He IS Risen!

Another great Easter celebrating our risen Lord with family. We thoroughly enjoyed a very worshipful church service, a delicious meal, egg hunting all over the house and homemade carrot cake.

The whole fam after church

Two very excited girls!

Sisters, walking down to check out their Easter surprises together :) My personal fave!

Annabelle checkin out the goods!

Ella...deep in thought about where to look for the next egg

Annabelle is wasting no time at all.

Uncle Kevin is playing a little Annabelle guitar :)

My Alton Brown carrot cake. Pretty delicious!

Ella finding treasures.

This girl loved the scalloped potatoes so much that she licked the spoon...

Me and my girls!

Refreshed!

So I got the privilege of spending a very stormy and wet weekend in the Coastal California Redwoods at Mt. Gilead's Women's Retreat with my mom for the second year in a row. It is such a blessing in my life, as I have shared before. The place where I grew up in my faith and met my husband. Gilead is the place where I am convinced that Jesus lives :) . So, I will try to go every year that God allows! This year was all about healing fractured relationships, accepting grace and believing the truth that God loves me just the way I am. The two things that were pounded into my brain were: "Jesus knows me, this I love", and to "get out of my own way", so that Christ can use me! I cannot do this life successfully without him. Some great reminders for me. I also was extremely encouraged by listening to women share their struggles and faith journey's. I got to reconnect with some old friends also! Mom and I had a wonderful time together too :) I feel refreshed, focused and incredibly grateful for my life and circumstances. God. Is. Good.

After a crazy storm on Sunday evening, somehow, these logs were picked up
and thrown up into the power lines!

More crazy storm aftermath....a tree branch pierced the dining hall awning!

Ruth Burch, Terah Lites and I, all former Mt. Gilead staffers.

Mom and I :)

Sweet Sacrifice

Ok. So lent has not been something that I usually participate in. Kinda like I don't really make New Years Resolutions either. I figure, why set myself up for failure? I know, high expectations eh? The thing is, I am always trying to have more discipline in my life, and it is an ongoing battle. But I felt a desire to give something up this year for the lent season. I have felt particularly lazy and unmotivated recently, with my spiritual walk, and in everyday life, so I gave up the thing I think I am most addicted to, and in the area I am the least disciplined in, which would be eating. I have some sort of sugar fix about 3 times a day, and it's not always a big dessert, but still it adds up (especially since I dump a ton in my coffee every morning). I figured, if I have this desire for sugar, three times a day, then three times a day I can remember why I am not having it, and have found myself thanking God for who he is, and remembering his sacrifice for me, and that I really don't deserve to be alive, much less have a sugar fix. It really is small potatoes, considering the bigger picture, and that others don't even get three meals a day. I am craving sugar, for sure, but so far am enjoying the discipline - go figure!

A good reminder

Found this lovely reminder on Annabelle's nightstand this morning :)

Birthday Mad Lib

Seven

Well, my firstborn is 7. She once again talked her parents into letting her have yet again a slumber party! So Annabelle, Katrina, Emma, Starlena and Siera partied it up on Friday the 4th! It was a pretty jam packed 15 hours of fun. The girls started out making their individual pizzas for dinner, then then we opened gifts, had some strawberry shortcake, did a mad lib, made some bracelets, watched a movie and then bed. Bedtime was a bit of a challenge, but that comes with the whole slumber party package. Everyone started out in the sleeping bags in the loft together, then around midnight, everyone moved to a bed, and wala! That was enough to get them to sleep! I made some choc chip waffles, and eggs for breakfast, and then more bracelet making and yet another movie, before parents came at 10. It was so much fun, I think Annabelle just about burst! It is worth it all to see my little 7 yr. old have the time of her life!

The fab 5!

Some delicious pizza

Happy Birthday shortcake :)

Star got Annabelle a matching Tangles doll

concentrating hard on bracelet making!

A pain in the knee

So, as I posted earlier, I injured my knee, in a humiliating ice skating fall, where the little kids were zooming up to me on their ice skates asking if I was okay, and if I needed help. And all I could do was curse under my breath, and try not to scream, because it hurt so bad. So I eventually got up, left the ice, only to trip on the rubber flooring on my way to the locker. In any case, I was super happy to put my shoes on. So at the end of the day, I ended up with my own self-diagnosed (well with the help of the internet of course), MCL injury, with a possible PCL injury. It has been about 3 weeks, and I am just now able to extend my leg fully. Man, you really don't want to mess with the knee. The pic below shows the many forms of icing/heating and stabilizing braces I have been wearing for the last three weeks as well. Why not go to the doc? Well, from my research, the doc would need an MRI to tell me what I actually did, and with insurance, that MRI would cost over a thousand dollars! So, I am doing exactly what the internet says to do, and seem to be healing/progressing. So I plan to baby it for another 30 days, and then hopefully get back to running. I have been learning that I cannot rely solely on exercise for my release, and that God's word, and my time with him often get replaced with running. I also have been forced to focus on my diet more carefully, and practice some discipline and restraint there. So as frustrating as it has been to do a whole lot of nothing most of the time, it has taught me some valuable lessons about myself, and has given my hubby an appreciation for all that I do around the house!