Happy Easter!

Today was a beautiful day spent with family, celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus. The weather was unseasonably warm, the food was delicious, and the company entertaining. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day!

At the sunrise service, the sun came up right at the conclusion of the message. It was breathtaking to behold God’s majesty in His creation.

After our Easter casserole and cinnamon buns, the girls opened their bags. I gave up on baskets this year. They’re all old enough now that they no longer carry around buckets with all of their worldly possessions on a daily basis, so Easter baskets just sat unused and ultimately tossed. These bags seemed like a good solution.

On their way to dance at the Easter service at church!

Estella loved Lola and Ben’s buckets. I tried telling auntie we got them an Easter kitten, but she wasn’t having it. (I don’t know why. Beasty is such a delightful cat. Hah, notice the nickname?)

 

Benny lovin’ on his Frankie!

This was about 4:00 pm. After getting up at 5:30 am to go the sunrise service, she was running out of steam! After a super crazy busy week leading up to Easter, it was so nice to spend the rest of the afternoon just relaxing and enjoying each other’s company.

How was your Easter?

 

Showtime!

For the past couple of months, Katie and Francesca have been rehearsing three times a week at the local community college for James and the Giant Peach. All of their hard work and endless hours have paid off, because it’s show time!!

Production week is a lot. I’ve been really proud of their hard work and commitment to this show. As soon as this one wraps, they immediately start rehearsal at their favorite theater for a new play in June. It’s a crazy schedule, but so rewarding to see them doing what they love!

Casting Crowns!

Music really ministers to my soul. We love Casting Crowns, and go to their concert every time they venture up here to the Northeast. This year is the first time we took the girls with us, and it was so cool to watch them loving the show as much as I do!

All night I kept looking at this beauty at my side, wondering how she is such a teenager already.

Letting their light shine!

Some days I miss the time when they were little; when there was nothing better than snuggling together and singing a song or reading a book. But in this new season I’m learning to enjoy watching them grow into who God made them to be, and all the cool things we get to do together now that they’re older. As much as I long to keep them little forever, I guess I will embrace this new season and savor each day, as I know all too well that these days, too, will pass too quickly and before I know it they’ll all be grown and on their own.

Happy 13th Birthday, Katie! The Party edition.

    

    

    

    

    

Happy 13th Birthday, Katie!!

 

Dear Katie,

I just adore you. You make middle-child life look easy. You are so many things: trustworthy, dependable, and brave. Loving, kind-hearted, compassionate. You are a peace-keeper. An achiever of things. You are brilliant, and good, and funny. I just love your sense of humor. You are actually, genuinely funny.

As you embark into unchartered teenage territory, my prayer for you is that you will remain true to yourself. Being a teenager is hard. Friendships become more complicated, and you have to figure out how to navigate through all kinds of situations again, as you are no longer a child, but not yet an adult. As you change and grow and take on the world, always remember who’s you are, and who you are. You are a daughter of the King. And you are mine. Always be yourself, my girl. I think you’re pretty amazing just the way you are.

 

Birthday breakfast before church

Birthday dinner after play practice

You’re going to Casting Crowns!!

Happy Birthday, Samantha!!

Today my first born daughter turned 21. I remember every single second of that day, and marvel at the fact that this beautiful young woman before me now is that tiny baby I held with so much love and awe such a seemingly short time ago.

Samantha is kind-hearted and compassionate, she is loving and generous to a fault. She makes me laugh, and she challenges me to think deeply about things I had never considered before. I’ve heard it said that daughters grow up to be your best friend, and our relationship is a testament to that truth. What a tremendous joy and blessing it has been to travel this road together. I thank God for you every day.

    

Science Fun!

Today we did an experiment with super worms. We tested their reactions to warm and cold, light and dark, different smells, and made a maze to see if they would consistently choose the same path.

Things didn’t go exactly how I envisioned them. Katie and Francesca didn’t want anything to do with the worms. I can’t say that I blame them; they were big and wiggly and had legs. Legs. Katie tried to be tough. Although there was a lot of screeching and yelling for Bishnu to come save her when her worms tried to escape, she at least attempted some of the experiment. Francesca, on the other hand, was out from the second we got the worms out of their jar.

I haven’t laughed so much during a science experiment ever. She jumped up into that window like her pants were on fire, and hardly moved from her spot.

Add that to the fact that Katie screeched at the top of her lungs every time a worm tried to escape, and we were in hysterics the entire time. Thankfully Bishnu was a little braver than them. She came to Katie’s rescue and grabbed her runaway worms for her. If it weren’t for Bishnu I’m not sure we would have gotten anything accomplished. At all.

         

She tested the worms to see if they reacted to the smell of vinegar, if they reacted to warmth and cold, and they built mazes to see if the worms would move through them. These worms were so active, the challenge wasn’t getting them to move, it was getting them to stay in the maze! They kept pushing though the walls and crawling up and over. So funny!