Easter

Wow.  Time has gotten away from me.  Easter this year was on April Fool’s Day.  But the meaning was still there.  It is no joke that Jesus rose from the dead and has saved us from our sins.  The story is still as true as ever.  I enjoy Easter every year, and this year was the same.  I love the promise that Easter holds – my salvation.  I love the colors people wear to church – pastels and vibrant spring shades.  I love Easter breakfast at church – starting the morning out with my church family.  I love spending the day with family – hunting well hidden eggs, eating delicious food, and just enjoying one another. 

Here are the traditional Easter pictures – sunny and kinda cold out this year, but it wasn’t raining and it wasn’t snowing!

         

Some candids, too.

        

And that’s all, folks.

Bits and Pieces

And for the random little things that didn’t get a title …

We have a new cat.  No, not really.  But we do have a new cat that randomly visited our back deck.  We already have “Harriet” that comes to visit – super friendly, rolls on her back to be petted cat.  Now, we have “Mac” – a bit less comfortable with people, but willing to approach and be petted given time.  This is what we call “having pets” for now.

I turned 40.  Yep.  I didn’t even give myself a blog title for that one.  It really wasn’t a big deal.  One more year in the books.  I did manage to have some fun things to celebrate – dinner with Jeremy at Basil, dinner with the girls and Gloria at Dutch Kitchen, and dinner with mom, dad, and Jeremy at The Crush House.  Does this tell you anything?  Such as.. I like to eat out.  I also brought some brownies to share with my students and apple bars for my co-workers.  It was a good day/month.  Let’s hope it is a good decade as well!  And Jeremy bought me lilacs (and a new water softener…)

    

Dancing with Daddy

The girls went for the second year to the Daddy-Daughter dance put on by Living Water Church.  It is, from my understanding, one wild and crazy night.  It lasts about 2 hours and consists of dancing, screaming, running around, and a brief snack break.  The little girls love dressing up and going out.  The dads (mostly) like being there to hang out with other dads.  They do (I understand) occasionally dance with their daughters, but their daughters are usually pretty busy dancing and screaming with their friends. 

Grandpa Ediger joined for a bit again this year (although I don’t have the picture on my phone to prove it).  Here are the pre-dance pictures:

              

Photos at the Dance…

    

Faith Adventures

We have been fortunate to be involved in a number of different ways that build community and intentionally engage with our Christian faith. 

At the beginning of the month, our church hosted Manna for Many.  This is an organization that brings all the supplies a group needs to bag dried soup ingredients.  Each bag feeds 7 people and costs approximately $1.  It was a lot of fun.  There were all ages involved one Wednesday night for about 2 hours of work time.  We tagged, bagged, weighed, and packed 2000 bags of soup.  It was a time filled with great conversations, laughter, and work.  Madison and Ellie had a great time.  Madison decided she could do this for her job some day.

         

Last Saturday, I took Madison to a Secret Keeper Girl night out.  This is a night (afternoon) for moms (or significant adult) and daughters to connect with one another.  The theme this year was “Masterpiece of God.”  Basically, it is a way to remind girls that they are God’s masterpieces.  They do not have to look or act like society tells them; it also tries to build their self-image/acceptance.  I thought it was good, but I would probably have chosej to wait until Madison was in 4th/5th grade because some of the things they talked about actually start becoming an issue at that age.  As far as I can tell, Madison likes the way God has created her – strong, happy, playful, imaginative, and creative – and I LOVE that!  It was fun to go together – no Ellie and no Daddy (who had their own special time grocery shopping and eating at the Dariette).

    

Finally, we participated in the Amazing (G)Race with the SYF.  Jeremy and I were both drivers, and the girls rode along with my team.  Katie (sponsor) planned much of the race, and it was a lot of fun.  Jeremy had the great idea that the drivers could be in disguise with moustaches, which made our role even more official. 

  

My team came in last (and we had the longest distance between the challenges) but we put forth great effort – putting Bible events in order, backstitching at star pattern at Fitzwater’s, kayaking to the island at Braun’s, and pulling weeds at Himes’s.