SUNDAY IS HERE!!!

It's SUNDAY! We celebrate Jesus' death and His Resurrection! Can you believe how much He LOVES us?! Can you believe the depth of His MERCY toward us?! Can you believe the gift of SALVATION that is offered to us?! The FORGIVENESS?! The PEACE?! The HOPE?! The JOY?!

Jesus, my Jesus! I am amazed by You and I am in LOVE with YOU!!

"It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ...

"Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:34-39

Good Friday

Today we celebrate the precious and amazing act of love that Jesus displayed when He died on the cross to heal the whole world of our sins. I can't tell it better than Ethan's storybook Bible...I want to share this Love story, but I will only leave it up through the weekend, as it is copyrighted.

"For God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son, that whoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

"For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him." Romans 5:6-9

One of the most touching yet simple versions of the true story of Easter can be found here....


It pains me to remove the stories from this blog....what if someone stumbles onto this blog and reads about Jesus' great love for them for the first time ever?!

Anyway.... I don't want to break copyright laws, so here I go....delete, delete, delete.....









I can hardly contain my tears to read of His love ("Mom, are you crying AGAIN?!")....
This weekend, we call to remembrance the work of Christ on the cross.

But, boy, I cannot wait for this Resurrection Sunday to celebrate His conquering of death and sin, when we proclaim, "HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!!" HALLELUJAH!

Teeth

My Audrey-girl woke up this morning and had two top teeth! They have been working on breaking the surface, and I could barely feel them as of two days ago. Today, they are here and they look big! The problem is, Audrey is a bit of a biter....and poor Norah has always been the only victim. Up until now, it has done little harm since she only had her two bottom teeth, but with four teeth, I'm afraid that's going to pack a painful punch~

Norah has two bottom teeth, but her second one came in crooked (!). Maybe it will turn in time....or maybe we need to start putting away for her orthodontist bills :( :( I think she's also working on a top tooth.

OK...we're running out the door to grab some groceries, but I think my timing couldn't be worse--I hear the thunder rolling and the skies are black, but if I don't go now, we won't have anything for lunch or dinner!

Just for Grins and Giggles

Here are my two children who LOVED the green pancakes I made on St. Patrick's Day

And here is my silly child who was disgusted by the green pancakes I made on St. Patrick's Day. This is what he was doing while all our green was taking place in the kitchen.

Sweet Norah snuggling with Gigi

This shirt is a size 7. A SEVEN!
When he got dressed this morning, we noticed it was just a little big, but not too bad...

When he got home from school, he went to the restroom, then came out with a huge grin:
"Hey Mom, I think I grew at school today."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because, LOOK at me. Don't I look TALLER?!"

Slow down, little man!

Look who is sporting Pig Tales, Dr. Seuss style!

I can't keep this little monkey off our glider.

Sweet Norah...bless her little hairless head....
While I was doing Audrey's piggies, Norah went to the closet and dug out her own "pretty" (we call their bows, headbands, and hats their "pretties" and they LOVE to look pretty!)

Happy as a clam with her own "pretty"

"Hmmm, this rock looks interesting."

"Does it paint my toes or fit like a shoe?"

"Ah, so that's what it feels like to have wind in my hair...
And boy, this rock is still interesting."

"I'm gonna show it to Mama!"

"Uh-oh, something's missing (and it's not my hair)."

"Where did my pretty go?"
"I gotta go tell Mama."
(and by "tell", she means, "UUHHH. MM. UHHHH.)

"That's better!"

"Hey Mom, look how STRONG I am!"

"Ethan! Put her down!"

"Mom, she likes when I do that to her!"

Ms. Smarty Pants
Look how she tries to "fix" the broken stick.

I can't believe that at one point in our lives, ALL of Ethan's toys fit into this Red Vines container.

I also can't believe we still HAVE this Red Vines container!

I guess there was a reason I kept it in the box of "Ethan's favorite baby toys"

We obviously don't need toys with lots of bells and whistles:

Bacon and Eggs

We had the BEST "bacon and eggs" this morning at Bible study, thanks to the very talented, very creative, and oh-so-beautiful, Erin L.!

I had to blog about them so I keep them in my "snack bank" for future reference.

What's not to love....Pretzels-Yum; White Chocolate-Yum; M&M's-Yum; Put it all together--YUM-O!!

(On another note--Seriously, is today March 23 or March 24? Because my camera tells me it's the 23rd and my blog tells me it's the 24th. I need to look at that calendar I blogged about recently!)

Molly the Barn Owl

We have been watching sweet little Molly, a barn owl, on this live feed today:
http://www.sportsmansparadiseonline.com/Live_Owl_Nest_Box_Cam.html

For some odd reason, she's fascinating....even though she doesn't do all that much. We've seen her sleep, wake, attend to her owlette, change positions, and breathe. But for whatever reason, we love watching and listening to her!

One of Ethan's first observations of her was her appearance. Sitting on my lap, he whispered in my ear, "Mom, barn owls kind of look like General Grievous because of the way they stand."
Silly goose.

www.whozoo.org/...BarnOwlFWZ12Mar01F12.JPG

img.photobucket.com/.../grievous_utapau05.jpg

"They look Chinese"

That's what the little girl I was talking to told me about Audrey and Norah.
Maybe she meant, "They look like China dolls"? Maybe not.
When I told her they were part Japanese, her eyes lit up and she asked, "Ohhh, were you born in Japan?!"
She was 10, and in about 10 minutes, I got more of her life story than I think her mom (who was getting a haircut at the time) would have ever wanted her to share with a stranger. Anyway, she was a hoot.

Chris isn't a big fan of the tutu, but since he was gone today, we decided it was a perfect day for tutus :) :)

Here are the girls digging through my purse and keeping busy while Ethan is in his Hapkido lesson. And, yes, that is little Ms. Audrey all upright and proper....she's been an official-most-of-the-time walker this past week!

It was "Water Bottle" vs. "Tide Laundry Pen" between the two of them

And here's a little baby walking spammage for the family to gush over.


And now....really, really...I AM going to put away that laundry. Really.