Preparing for Easter

This is the first year that Daniel will be really able to "get into" and enjoy Easter so we have been thinking more about what traditions we want to start as we celebrate Easter! I am so thankful for the many ideas out there in blog land! Here are some that I think we are going to try this year!

1. We did these Resurrection Eggs last year and Daniel had a great time with it. We will do these again this year. You start 12 days before Easter and read a short portion of scripture and open up an egg each day...the eggs have little "toys" in them that relate to that days aspect of the Easter story. Daniel really enjoyed our advent calendar this past year and I'm sure he will love this again this year!

2. I have always heard about Hot Cross Buns and even remember the little jingle, "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns"! But I don't remember ever having one. So I think as a fun baking project I'll make these with Daniel. He loves to help me in the kitchen so this will be a great way to involve him in helping me and a great teaching time about the cross. I found this recipe that look good.

3. I remember reading in Noel Piper's book and in it one of the things she did was make a tomb and use pipe cleaners to make "people" and use it all to act out the events of the Easter story. I think Daniel will really love this one...he has such a great imagination and he knows how to play really well! I like this idea because it's simple and doesn't cost a lot of money!

4. I have gotten most of my ideas from this blog and one of the things that this family does is have lamb for the Easter meal instead of ham....I haven't ever thought of this but I really like this idea. I really like lamb and we rarely have it since it is quite expensive, so this would be a treat and another way of giving us a tangible reminder about Christ being the Lamb of God.

5. I really also like her idea for the egg hunt. I'll just copy what she said cause it's really good!

"Easter egg hunts need not be about a bunny! They can also be a symbol of our relationship to our Savior. God tells us to seek him, just as those little children will be ernestly seeking those eggs: ”You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) I have also thought it would be so nice to add little messages inside the children’s eggs with messages about God’s sweetness: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103 ESV); the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:9; Psalm 19:10-11 ESV); etc… The candy is an excellent picture to your child of how wonderful a relationship with Jesus is… it is even better than candy!"

6. Making Resurrection Rolls will also be a tradition we start! Daniel will have such a fun time making these....and eating them will be great too. I can just imagine how he will have a blast putting the marshmallows in the rolls, covering the roll all up and then discovering the marshmallow is gone and it's left an empty space.....we'll get to talk lots about the empty tomb with this one!

7. I found this printable and I think I'll make a memory match game with it. Daniel has started to learn how to play the memory match game so this works for us at this stage.

8. Although Daniel is not into coloring all that much, he will do it some. So I will probably print off some coloring pages from here and http://ministry-to-children.com/easter-coloring-pages/ for him to do this year...I don't know that we will make this a tradition, probably just something for the kids when they are young.

9. Here is a printable that I'll probably put up in the dining room.

10. And last but not least at all is that we will be reading the Easter story from the scriptures. I think this will be the most important tradition that we start. It is tempting to read just from a children's Bible because it's easy to think that children will understand it better from that...but what a disservice to our kids to only read from a children's storybook Bible.

This site also has some great ideas...I don't think we will be trying anymore than what is listed above but maybe in years to come we'll try some of these.

The Long View

It's been a little over nine months of adjusting to two kids. The longer I am a parent the more I realize that parenting is just one of the many things that require one to take the long view of things. Babies don't just eat solid foods well overnight. Kids don't learn to sleep in a big bed overnight. Kids aren't potty trained with the snap of a finger(ok there are some exceptions out there!). And all of those practical things which are important for me to teach my kids just scratch the surface. My kids don't learn the truths of the gospel quickly and they certainly don't come out of the womb knowing how to obey. So taking the long view of things means keeping at it. It requires endurance to do the same things over and over and over and over. It requires patience. It requires reliance on God. It requires wisdom. For the most part it requires not taking the path of least resistance. I have found that what requires less work now does not take the long view into consideration. When I am tempted to just "ignore" the temper tantrum or the "No way, did he just say that to me!?" moments, I have to remind myself that 1) If I don't do something about it now, I will miss many opportunities to point out the sin in my kids and the reason they need the gospel. 2) I will miss the opportunity to establish that God has given me authority of their lives for a season, that will be really important when they are older---the teenage years come to mind! 3) I would be sinning by not doing now what God has given me as my responsibility in nurturing and training my kids.

Is taking the long view hard? Yes. It takes more work. Is is worth it? Yes, but boy am I glad that I don't have to do it alone!

Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We here in Texas enjoyed a rare thing-SNOW!!! Yesterday my dad got up saying, "It's going to snow." Joshua and I thought he was crazy since the day before we had thrown Frisbee in 70 degree weather! No, he insisted, "It's going to snow." Thirty minutes later what we saw out the window proved him right! It snowed just about all day. What a treat for us to have a white Christmas.

We enjoyed a Christmas Eve service at Hillcrest Baptist-my parents church. Daniel enjoyed the music and playing with the candle before it was lit. It was great to sit down and think about the greatest gift of all- Jesus Christ. We are amazed at God's gift to us, that he would give His Son to live on earth and then die for our sins. Praise God for the resurrection too!


A fun family tradition that we introduced Daniel to after the church service was opening one Christmas present. This Christmas Eve present is always PJs! The PJs are to be worn that night and the next morning we open our presents in them! Daniel enjoyed the paper! We also had some chicken noodle soup and a tradition from Joshua'
s family--onion sandwiches!


Daniel in his new PJs...they were nice and fuzzy and warm!


Daniel got up at about 7:15, so we all got up and started making breakfast. After breakfast we read Daniel's advent Christmas story and then started opening presents. Daniel made it about halfway through the opening of presents and then went to bed for a couple of hours, during which we continued opening presents and then started putting finishing touches on food!


Gregory and I made dressing balls and green bean casserole. We also had turkey,ham, rolls, cranberry sauce, potatoes, and pumpkin pie. Yum-o!


Grandma Rannels joined us for lunch. She really enjoyed Daniel's antics!


The rest of the afternoon was spent by various people taking naps (Daniel included!), playing Rock Band, watching some home videos circa 1987 (gotta love those clothing styles), playing games and chatting with each other and other family members who aren't here.

It's been a great Christmas day and we are blessed. In the words of Dad Greever, "being together is the best part!"

The Past Few Weeks

In the baby news this week, I am 14 1/2 weeks into pregnancy. I have finished my first trimester! Yippy! All in all it has been a mostly uneventful first trimester. And that is something for which I am very thankful. Joshua and I went to the doctor's a few weeks ago and everything was dandy. We heard the baby's heart beat with the doppler. When the doctor was first trying to find the heart beat she found it for a second and then the baby "ran away" from her and she had to re find it! Joshua and I were joking that our baby is already being mischievous! Oh yes, the baby is the size of a peach now!

We just recently got to spend some time in Texas seeing my family. Some highlights included: Celebrating Joshua's birthday with my family.
Seeing my roommate from college, Trish. And learning from my dad how to make paper.
Meeting part of my mom's family from PA, that she just met about 2 years ago.
Going to my Grandma's assisted living center to sing good 'ol songs with the residents. Also, Joshua got to share a devotional with them!
Went maternity clothes shopping with my mom. They had a "pillow" that simulated what I will be like in three months so I could see how the clothes were going to fit!
My dog, Misty, went into hunter mode and jumped out of the bushes by the house with a fuzz ball in her mouth. It was a disgusting rat! My dad and Joshua had a get it away from Misty into the trash can before she started eating it. Gross!
We had a game time and played bingo!
I was super excited too find one of my all time favorite childhood movies, "Shipwrecked" at a used movie store.
My mom and I volunteered at a free dentist clinic that was part of her church's apartment ministry.
Joshua and I got to spend a few hours with our friends, Brandon and Cindy! We talked a lot about missions with them and it was great!
We also got to spend time with Matt, Allison, their son Joshua and Hudson, Molly and their daughter Ava.

It was a great time to spend with family and friends. We were glad to have a break from work and school too!

Let's Run!

What do you get when you add 12,000 people with 26 miles? You get the marathon that happened yesterday in Louisville. You could also divide the 26 miles by 2 and get the mini marathon which many of those 12,000 people ran. I did not do any running, but Joshua completed his first marathon!! We got up at about 5:30am and drove with 2 friends from church to the starting line. Twelve thousand people is a whole lot of people! I stood with them in the midst of the runners until the mass of people started to swell forward. I waved them off and went to pick my spot on the route where I could see Joshua when he reached the 6 mile mark.

About 35-40 minutes after the start of the race the "super" runners hit the 6 mile mark. They were running SO fast!! Joshua was not part of this pack of the runners! I cheered on many runners as I waited to see him coming! He was doing great at 6 miles and I bid him farewell and left to meet him at the 10 mile mark.


In between 6 and 10 miles the race path went through Churchill Downs...Joshua ran through the infield, which is the inside part of the racetrack. In the racetrack horses were practicing! While I was waiting for Joshua to get to the 10 mile mark I grabbed a hot chocolate since it was pretty chilly. I also go to enjoy some swing music being played by a live band on the side of the raceway! So fun!

My next stop was at mile 16. I had to park about a mile away so I got to enjoy a beautiful walk in one of the neighborhoods. There were so many dogwood trees blooming. Joshua said at mile 16 that he was doing pretty well. His legs were the only thing starting to get tired. Friends from church were going to see him at mile 18 and I was going to see him next at mile 22!!

He was pretty bushed at 22 miles and was wondering why in the world he was doing this! I told him he couldn't quit now since he only had 4 miles left. He wouldn't have quit anyway but I was doing my best to encourage him on! As Joshua proceeded to run across the river to Indiana, I made my way to the finish line about 4 blocks away. It was exciting to see all the people that had finished and to anticipate seeing Joshua cross the finish line. Joshua had used the training time and the running of the race to reflect on the spiritual race the Christian is on. We press on to attain the prize! At the finish line there were people lined up cheering the runners on. There were young people and old people. There were some who glided across the finish line and there were those who limped across. There was an announcer who would say over the loudspeaker the names of the runners as they crossed the finish line.
This made me think of how there are Christians of all ages who die and enter heaven and how amazing it is to think of the names of each one of those who has been kept by God til the end. Some have battled life's hardest battles and are limping to the gates while others have seen different trials but are not limping to the goal. The race has given both Joshua and I a greater sense of anticipation for the day that we leave this earthly tent and are finally united with Christ!! Well back to the marathon! Joshua finished in 5 hours and 20 minutes. And he was really sore. I made him take some Advil when we got home and he has recovered nicely-just over night he's felt much better!

Snow! and A Wedding

We got lots of fun snow this past Friday. Saturday we dug ourselves out and went to a wedding in Indianapolis. We saw Joshua's old house and the site where their church was. It was a fun roadtrip in the snow and I'm so glad we got to see Joshua's family(minus Jonathan :-( ). Enjoy the snowy pictures!