God sent the ten plagues to change Pharaoh's heart, Moses told the Hebrews to sacrifice a lamb, take the blood from the lamb and put it over their doors so that their children may be protected from the angel of death. All who obeyed were protected as death passed over their doors. Those who did not obey lost their child. God had once again provided a way of protection for His children.

Nearly two thousand years later, He sent His Son - the Lamb of God - to be sacrificed, His blood shed, so that all who cover the doors of their hearts with His "blood" may be saved from death (an eternal spiritual death). Jesus conquered death so that we do not have to pay the punishment for turning our backs on God. The Passover meal that the Jewish people celebrate, and that Christ celebrated right before His death, is a beautiful symbol of God's protection and provision. Jesus was, and is, the perfect fulfillment of all that the passover meal points to. It really is amazing to see that meal explained by a Jewish person and see the symbolism of Christ in it.

So this week, as I reflect on all that it means, I'm thankful for God's provision of a Lamb sacrificed for me so that I may spend eternity in His presence.

Easter Weekend

Easter weekend....Wow, fast and busy! Friday night Mark led our church in an amazingly awesome celebration of our life in Christ on that Good Friday. It was wonderful and very needed.

Saturday we had a lazy day. Hung out, danced (hence the video), and played together as a family.

Easter Sunday, Resurrection Sunday, was spent at church and it was great. Then after church we got a sweet invitation to go to the Kline's house for the afternoon and we had a blast. I'm always thinking that I need to find people without families down here to celebrate holidays with and then I never plan far enough in advance. It's so frustrating for me, the planner!, to realize it's only 4 days till Easter and we have no one to celebrate with. We had asked the Kline's to come over but they were having her brother over. But on Sunday it worked out for us to join them and I'm so glad it did. We had such a fun time talking, laughing, playing games and being family with chosen family. And our good friend Jinny was there too. It was so nice.

We got home late and crashed hard. Today's been a bit difficult but we had a good day overall. And because I am a horrible Easter mother and did no planning I do not have 1 picture of my beautiful children! Grrr! Oh well. At least you can enjoy this video of the kids dancing to techno music. You can see how much Jack loves to dance!

Good - no, the Best - Friday

I could not let this week go by without mentioning the very reason for my faith. The very reason for my existence. The very reason for the hope eternal that I have. Jesus Christ's death and His glorious resurrection.

If you've been a follower of my blog I sure hope it's been obvious to you that I am a believer and follower of Christ. He has changed my life. Blessed my life. Enriched my life. Challenged my life. But more importantly given me eternal life.

I also hope that by reading my blog you have been challenged and hopefully drawn to Him. The One I worship. That's my hope. That you, my friend, would see what Jesus has done in my life and be curious to know more about Him. Why is He so great? Why do I follow Him?

If you have a few minutes watch this video. I had looked at other songs, one of my favorites being Love Song by Third Day, and saw some amazing videos that brought me to tears. Watching what Jesus did for me...because He loves me...because He created me....there are no words. But this song, by Chris Tomlin, talks about how Jesus overcame death. A miracle. A gift. For me and for you. I pray this Easter that you can reflect on what His love for us means to you. I pray that it moves you. That it changes you. That it draws you to Him. Have a blessed Easter!

It wouldn't be easter without dressing up the kids!

This morning started off a little crazy. Jack was the only one who was okay with what I dressed him in. [Mark left early this morning. He was singing in the worship team.] The other two had an opinion. Okay, lots of opinions. But we made it out with clothes and shoes. It was a miracle.

Note Kate's princess crocs. I told her that her blue dress was like Cinderella's so she insisted that she wear princess shoes. Makes sense to every 3 year old I'm sure. I decided not to argue that point. I mean, I got her to wear the cute dress....Kale didn't want a tie {believe me I tried} but he looked pretty cool.

We caught him in a "normal" moment.

See what I mean when I say caught in a "normal" moment....

They like each other. They really do! {at least sometimes...}

Don't let the cuteness fool you - they're totally sugared up thanks to Children's Ministry ;)

Jack certainly looks like he's enjoying himself don't ya think?
Nothing like big brother's help.

Little Jack-man. Sitting all by himself. *sigh* He's growing up so fast!
7 months old tomorrow!