Egg Hunting

The girls enjoyed egg hunting THREE times this past weekend.  On Saturday I coordinated the neighborhood egg hunt.  There aren't a lot of places to hide eggs in wide open common area, but we made up for the lack of difficulty with a ton of eggs.

We never know how many little kids vs. big kids we will have so this year the older girls managed to find a lot more eggs than Brooke.  Sweet Kayla decided to give some of hers to her sister. 

Checking out the candy.

After our neighborhood hunt we headed to a glow in the dark hunt in downtown Canton.  The girls had fun at this event as well, but the pictures didn't turn out too well.

On Sunday we had our own little hunt here at home.  Just the girls and their cousin. I didn't fill the eggs this year and no one seemed to mind.  We have PLENTY of candy in this house and I wasn't about to go buy more.  And I didn't feel like filling them with candy we have only to put it back in the bowl.  I don't think the girls cared.  They just enjoyed hunting for the eggs. 

Celebrating our Savior

But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

and that He was buried, and that He was raised again on the third day, according to the Scriptures.

 I Corinthians 15:4

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9

One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He's ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again

 (Glorious Day, Casting Crowns)

 There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave he rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine -
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

 (In Christ Alone)

Arise, my love.
Arise, my love.
The grave no longer has a hold on you.
No more death's sting
no more suffering
Arise... arise...
(Arise, Newsong)

Waiting

Right now I am in a period of waiting, and it is not always easy.  Sometimes you forget you are in a period of waiting, but when you are reminded of it your thoughts can become consumed.  Several weeks ago the Lord called me to take a step of faith.  This step of faith could take me to a place I have missed being, or it could leave me right where I gratefully am.  Both are wonderful places to be, and while I have no idea what impact this will have on my family, the Lord does.  He knows what is best for us.  For now I am waiting to see what He says. Was I just called to take this step in obedience and go through this time of waiting and resting in Him? Is this a time of learning, growing, and leaning on Him?  Or will that step lead us down a new path for our family? While I am at complete peace with either direction He takes us, the waiting is hard.  I start thinking of what things will be like in the fall.  I start planning, organizing (because we all know I LOVE to do that), and scheduling. Some scheduling decisions that need to be made soon would be easier if I knew what the future held.  Then I have to pull myself back and remind myself I may not be called to that journey.  I was called to obedience.  Where the Lord will take it from there I do not know.  What I do know is that He is faithful and He has blessed me with the most incredible people in my life. For that I am eternally grateful.

Celebrating Kayla

On her birthday we had family over for dinner.  She requested not to go out to eat but for Daddy to grill some chicken and for me to cook green beans, peas, creamed corn, mashed potatoes, and fruit. Gotta love that her favorite meal is vegetables!

Sweet Sisters

On Saturday we had a few friends over to celebrate.  Through the girls' school we have met some amazing families and several of them have siblings in Macy's class.  The siblings are always invited to join in the celebrations too.  I love that.  I think we sent out seven invitations and ended up with 19 children at the party.  A full house, but a blessed house.

Marc somehow managed to swing for a little bit too. :)

And the cardboard makes an appearance again and the air is filled with little girl squeals. Those are the best - when they are outside. ha!

Happy birthday sweet Kayla! We hope you had a good time celebrating!

Happy Birthday Kayla!

Happy 9th birthday Kayla! NINE! Last year in single digits. How is this even possible??

You are growing into such a beautiful young lady.  We love watching you grow and change, but sometimes it's hard to see you starting to leave some of your childhood behind and enter into new territory. Toys are slowly making their way out of your room as your interest has moved away from them. Instead your nightstand is full of grand plans you have written and multiple books you are reading.  You definitely got your love of reading from me, but I still don't understand how you can read several books at one time.  You seem to enjoy having more than one book going at a time.  And I can't keep up with you! You will finish a book in a day and re-read books 4-5 times.

Some of your favorites:

food: vegetables (corn, green beans, peas of all varieties, lima beans)

mashed potatoes

macaroni and cheese

school subject: reading and writing

things to do: read, rainbow loom, play games

movie: Frozen

song: anything you know the words to, you love to sing

things to wear: dresses

Kayla, 

I am so proud to call you my daughter.  You are such a blessing to me in so many ways.  You are beautiful, smart, kind, quiet, and compassionate.  You love to memorize Bible verses and talk about God.  I love teaching you things that He has shown us in His Word. And I love it when you teach me something new that you learned at church.  As hard as it is to believe that you are nine years old and that I am "halfway" done raising you, I so enjoy the things we are able to do together now that you are older.  Today I have loved talking through your narrative writing with you.  I love to see how your brain works, to be able to guide you, and to see your eyes light up with understanding and new ideas.  That was probably the highlight of my day today.  I love homeschooling you and I love this time we are together. I love how you come up with ideas and projects to do.  The other day you mentioned using the tomatoes we are going to grow to make homemade ketchup. I can't wait to work with you as you tackle this project. I cherish these little things. I am so excited to see what this year holds for you. I am thankful for you my sweet daughter!

Love,
Momma

A Mini-Vacation

We just got back from a quick little trip to Gatlinburg.  It was a much needed time a way. We needed to push the reset button to help us get through the rest of this winter. While the girls were at school on Wednesday I packed their suitcases. Thursday morning they were surprised to see Daddy home, but they didn't questions it. We told them we were going to go to breakfast before getting to the school work for the day.  After breakfast, however, we hit the road.  It took them a good 30 minutes to start questioning what was going on.  Even when I had pulled out some work for them to do in the car no one really said anything.  I guess they are used to working on the go. After another stop the questions started to increase and then it dawned on them.  One quick peek in the trunk answered their questions.  We were headed somewhere for the night.

We drove into Gatlinburg and wandered around the city for a little bit. We let the girls pick one thing to do and of course they picked the mirror maze.  They remembered it from a couple of years ago.

After dinner at the Apple Barn (we can't go to Gatlinburg without eating there) we checked into the hotel.  After a quick change the girls were ready for the water park!

The wave pool was the favorite of course.  Macy wore herself out in there! The water was too cold for this Florida gal so I enjoyed watching them from the edge.

 Since we came in on a Thursday the lines for the rides weren't too long.  Marc took the girls down one slide several times while we were there. Brooke is still a too little so I stayed with her. That whole cold water thing again...

These two enjoyed watching the large bucket fill up with water, but then they realized that when it's full it dumps. They hurried themselves out of the way really fast!

Kayla and Macy were so sweet to take care of their little sister, but somehow Macy eluded the camera a lot this weekend.  She's not a big fan of having her picture taken and she is starting to master the technique of being out of the picture. Either that or she was so busy playing I had a hard time getting a picture that was in focus. ha!

We took the girls to Rainforest Adventures Friday afternoon. They have a lot of exotic animals and some local ones too. Kayla was fascinated with these cats.  I can't remember what they are, but she enjoyed watching them. We also enjoyed talking to the birds.  A few of them would talk back with "hello", "I love you", and "row, row, row, row your boat."

 

 We also saw rats.  I really don't care for looking at rats but I was pretty amazed at this litter of brand new babies. They had these newborns, another litter that was about a week old, another that was a couple weeks old, and another about a month old. It was neat to look at how they change...even if they are rats.

 The girls fed the goats.  It was pretty funny when these little ones saw us coming they climbed out of the fence for food.  Another perk to coming during the week of the off-season is that there were only about three other families there.  We had these goats all to ourselves.

 

 Wouldn't want to be on the same side of the fence as this guy!

And this sweet little thing was born 24 hours before we got there.  The worker was kind enough to bring him out for the girls to pet.  He wanted his mama though so it was a quick little visit.

Brooke wanted nothing to do with feeding the goats, but she did put her hand under mine and we fed one together.

 

Sweet Macy enjoying her afternoon in the sun.

Marc let the girls pick out something from the souvenir shop on our way out.  Macy chose a dolphin, Brooke and elephant, and Kayla a dog. None of which were even animals we saw. Figures.

I am thankful for this time away with my family. It was much needed and much enjoyed. Unfortunately Marc was only home for an hour and a half before he headed to the airport. He is off to England for business and I'm running the washing machine. Such is life.  And I'm thankful for mine.