Easter Morning

My Mom's favorite holiday was always

Easter. I can remember when I was really little

asking her, "Mommy, what's your favorite

holiday?"

I was a kid, so you can guess Christmas was my favorite, I was

sure it was hers.

It wasn't, she told me that Easter had always been

her favorite.  She loved the week between Palm Sunday and

Easter Sunday, she referred to it as Holy Week.

She loved the rebirth of her

faith that happened every year.

Growing up, Easter was done big in our house.

One year she made hot cross buns, another year

she used bread dough to make little bunny rabbits.

She used pressed sugar to

make my brother and me panoramic eggs.

Every year she sewed me an Easter dress.

She made sure that we decorated eggs, enjoyed

the Easter bunny, but still learned what Easter

was all about.

Every year, she and Dad would dress us up,

and take us to a Sunrise Service. One year, we

didn't have a sunrise service to go to, so my parents

dressed us up and took us to the back yard, so that we could learn

what it must have been like that first Easter morning.

Easter was the first holiday that my parents

met our older children.  It was the first holiday

that my Mom made clothes for them.

Easter was when my younger boys' mother decided

to sign over her parental rights so that we could adopt them.

Easter was also the last holiday that I celebrated

with my Mom.

Although Easter is so much different without her,

here is what she's left me:

The desire to allow my kids to make memories that

involve Easter baskets, egg hunts, and church services;

 a true love of the holiday

of Easter and what it means for our faith.

 Mostly, she has left me with a life time

of memories of Easters that I shared with her

both as an adult and as a child.

Memories of new dresses, sunrises, hot crossed

buns.  Memories of

chocolate bunnies, colored eggs,

cakes baked just for the day,

Memories of the joy she had stitching up clothes for our

four kids, and the thrill of seeing Easter as a grandmother.

Easter, the resurrection of Jesus, the empty tomb,

the promise that one day, I will hug my Mom again, and

I will tell her how very much I've missed her.

February and March in Pictures (or where has the time gone?!)

I have come to realize that this

poor blog has been sorely neglected.

Neglected because we have been so busy, 

just living.

During the past few months

our lives have been packed with all sorts of fun!

P. celebrated his seventh birthday!

I can't believe he's seven already!

Baby J. turned five, and I'm sad to say, he

really isn't a baby any more!

We have spent our days relaxing and reading

together.

We've enjoyed spending our time

finding our groove with home schooling. That perfect fit

between too much and too little.

Baby J. has spent time learning how to cook.

Last week he made us all brownies for dessert.

During these past few months,

we've just enjoyed

the time that we have together

as a family.  

As I watch my children grow and change,

I am reminded each and every day how

short their childhood is, how blessed I am to be there mother, 

and how soon these days will just be

memories.

Sometimes, I wish I could just stop time

and make these days last forever.

Our Month in Millions of Pictures

During this past month, I managed to break both

my camera and my computer.

Our poor blog has been very neglected.

Finally, I've replaced both a camera and a laptop.

Electronics, who knew they would break when they were dropped (a lot)?!

So, here is our month, in millions of pictures.  During the month

of December, we spent a lot of time making

memories, having fun, and treasuring our

family.

We made holiday cards for the troops to thank them

for their service to our country.

We enjoyed family movie night, making paper chains,

making millions of Christmas presents for our friends

and family. 

We made gingerbread men,

saw the lights on the lake (a yearly family

tradition),

and enjoyed the family sleep over.

Not a lot of sleeping was done that night, but

boy did we all have fun!!

The kids sang in our church's Christmas program.

This is the ONLY picture I was able to get of

them all dressed up.  It is REALLY hard to get

four kids to look at the camera and smile.

Notice how Doodles looks like

she'd rather be anywhere but having her picture taken, and

Baby J. is looking at something more exciting to the side of us.

During the month of December, we slowed down.

We enjoyed our family, our

extended family, our friends, 

our time together.

We took a break from school. Jon took time off from work.

We spent time just enjoying every second

of every day.

We spent time celebrating Christ's birth.

We spent time enjoying our children.

We spent time marveling at the gift of the time we have been given.

December was a magical, happy, memorable month for us.

I hope that it is a time that our kids will look back on with smiles

and fondness as they grow older. I hope

that the traditions that we shared together will be

traditions that they will one day share with their own families.

Mostly, during the month of December, we

were thankful.

We were thankful for each other, for the miracle that

is the family God made for us.

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

from our family to yours.