Easter 2013

I've known about Easter and celebrated Easter and it's true meaning since I was born.  Literally. It's my mom's favorite holiday and it's always been a big to-do. I've known of Jesus' love- His sacrifice- and most importantly, that fact that He was victorious over the grave and I get to reap the benefits of that eternally. Really- I've known- I've believed it- I've gotten it, for YEARS. But that didn't stop this year from being different. And I don't think there is really any reason for the extra softness in my heart- God just had something extra for me this year.

It started on Tuesday while I was driving to my BSF bible study. I was thinking about Easter, singing a song about Jesus because Jack screams "JESSSUUUSSSS" as soon as we get in the car until I turn on a song, preferably sung by kids, with the word Jesus in it. And all of a sudden I was crying, like hard. I felt brokeness and I felt joy and boy did I feel peace. Wow- Easter was coming, Sunday was coming! It really didn't get better for the remainder of the week- every song or reminder of this Easter celebration worked on my heart- my eyes would fill with happy joyful hot stinging tears immediately. I couldn't wait for Sunday.

We got to do lots of fun things with our little boys- they are at such a fun age to enjoy it all-- they loved decorating eggs and there were no horror stories or permenant stains on anything to mare the experience. We were invited to a big Easter Egg Hunt with lots of prizes and goodies and they just loved it. And we even decorated a cute bunny cake for our family Easter celebration meal.

And then Sunday came.

Our pastor has been in the midst of a 3 week series as we walked through the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of Easter and what it looks like in our present day stories. It's been amazing. And don't you worry, I stuffed my purse full of tissues and I didn't embarrass Chad that much :) It was a wonderful celebration of Easter and communion to remember His body that was broken and His blood that was shed. And when we got to the car, Chad asked a question that seemed to sum it all up-- "That makes  me think of what heaven will be like. Don't you wish we could live in that all week?" YES! I just hope that in all the hype, our boys never forget the Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is the greatest gift, ever, and that resurrection is what we base our lives on!

We enjoyed the day with good temperatures, some rain but some sun also, and a great meal fixed by my mom at my house where my husband did the dishes. Pop and Uncle Eli entertained the boys and hid Easter eggs and we all laid around for some catnaps too. Hoping for another similar Sunday next week...

Chris Tomlin - Crown Him (Majesty) [with Kari Jobe] [Official Lyric Video] from chris-tomlin on GodTube.

Happy 4th of July!

This year for the 4^th of July, we had a rather low key, family fun day with some great friends. We started off the morning with a McD’s breakfast of course… mainly because it was en route to our next destination, but Max is always game for pancakes and Chad loves a McDonald’s breakfast every now and then, so I bit the bullet and took one for the team. We got our breakfast to go and then headed just down our street to the downtown Woodstock parade the goes down main street.

There were lots of floats, and we had a great spot in the shade, and we were able to pull right up, park, get our spot, watch the whole parade, and then pull away in a matter of minutes. The longest part of the process was buckling both kids in, I kid you not! I was originally bummed not to be able to find a Peachtree Road Race number, but this ended up being way fun with about 1/10000 of the hassle.

The boys loved the parade and al the goodies, candy, waters, beads, and popscicles that were passed out. Max was ready to go back the next day and Jack sat still for the majority of it- which is a feat in itself and only had to get out and move about for the last few minutes.

Next, we headed home, got everyone into their swimming gear, packed up tons of food and half of our house, and headed over to the Krazberger’s house—this is Jill’s parents house. It has a great pool, beautiful outdoor space, lots of grass for cornhole and other fun games and PLENTY of rooms for all the kiddies to take their naps :)

We enjoyed the pool for a bit and snacked, then put all the kids down at the same time-- the joys of a house full of bedrooms! The it was adult time at the pool- and how lovely it was to float around and bask in the sun without having to watch any little people or take head counts every 5 seconds. 

There were 7/12ths of the Porton Posse there which always lends itself to good food-- we did the "cook out" right with Jonathan at the grill and everyone else in charge of all the sides and yumminess. We also celebrated Jill's birthday (actually on the 4th) and Ruth's birthday (on the 6th) with a delicious ice cream cake I found on Pinterest. Gosh, I sure do love Pinterest when it comes to friendly gatherings, food, decor, and recipes. What a gem! And who can argue with a fun holiday and celebrating the birth of wonderful, amazing friends?

I really love the 4th, love the weather, love our fun friends and my precious boys, time with my husband during a "work day", and I'm really thankful to the Kraxberger's for opening their home to us. We had a very happy 4th!