Pirate Nation

This weekend was our Pirate Nation youth retreat. This is the second year we have co-planned a weekend retreat with Calvary Baptist Church. It was a great weekend. The spirit of God really showed up and to see Him moving made the week of total craziness preparing for the weekend totally worth it.  On top of Jeremy's role of co-leading the weekend our home was a host home. We had 11 & 12th grade boys staying in our home. At first I was somewhat (okay very reluctant) to have boys. I told Jeremy that I didn't know what to do with boys, we have girls!! But, the young men who stayed in our home were awesome. They were so polite and appreciative. I really enjoyed cooking for them. We also designed a game of Monopoly that went around the neighborhood our church is located in. The kids had a great time.

Easter Part 2

Faith shows off her find.
Loves from Uncle Cody
Grace finding eggs & special surprises.





The girls had fun opening their Easter basket. We decided to do one basket for them to share. We are considering making this our family tradition to have one family basket for the kids to share. We will see. I thought the girls looked so cute. They were so excited to wear their hats. I decided to enjoy it while they thought it was fun (since I'm thinking that won't last). Then after church we headed to my parents to enjoy dinner with my family. My mom hid easter eggs and all the girls' gifts out of their basket around her yard. Faith didn't get the the concept of hunting for the gifts. Whenever you put one in her basket she would throw it back out, she only wanted eggs. I LOVED spending the time with my family.

I have two favorite memories from this Easter. The first was funny. Whenever anyone would hand my girls an egg (real or plastic) they would try and crack it. To most people it might have looked like banging. But I knew all that cooking with me is sinking in. It was fun to see them connect eggs with cracking them for baking. The other memory is more serious but still sweet. On the way to the Easter party Grace and I were discussing what Easter is really about. We were talking about how Jesus came and died so we could be in Heaven with God some day. I expressed that I really wanted to be in Heaven with God. Grace said, "Me too, our baby is there, and I want to hold her and feed her." I'm so thankful that she trusts God is caring for our baby. And it gave me a whole new reason to be thankful Jesus died & rose again for me.

Easter Fun Part 1

Grace hunting Easter eggs.
My Easter surprise from Jeremy, gorgeous tulips!
Daddy & Faith hunt eggs.
Our very first "crop" of dyed Easter eggs.
Nana helps Faith with her eggs.
Grace hunts for her Easter basket from Nana.
Dying eggs.
Grace coloring at the Easter Party at church.
Grace making her snack at the Easter party.

Because the girls have been sick we had to pack all of our Easter fun into one weekend. On Saturday Nana came to visit. The girls hunted for their Easter baskets & eggs. We also dyed Easter eggs for the very first time. The girls really enjoyed it. While Faith was napping Grace got to go to our church's Easter party. She really had a lot of fun. They colored a book that talked about the Easter story, made special snacks, and had an Easter egg hunt. More on Easter fun soon..