Resurrection Sunday

  

(our little Passover celebration)

"I am among you as one who serves." Luke 22:27

"No servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him." John 13:16

 

(unleavened bread)

"This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." 1John 3:16

"Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8

 

(easter garden. inspiration here and here.  bigger picture of ours here)     

"On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus." Luke 24:1-3

"Why do you look for the living among the dead.  He is not here; he has risen!" Luke 24:5

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." Romans 6:4

"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Romans 6:11 

"I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20

** We were off to outdoor sunrise service at 6am this morning!  Lots of lounging happening how. Dinner with friends/family later. Happy Easter to all of you dear friends! I'll be back tomorrow with more homeschooling talk.

What you should know

...about Emma.

 

*she can make a cookie last longer than anyone else I know.  nibble, nibble, nibble. 

*she has a massive quantity of thick, healthy hair.

*she always pulls the sheets out from the bottom of the bed - EVERY NIGHT!

*she is the only one in our family who really likes the cat.

*she hates whipped cream.

*she is a deep thinker and challenges me everyday with questions like: "Mom why would God create people that He knew would never come to love Him."?

*she prefers to squeeze hands with me (vs. giving me a kiss) when I drop her off now. 

*she has an uncanny ability to find things that are lost.  Countless times she has retrieved remote controls, keys, wedding rings, missing shoes, and library books.

*her deep belly laugh is terribly contagious.

*her compassion towards others astounds and challenges me.

*she likes things to be organized and gets so flustered with my lack of ability in this area.

*she is her father's daughter (see above).

*she is a total sap and cries at all the "mushy" parts between Bob Saget and his daughters on Full House (her favorite show).

*she will not eat eggs without ketchup.

*she informed me recently that she no longer wishes to wear any pink.

*she's got some pretty smokin' dance moves.

*she hardly ever sleeps past 7:30am.

*she is transparent and freely offers her thoughts and feelings- I'm not ever left wondering.

*she is a hopeless romantic and is always asking about how her Dad asked me to marry him, or when we first kissed, or what I first loved about him.

And finally you should know that she is 8 years old now. We celebrated her birthday this week. Her infancy feels like just yesterday and also like an entire lifetime ago.  I am in awe of the way God trusts us enough to give us little human beings to mold.  I remember thinking when I brought her home for the first time, "I don't know what to do with her.  I am so afraid to ruin her!" There have been countless moments since when I have felt completely unqualified to be a mother- her mother.  But, Emma has a way of reassuring me, a way of encouraging me, a way of telling me that we're doing fine.

We are growing together.  Somehow, she has become this a long-legged, rosy lipped, amazingly intelligent, young lady. And I find myself exceedingly grateful to be counted worthy of the title, "Emma's Mother".

Happy Birthday Ems, I love you.

Big Ballet Birthday Bonanza

I may have mentioned once before my love of ballet, so imagine my thrill when Laurel requested a "ballet birthday party" (okay, maybe I planted a tiny seed). 

 

10 yards of tulle didn't go as far as I had hoped.  I have a love/hate relationship with tulle.  It is quite pretty but also quite itchy.  Long tulle tutus are hot and itchy and usually get ripped when you step into them. But, draping tulle from the ceiling...there's no itch in that!

   

All of our special friends came dressed in their ballet outfits- ready to dance!

 

And dance we did! Not sure all of it was ballet, Hannah seemed to have more of a modern dance flair going on.

I gave a short little lesson. (And yes, I totally wore my old ballet skirt over my jeans and a plastic tierra.  So nerdy. You gotta get those moments in before your kids are old enough to realize how ridiculous you look.)

We had just enough time to work on our plies and tandus.

 

Then it was on to the cupcakes.

   

 

   

Live piano music (courtesy of Emma), pink tulle, pink cupcakes, 7 dancing darlings, and one very big birthday girl- sweet stuff I'd say.