Happy Easter

We celebrated a sweet Easter this year!  Caroline woke up and had completely forgotten that the Easter Bunny was coming today.  (so thankful!!!)  She was excited to walk into the den to see a basket filled with some of her favorites.  An "Olivia" seek and find book as well as a princess "sticker dress up" book.  Just so happened to have a pack up gum in there as well...

 

Then off to church for one of our favorite Easter traditions...flowering the cross.  We look forward to this every year.

 family picture

 our friends Tara and Jason, Jayce and Jules

 our friends Chris and Paige, Gracyn and John Joseph

 our sweet girl

 the beautiful cross

After church, we enjoyed a yummy lunch with Andy's family.  We came home, rested and play outside in the awesome weather.  Looking forward to a fun and relaxing Spring Break!!

Easter Egg fun with Family

 Pop and Peep hosted an egg hunt today as well!  Caroline was ready!!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous!!!!  It felt so good to sit in the sunshine!  The kids had a great time playing together.  We had a yummy, grilled hot dog lunch with chips and cupcakes for dessert.  Needless to say, we didn't have to beg Caroline to go to sleep tonight! haha

Caroline and Ansley Kate

 climbing a tree

ready for the hunt

 oh the excitement of finding the eggs

 Caroline and Great 

 deciding which ones she thinks she will share with Great

 Relaxing with Peep-egg hunts are hard work!

So much fun, looking forward to next year!!

Easter Egg Hunt with friends

 Originally our church Easter egg hunt was scheduled for last Sunday afternoon.  We knew our girls would have to miss the hunt in order for us to make it to our friend Wes' ordination service.  So we told the girls we would plan an egg hunt for them as well as their friends who would also miss the hunt due to the ordination service.  They were thrilled!  (as it turned out, the original church hunt got rescheduled so the girls had double the fun!!)

decorating the eggs

 group shot

 love these two

 so thankful to capture this sweetness in action...Lincoln was looking for an egg and before he could bend down, sweet Catherine picked it up and handed it to him!! :-)

three of a kind

Kate, Jude and Caroline 

 Mrs. Charissa working through the Resurrection eggs

 afterwards the kids played outside and had a blast!

 my cute pinterest party favors...thankful at least one of my crafts actually turned out!! ha

OctoberBaby

I have heard RAVE reviews about the movie "October Baby."  Well tonight I finally got a chance to watch it and it was AMAZING!!!!  The young lady in the movie Hannah finds out through some medical issues that she is adopted.  Her adopted parents had never given her any information about her adoption or the fact that she was adopted.  All of a sudden, everything she knew about her life was a lie and she had NO clue who she was.  She goes on a road trip in search of answers for her birth mom.  She finds out so much more than she ever intended...once she found her biological mother, she denied knowing anything about Hannah.  Hannah's adoptive dad finds her and requires that she comes home, leaving without any closure with her biological mother.  It's during this time that her father and mother begin to open up and pour out their heart to her daughter.

It's at this very moment that I begin to relate...The father tells Hannah how much he loves her!  How special she is to him!  Her mother explains to her that she is their miracle...she was the child they had prayed for!  The dad tells Hannah that he never wants to lose her and maybe, just maybe he's holding on a little too tight...

I thought of our adoption the entire time!  It made me thankful for the way things are.  Several things that Hannah said made me think about our story...

• Hannah didn't have a clue she was adopted...we want to be totally and completely honest with Caroline.  We never want her to question her story...never want her to feel as though she has lived her life totally clueless...
• Hannah asked "Why didn't my mother want me?  Was I not good enough."  Should Caroline ever ask, we have a beautiful story of true love...how B loved her so much, that she wanted the very best for her.  She wanted Caroline to have a family that she would never be able to give her.
• Hannah went in search for answers...we have SO many answers for Caroline.  We know her biological mother.  We know her biological family.  We had the opportunity to get to know B in such an amazing way. 

And while I have all these answers, there are so many that I don't have.  So many that I will have to trust Jesus with.  So many that I pray HE will give me the words when the questions come.  If you haven't watched "October Baby" you should.  It's truly an amazing movie!

Lord thank you for my amazing daughter.  Thank you for the courage to step out on faith and trust you with the journey of adoption...what a beautiful story we have to share!

Fun with Jude

Today we got to enjoy our friend Jude.  These two had a blast together!  They have been pals now for almost 3 years and they are absolutely precious together!!  Our sweet friends will be leaving in a little less than 9 months to head to Zambia to serve as missionaries...oh how we are thankful for these days and are soaking up each and every one we get!!  And just for the record, Jude said "Caroline made me put this on!"  HA!!

Sweet Little Bunny

Today when we stopped by the market, these precious little bunnies were there!  Caroline LOVED holding it!  Thankfully she can't read and didn't realize they were for sale!!  Shew...

David...Seeking a heart like His

I received an email in December from a sweet little lady Jeannie.  She asked if I would be interested in helping her facilitate Beth Moore's "David" study.  I told her I would be happy to help with logistics but I wasn't sure about leading.  Well 2 weeks into the study, Jeannie had to miss and guess who was asked to lead...me!  YIKES.  With sweaty palms, a racing heart and lots of prayers, I was ready to serve.  And the rest was history.

The ladies in this study, sadly aren't all in the picture, are amazing!  There was never a dull moment nor lack of conversation.  These ladies encouraged me in so many ways...as a mother, a wife and a young follower of Jesus.  I can't put into words how much this study meant to me.  I will always treasure this and definitely consider it a stepping stone in my faith!

What I learned most is that no matter how much David loved God, he still made mistakes.  He still found times in his life where he chose to do his own thing rather than trust and obey God.  But no matter how far he drifted, he always came back to God.  I pray that my heart would always seek to be like his...to know him more, to seek him more, to love him more!

Egg Fun

Our church egg hunt had to be rescheduled due to the rain on Sunday.  So it was scheduled for tonight before church.  Sadly, this afternoon was the first time all week that we had a chance to dye our eggs.  Andy and I love to dye eggs and did so many years before Caroline was born.  So needless to say, we were THRILLED to dye and decorate eggs today.

 

getting started

 oh the choices...

 all done!

 Caroline thought it was neat to color the egg with the white crayon and see the design once it's out of the dye

 sweet hand 

 love my girl

 i loved the way they turned out

 she loved the eggs with plastic wrappers and stickers

 once the eggs were done, it was time for the hunt!!

 ready, set, go!

 Caroline and Jude

 Caroline found a hidden egg

 surely there were a few more

 counting her stash

 up on the roof...

 Caroline and Kate comparing their eggs

 the final product! 

somebody was super proud of herself!

Wes' Ordination

Congrats Rev. Wes Andrews!!!

Some of you may remember this post where we wished them good luck...it's hard to believe it's been 3 1/2 years since that day...hard to believe we got to watch as our dear friend was ordained tonight as a PCA pastor!  What an exciting and demanding journey it has been for their family.  They entered seminary with two precious little boys and finished with 3 boys and a beautiful little girl!  It's been challenging and rewarding to watch Wes and Sage on this amazing journey.  So thankful we were able to walk it with them and so very proud of how they allowed the Lord to use them during this time.  Most of all, excited to see where the Lord will lead them!!!!  Grateful we got to be a part of this special day!!!!!!