Easter

I love Easter. I do believe it's one of my favorite holidays solely because the meaning and significance is so precious to me. Well, it's more than precious- it's everything, really.

At church on Sunday morning, I was reminded of a beautiful truth that is so profound... yet anyone can understand and receive it.... that Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve and Mercy is God NOT giving us what we actually deserve. (And, if you are my "facebook friend" - I apologize for the repetitiveness, as I shared it there, as well!) But it touched me so deeply. I know this truth. I receive this truth. But on Sunday, when I was again reminded, I dwelled on it all day because, after all, isn't that the entire purpose and meaning of Easter? God is unbelievably merciful. Jesus died for me... for YOU, because death is what we deserve. The Bible is clear... the only "payment" for sin is our death- completely what we deserve. Yet, in God's mercy He sent His Son to bear our penalty so that we might LIVE. It's really almost too much to comprehend. But that IS how much He loves us.

And, of course, you've gotta love how the story ends. Not with death... but with LIFE! The victory won. I am so glad to be on His TEAM!

And, Ariana would also like to share with you that Jesus is her KING (see hat below) ;)



And, my son would like to share his adorable smile...



And, of course, I can't forget my Gracie girl who would like to share her own moment of reflection with you (see below... staring out at pond in deep contemplation as she often is).




Now, I didn't do Easter Bunny silliness this year. I just couldn't bring myself to do it. (Not that there is anything wrong with it if you do!) But for me, I decided this year that the Easter bunny is a little too far removed from the significance of the holiday. Santa is one thing- because there actually was a Saint Nick and Santa's charity ties in with the holiday. But- I really couldn't think of one single reason why an Easter bunny would have anything to do with Jesus being crucified for our sins and rising from the grave.

Of course, I DO value my children's imagination! We've got a generous tooth fairy around here who leaves plenty of cash. And Santa still stops by our house (and makes sure to use different colored wrapping paper than the gifts from the parents). But, the meaning of Easter is just too important to me to distract with a big tall bunny. I just couldn't do it.

A couple weeks ago the kids mentioned something about the Easter bunny leaving chocolate kisses last year, but I had to tell them straight out, "Sorry kiddos- there's no big 7 foot tall floppy eared Easter bunny. It's fun to talk and pretend there's a big bunny but Easter is really all about and only about Jesus." And, to my surprise, they laughed and thought it was even cooler that it was actually MOM who somehow "magically" made those chocolate kisses appear trailing from their bedrooms down the stairs last year. And, once again- the trail of chocolate kisses appeared this year, as well (minus the few that Ariana stole and ate on her way down early in the morning before the big kids).

And, of course, we DID have an Easter egg hunt! All right- so, this year, I confess- I used "Resurrection Eggs" - which I have to admit are the COOLEST thing ever. But- they also got to find a couple Easter baskets- and, lest you start thinking I'm totally lame and no fun at all... YES, candy was included!

To finish up the morning, the kids performed a song they made up about Spring which (of course) featured Grace singing the solo and Alex standing by as the side kick to jump and flap his wings when Grace sang about the birds flying around...

Happy Easter!!

Weekend fun...

Although it is the middle of the week, I am just getting around to posting pictures of our "weekend fun" adventure.

Was it a shopping spree, you ask? From the looks of these fabulous new shows on Ariana, one might venture to guess...

Unless, of course, you know anything about bowling! In which case you'd realize these are a pair of bowling shows. Albeit, 3 sizes TOO big for Ariana. The smallest they had was size 8 toddler, but she wears a size 5!

Our little bowlers had a ball! Okay- bad pun.

I didn't think Ariana would actually want to bowl, but not only did she WANT to bowl, but she eagerly jumped up and down when it was her turn, and when it wasn't her turn- she eagerly waited in anticipation...

And, wow- check out this bowling chick. Quite the form, wouldn't you say??

I must say- I bowled the worst game of my life. But, even so, I still beat my husband by 1 point. I'm sure he'd be thrilled that I shared that, but oh well- he doesn't read my blog so he'll never know!

Speaking of my husband- look at that total stud muffin. But, unfortunately, despite the smooth looking form, he still couldn't pull off a decent game.

Speaking of form- check out Grace's technique. Yikes! But nevertheless, she actually came not that far under Mike's score... double yikes!

And, of course, what would bowling be without a little (a lot) of pop and pizza. I think the kids might have even enjoyed that part more than the bowling!

So, who was the ultimate winner of our bowling adventure? My 14 year old stepson! All right- so he lucked out because half the time his bounced off the bumpers and he got lucky. BUT- then again, that also happened to me a few times- so he definitely won fair and square!

I'm back!

Oh my goodness- has it really been since December 16th since I posted my last entry!??!? Merry Christmas, everyone! I suppose with all the hussle and bustle of preparing for the holiday celebrations, along with preparing for our 1700 mile drive down to Florida, I didn't make much time to blog. But, hopefully now I will have some time to regroup and make time to put my thoughts down on - well, the keyboard.

As I type, I am actually sitting in the passenger seat of our van (no, I am not driving!!)... oh the wonders of wireless cards! We have not quite yet reached our destinati0n- but we are SO close! About 15 miles away. Prior to reaching our destination, we have to stop and pick up our wireless internet router... of course, top priority! Between my husband and I we can't go more than a few hours without a connection to the internet!

We've been bribing the kids with, "we're almost there" for - well- about 3 days now. I am sure the baby thinks we are crazy- or liars.

But- the truth is- we really, truly ARE almost there yet. And once we arrive- pictures to follow! So, heads up- if you don't want to see pictures of sand castles and swimsuits... check back in February...

Cheers!

playing with a grizzly

Wouldn't it be cool if you could watch a grizzly bear frolic in his natural habitat (enclosed with fences beyond view and a 3 inch wall of glass, of course)? They are such amazing, majestic creatures...



And wouldn't it be even cooler if he came to say hello??

And if, being the Gentleman that he is, he charmingly reached out to shake your hand?

And proceeded to show off his massive, strong and impressive body as he swam past back and forth...

Wouldn't it be cool if you were this close?!?!?!?

Yes. It would be.

And it was!

After the encounter with the grizzly, we were off to explore more of God's creativity. This time at the sting-ray tank. One of the kids all time favorites...

Little dude had his fill of cow petting...

And baby girl was delirious with glee at such close interaction with the goats. We literally had to pull her away (kicking and screaming)- oh, the joy.

Wow- what a fun day. Grizzly bears. Beautiful weather. Matching coats. The day couldn't have been more perfect.

wordless wednesday...

i love nature (part 2)...

Some of my fondest memories from growing up are of times spent on hikes with my Dad and my sister. Every weekend, my Dad would always make sure that we spent time outside... winter, spring, summer and fall. Sometimes we'd go to the beach, sometimes build forts in the snow, sometimes just play at the park- but my favorite of all was hiking in the woods. It was during those times that some of the most influential discussions took place. And how could they not? Being out in nature- God's amazing, miraculous creation- always sparked interesting inquiry, discussion and revelation.


Well, life has changed quite a bit, and that group of 3 (my Dad, my sister and I) has turned into a party of 10! And though we may not get a word in edge wise while we hike with the kids, it is still just as meaningful - and, in many ways, even more so to be sharing this with my children.



One of my favorite things about hiking, besides the obvious feeling of communing with our creator, is that my kids always seem to nonchalantly throw out the most insightful questions. Why? How come? What about about this? What about that? And, the questions aren't always about nature- yet walking through the woods seems to give such a sense of peace that it feels safer to ask any question about life....



I have found that God has provided endless parables in nature to reveal the depth of His love and His character to us. And Papa (my Dad) is an expert at identifying a parable in just about anything....



But that involves us listening, and paying attention!






My nephew, Samuel (the observative one), even found some type of vertebrae. It was pretty gross, I'm not gonna lie. Let's just hope that it belonged to an animal at one point...



Times spent together with family are priceless, and even more so when we are blessed by the abundance of God's creativity that surrounds us.

Imprompteu 1st Day of School...

I woke up this morning and thought, TODAY would be a good day to start school. I had been thinking about starting next week, when the traditional schools start- but then it dawned on me- I'm certainly not a traditionalist when it comes to schooling- so why not just start right now? Today was as good a day as next week would be and early this week I had finally finished up getting my lesson plans all ready to go.

No "traditional' backpack and pigtail pictures here... just a couple of crazy kiddos sitting on the stairs..


A little bit of "before school" chumming around.














Here we go- getting down to business with a little "Math-U-See" (we love this!)



See... it's fun!



































Little Ariana doing her "school work" ;)

We're HOME!

Okay, we've actually been home for 2 days now. BUT- I've been trying to catch up on things like, you know... sleep!

The trip back went well. We left Vail at 6:15 a.m. and we arrived home at 12:30 a.m..... the whole trip, including stopping times, took 17 hours (we "lost an hour" on the way home).

My favorite part of the trip...

And no- I didn't Photoshop that together. They were really all sleeping at the same time... and for a couple hours!

When we pulled out of the Condo driveway in Vail, I reset the Odometer gauge. And when we pulled into our driveway at 12:30 a.m., we had officially driven- exactly...

We had SO much fun- but I am glad to be HOME!

The best for last... Day 7 1/2: Vail Mountain

This last day of our trip to Colorado was undoubtedly my favorite. After it stopped storming in the afternoon, a beautiful partly cloudy with patches of blue sky rolled in. We walked around Vail Village and Lionshead and took the Eagle Bahn gondola up to the top of Vail Mountain. The kids had a blast riding in the gondola! And, I have to admit- it was one of the highlights of the trip for me, as well. The views at the top of the mountain were breathtaking!

Grace showing a mixture of a little excitement mixed with a tad bit of nervousness going up the gondola...

We saw the most beautiful rainbow while we traveled up the mountain.

Mommy's boy...

The boys...

I loved this picture of our little guy...

Here we are! The top of the world!!

Amazing!!

Braden at the top of the mountain...

Ariana stopping, as she typically does, to smell the flowers and look for bugs...

Pretending, for 12 seconds, that it was just hubby and I on vacation. Ahhhhh..... peace and quiet

After the gondola ride, we walked around Lionshead Village which is just beautiful! They have really built up this fancy, neat area in the last couple of years.

Another view of Lionshead Village