What a sweet little helper!

Baxter was helping me swiffer the kitchen and hallway tonight. Lucy happened upon it when she finished eating dinner and went to town! Give this little girl a few more years and I expect she is going to be super helpful around the house! For now, it will just occupy her for a while and be a great occasion for taking pictures :) Notice how I sais this "little girl" and not this "baby girl"...she looks so grown up to me in these pictures!

The Lord is Risen...even two weeks later!

Thankful that our Lord has indeed risen, and that we can celebrate that and live in light of that every day, not just Easter Sunday! As we focused on the story of Easter the week leading up to Easter, and especially the Saturday of the weekend, I realized that I often live as though Jesus did NOT rise from the dead, but rather that he is still dead in the tomb. I live like my weakness or my sin or the sin of others are the final say - that they are in charge. But NO! He has indeed risen from the grave, and has defeated the power of sin, so I don't need to live under it anymore! Hallelujah!!

Here are a few pics I took of our kiddos on Easter Sunday - when did the boys get so big?! Matt had already gone to church, so I was trying a solo impromptu photo shoot...I got a few good ones, but in the process Lucy got grass stain on her white tights. Oh well!

Sweet Lucy

It is very apparent that Lucy is the baby sister of two older brothers! This is apparent in many ways, one of which is her vocabulary. Here are a few of the words she can say - what a mix!

-momma
-dadda
-owah (Owen)
-bahbah (Baxter)
-bufwy (butterfly)
-dahdahdahdah (belly button)
-vroom vroom (car)
-chuchu (train)
-sshhoouuuu (airplane...don't really know how to spell what she says for it)
-aa da (all done)
-bye bye

This morning she had both a baby doll and a Rescue Hero in her stroller that she was pushing around. I asked her to give Baxter the Rescue Hero. She reached into the stroller, picked up the Rescue Hero and brought it to Baxter. What a sweet girl!

Owen vs Lucy one on one basketball game

There was a sweet moment of our day where Owen was playing basketball and Lucy wanted to join him. The pictures make it look like 1) the actually played a game together and 2) Lucy has some moves. Mostly it was just a sweet time of Owen and Lucy enjoying each other! Glad to have caught it on camera. Moments like these I'm thankful that he's home with us for school. This is not all there is to it, but it's a plus for sure.

Easter

Sometimes with little kids, life just flies past! Today marks one month since the boys birthday, and I have yet to post pictures. They are coming, I promise...just not today!

We have spent much of our time at school this week doing crafts and math activities and coloring and other art projects about Easter. It strikes me that the story has become very familiar to my boys and to myself. In some ways I love that, it's not a foreign concept to us that Jesus died for our sins. In other ways though, I don't like that at all. The most amazing story in all of history has lost some of its flare. We are not as shocked by the way the people treated Jesus, our Lord. We are not as appalled at the fact that our sin was what drove Him to the cross. We are not as amazed by His love for us in going to death for us. Do you know what I mean? Can you relate?

While all that I just said is true, I also know that it is true that each year we have a great appreciation for what He has done. A greater sense for our need of Him to come. A deeper thanks for the love He has and the ways that He has shown that love to us. God is faithful to open our eyes a little more each year - even though the story is so familiar.

One effort today to have a new way to see the effect of what Jesus did for us was sparked by this idea on a blog that I saw...HERE... I didn't have the supplies to do what she suggests, so I improvised.

I took a cookie sheet that we use for school related things, and our water colors and some shaving cream. We stood in the kitchen around the cookie sheet and I painted on a red heart. (the paint didn't show up all that great, but it was enough to get the point!) Then I asked the boys to share some specific sins that they struggle with, things that are in their heart that Jesus died to save them from. They listed things like - hitting, fighting, whining, anger, complaining, not trusting God, etc. I chimed in with a few too. Then we pretended that the shaving cream was Jesus' blood and we covered the heart with it. Then I washed it in the sink. After I was done the cookie sheet was all clean! "Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow!"

It's the little things that God uses...Lord please show us more of yourself this weekend! Thank you for loving us so much that you were willing to die for us - While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!