easter

Our Easter Sunday was a wonderful time of worship and celebration with our boys, church family and friends.  The night before we made resurrection rolls and watched the Jesus Story for Children.  

The next morning started with the traditional hunt for their baskets.  Micah and Connor requested that there's been hidden in really hard places so Zach stepped up his hiding game.  Connor got his first bible in his basket and Micah got an Action Bible in his because he is very into comics right now.  Logan got a Berenstain Bears storybook bible which we've been reading at bed time.  It's a good transition step before reading the Jesus Storybook Bible which will then transition into the actual bible :)

After church we went to the Cardozas to have a nice lunch and take each other's Easter family pictures then it was home to rest before heading to the Rieger's for an egg hunt with our small group.

Zach has been the worship leader at our church for many years and spending time with family on Easter is not ever a possibility so having so many wonderful friends to be with on such a special day is a blessing that we are most thankful for!

coloring eggs

I know dying eggs and such has nothing to do with the reason we celebrate this amazing Sunday and the days preceding but it's still one of my favorite Easter traditions.  I'll be a sad mama when my boys no longer get enthralled by guessing which color is going to come up as I pour in the liquids.  It's always a fun and messy time!

After we finished dying all the boiled eggs Zach wanted to try to blow an egg and then boil.  It was disgusting and difficult but kind of cool and the boys thought it was awesome.  We did decide pretty quickly that boiled is the way to go!

post office field trippin'

Keep in mind that I am making up for over a month worth of activities in a weeks worth of posts.  I'm doing my best to keep it all in order.

At the end of March I got to go on a walking fieldtrip with Connor to the post office.  It was a quick couple hour activity but was really fun and interesting.  Besides the humor that goes along with trying to keep classes of Kindergarterns all together on they learned a lot about the sorting and mailing process, got to mail a letter that they had written and addressed before they came and even got to get in a mail truck and pretend to drive.

The best part was obviously just getting to spend a morning with Connor and seeing him in his environment.  I know I'm partial but he's just a cutie pie!

spring craft market

Before I can catch up on the WEEKS of pitiful blogging on all the fun things we've been up to besides my craftaholicness I wanted to share about the Craft Market.

In one word I'll say AMAZING!  But I have more words than one :)  It seriously was one of the most fun things I've ever done and I am still overwhelmed (in a good way) at how great it was.

 My parents helped me load up my car and there car with my boocoodles of stuff and take it over to the church the night before.  We weren't able to start setting up until after 10 because of a wedding shower for Zach's youngest brother which meant we weren't done until well after midnight.  There was a lot of stuff to fit into a 10x10 space but my mom is a master at manipulating spaces so we fit it all and kept it pretty darn cute.

My mom and I got there around 8 the next morning to help with the details of the event and make sure everything was ready for the other vendors.  Kiley was in charge of the whole thing and I know it stressed her out but she did a FANTASTIC job of keeping everything straight and making her own super cute booth as well.  It was a rainy rainy day but the sun was shining through the rain and we had a steady and by steady I mean STEADY stream of people all day.  

I got to chat with lots of new folks and see some old friends who came to visit the Market as well.  I sold 95% of my products, got orders from 5 or 6 people for items I ran out of quickly, got to keep two things I REALLY wanted :), and made the rest of the money I needed for my part of our trip to Romania.  Thankful doesn't even begin to cover it.

I know that God's hand was all over this and next year if we do it again which I hope we do, I won't make as much money because I definitely won't make as many products.  Either way while I don't plan on making this a job any time soon or maybe ever I can't wait to do it again!

fingernails

My fingernails are shot.  They are pitifully short, peeling and stained.  It only takes one glance down at my hands to make me remember what work they have been doing.  In the last three months they have cleaned, painted, stained, sanded, sealed, picked up and carried.  It only takes one glance to make me realize how easily your brain and therefore how you carry about your life can be overcome with one thing.

Our mission team is hosting a craft market and I get to be a vendor.  As silly as it may sound to some, this is very close to a dream coming true.  In my mind I have always wanted to create for not just myself but for others as well.  I love crafting.  I love making the mundane beautiful.  I love seeing something different in an item and figuring out how to make it useful.  When the bible says that all things reveal the character of God I firmly believe the things we create, no matter in what way, show us Him.  I believe it so much so that I wrote about the craftiness of God.

In the past year and a half God has revealed many things to me about myself.  Things that give me comfort and smiles and things that hit me hard and reduced me to tears, but all things that were welcomed (eventually) and needed.  I feel like I am finally beginning to know myself well, so well that I even anticipated the happening of being too wrapped up into things and asked several people to pray for me about it and keep me accountable.  I can very much see how gracious God has been in answering their prayers because I have felt quite free of stress overall and more excited than obsessed.  Big Success!

  If you talk to Zach he might have viewed things different but at least he without a doubt can agree that I could, and in the past have been, much worse.  Of course no matter how hard you try it is impossible keep your life free of idols and distractions.  Even ones as cute as chalkboards and welcome signs.  But I am truly thankful that God is faithful in all things, in HUGE earth shattering difficulties of the past and small, fun, inconsequential, to some, things of the present.

The sale is this weekend and I am so ready.  I'm ready to share my heart for creating with others.  I'm ready to see the art others have created to the glory of God.  I'm ready to see if anyone wants my stuff.  I'm ready to, hopefully, earn a lot towards my trip to see the people of Romania again this summer.  And I'm ready for it to be finished so that I can get back to my life where my evenings and afternoons are completely devoted to my family and the building of our home together and writing about the day to day of our lives instead of the destruction of my fingernails.

sunday song

  

It is often difficult to hold on to joy, to find it everyday in the everyday.  In the world we think of joy as meaning happiness that comes from success or good fortune.  In our Christian lives, we know joy can be found in the deepest sorrow, because joy doesn't depend on the situations you are in.  Joy comes from one source, Christ. 

 That is why Paul and Silas could sing praises from the prison.  That is why hearts of parents mourning the loss of their child can give glory to God.  In the midst of our pain caused by the fallen world we live in we can have joy because we have a Savior who has given us everything.  He is the joy lighting our soul and we trust Him with our all.

We're choosing celebration
Breaking into freedom
You're the song
You're the song
Of our hearts

We cast aside our shadows
Trust You with our sorrows
You're the song
You're the song
Of our hearts

We're dancing to the rhythm of Your heart
We're rising from the ashes to the stars

You're the joy joy joy lighting my soul
The joy joy joy making me whole
Though I'm broken, I am running
Into Your arms of love

The pain will not define us
Joy will reignite us
You're the song
You're the song
Of our hearts

The dark is just a canvas
For Your grace and brightness
You're the song
You're the song
Of our hearts

We're dancing to the rhythm of Your heart
We're rising from the ashes to the stars

You're the joy joy joy lighting my soul
The joy joy joy making me whole
Though I'm broken, I am running
Into Your arms of love

You're the joy
The song in my heart
The hope of my soul

In the shadows
In the sorrows
In the desert
When the pain hits
You are constant
Ever-present
You're the song of my heart

You're the joy joy joy lighting my soul
The joy joy joy making me whole
Though I'm broken, I am running
Into Your arms of love
Into Your arms

Read more: Rend Collective - Joy Lyrics | MetroLyrics