remembering easter

We had a wonderful Easter weekend! On Saturday, we drove up to Gainesville to be with Nana, Grangoat, Brad & Nova. We took the boys to the park, hunted Easter eggs, ate a wonderful fajita dinner and watched Despicable Me.

Here's Elijah trying to knock an Easter egg down from the tree.

Here's Elijah at the park, and if you'll look to the right of him, you'll see the boys' names on one of the wooden slats. Nana & Grangoat helped build the park so the boys' names are there! Pretty cool!

Judah was totally scaring me on this thing, but that's how it goes with him!

Oh yeah, and did I mention that while we were there it started hailing, the tornado sirens started going off and the news said the rotating clouds were RIGHT ABOVE THE HOUSE!!! So...we all hid in the hall under mattresses. Wrong! What fun would that be! :-) We all ran outside to check it out of course!

There were some pretty scary clouds but thankfully nothing ever touched down! We made a break for home shortly after this and missed more incoming storms.

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On Sunday afternoon, we had the great pleasure of having Easter lunch with our new friends, the Tucker's. We really enjoyed it...thanks again guys!

We let the kids have another mini-egg hunt in their backyard. Jason and Lanny did a really good job actually hiding all of the eggs! At the end, they were trying to find a few that they apparently hid from themselves! :-)

The Tucker girls: Eden, Jordan and Kezia

The best I could get of my boys. Judah actually looks very angry at me - watch out!

All 5 kids...I am very proud of this picture, they're all looking!

And lastly, the kids opening all of their eggs to see what they got!

Of course we opened our last Resurrection Egg on Easter morning. The boys thoroughly enjoyed this new tradition, and by the end of the 12 days when I asked Judah why we celebrate Easter, he said "Cause Jesus rolled the stone away"! That is so right...praise Him!

free {happy 3rd birthday judah!}

if you ask judah how old he is today,
he will hold up 3 fingers, smile and say "free".
i just love that, i love that he says it "free". it melts my heart every time.
we just love this little guy so much and can't believe he's already 3!

he was very much anticipated by the whole family -
elijah couldn't WAIT to be a big brother!

the first time i laid eyes on him i was in love.

he was perfect in every way,

and a beautiful, precious baby.
{don't let this picture fool you though, he was NOT a good sleeper :-)}

in the blink of an eye, he was 1 year old,

and then TWO!

and now, he's "free"!


he has had a fabulous day! he wore his new buzz lightyear shirt, shoes and "birthday boy" button to school today where he had cupcakes with his friends.





and he opened his present from mommy & daddy when he got home.



shortly, we are headed to mcdonald's (his choice) for dinner (if there's not a tornado...literally).

judah, you are such a blessing! we are privileged that God chose us to be your parents. we are humbled at the task of raising you to mirror Jesus and proclaim His good news all over the world. we pray daily for you - for your desires, your friends, your future wife, your choices and your heart to all center around Him because He is what will make your life full of meaning and purpose. we love you sweet angel. thank you for keeping us on our toes, for always making us smile and for being a little light everywhere you go. you make us so proud! happy birthday!

to read judah's full {adventurous} birth story, click HERE

hope resurrected

Happy Easter...He is risen!!!

"Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He’s coming
Oh glorious day!"

glorious silence

alternately titled: what judah did with the tape & stickers from his easter eggs after school
alternately alternately titled: he did this to himself, please don't turn me in :-)

flashback

To the 80's

The roller skating birthday party we went to this past Saturday night for sweet Eden took me right back to my elementary/junior high days. I LOVED roller skating with my friends {and I was pretty good too} - turns out my boys' first time to roller skate was a hit with them as well!

They both started off with these "helper bars" for the first 30 mins - 1 hour. Elijah brought his own skates that we just recently picked up at Goodwill for $5, and believe it or not they had teeny tiny skates there in Judah's size.

And boy, was he SO CUTE! After he decided he didn't "need" the bar anymore, Daddy walked beside him with his hand on his back.

Pretty soon Judah started pushing his hand away telling Jason he could do it himself and not to touch him. Well excuse me, you little fireball! :-) He held his own though and only fell a small handful of times. I was very impressed with him!

Elijah did well too. It took him a little longer to gain confidence without the bar {maybe because he needs a little more balance since he's not quite as close to the ground as his baby brother}.

But after a little help from Jason around the rink {with Micah on the other arm - Jason got quite the workout this evening}, he took off! And apparently I got no pictures of that since I'm such a great mother and all. :-) Must have forgotten. They both loved it so much that they want to have a skating party NEXT year, you know, since I already have THIS year's party planned. Maybe next year, boys...we'll just have to keep practicing until then.

On Sunday I captured ONE picture of our kite flying adventure.

That's probably because as I was taking this picture I was getting in the car to run home to get tape to fix Elijah's kite that had already broken after 5 minutes. Then when I got back and had it all taped up, his kite cut Judah's kite's string while they were both in the air, breaking it, {which left Judah in a puddle of tears} and then a big gust ripped Elijah's away and we never saw it again. Oh well, it was REALLY FUN for the 15 minutes it lasted. And it's a good thing Walmart has kites for $1. I'm thinking Easter is on Sunday...cha-ching.

being a servant

There is nothing more in the world I want for my boys than for them to have a servant's heart. To serve others all over the world just like Jesus did, proclaiming the Good News to everyone they meet. To listen to God and be obedient to His calling, wherever that may take them. The first Resurrection Egg we opened was the story of Jesus washing His disciples feet. God in the flesh washing sinful human feet. The best way to bring this story home with them was to have them wash each other's feet, and so they did. I think these pictures are beautiful...they enjoyed it and even WANTED to wash mine and Jason's feet too. But to me there is so much more to these pictures than what meet's the eye. To them they are getting their feet wet and playing with water...to me it is a representation of all of the prayers Jason and I have lifted up on their behalf. God, soften their hearts so that they will go out and tangibly do this for others in Your name. Help them to lead radical lives for You and be servants to Your children all around the world.

Give a little help to my friend!

Alright, think Joe Cocker's "A Little Help From My Friends" when reading this blog title. Seriously though, please help out my friend Heather!!! She is selling these adorable monogrammed beach towels to raise money to bring their little boy home from Ethiopia. Yes people, it's almost summertime so you know you're going to need these!

All you have to do is click HERE to check them out and order one or two or three!! We so appreciate all of the support you guys gave us during our fundraisers so all I'm asking is that you take your generous little selves over to Heather's blog and help her out too!

I have some precious pictures of the boys washing each other's feet to post soon. The Resurrection Eggs have been a huge hit. Have a great weekend!