James and I share a birthday week and it’s always so much fun.  We basically end up celebrating all week!  We went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday at the beginning of the week and also enjoyed a cake the next evening at small-group.  

Kenny and the kids got me such thoughtful gifts – they know me well!  Anna gave me some cozy, soft, gray coasters for my tea and coffee.  Four of them so I can have one at the desk, one near my quiet time chair in the bedroom, and a couple in the living room.  James gave me some Downton Abbey piano music which I’m excited to start working on.  And Kenny gave me two issues of a new magazine we recently discovered – The Joyful Life – Heart & Home Inspiration for Christian Women – owned and founded by a new friend we met at church.  This magazine is right up my alley and I love it.  

A couple of days later on James’ birthday, he took pop tarts to school for his birthday treat.  With COVID restrictions, we can’t send in anything homemade, and he thought pop tarts sounded great.  His teacher took a fun birthday video with students sharing words that describe James’ character.  

That morning James requested french toast and scrambled eggs for breakfast and Anna surprised him with a card.  

That evening, we ate pizza for James’ dinner choice as we watched the snow falling outside.  It was very appropriate on his birthday to have snow.  Twelve years earlier when James arrived we had quite a blizzard!  

On Saturday, we celebrated again with our family in town with some Halo games, tacos from our favorite taco truck guy, and chocolate cake and ice cream.  For his birthday, James received new drum sticks from Anna, a new video game, game controller, a case to keep everything together, some new books, and a journal.  

It is hard to believe we have a twelve-year-old.  We measured the kids this past weekend and James has grown several inches since last summer.  He’s grown out of his shoes and just bought a new pair in the men’s department, he handles pretty much everything related to his schoolwork on his own, he’s becoming quite the drummer, and he makes his own breakfast in the mornings – often frying himself an egg.  This boy is growing up so quickly and some days I hardly recognize him.  He is becoming more and more independent and while some days the letting go is hard, we are privileged to witness as he grows into the young man the Lord has planned.  We love you so much, James! 

I stumbled across this new-to-me song this week by Andrew Peterson – You’ll Find Your Way.  Andrew Peterson is one of my favorite Christian music songwriters.  He wrote this song to his second son – a song about a boy growing up and the parent hoping the son will hold fast to the truths he knows deep down.  I was flossing my teeth while listening to this song for the first time, and as the tears started to flow I couldn’t see well enough to even finish flossing.  So many emotions as these kids grow up, but this is at the heart of it all – my biggest prayer for them: that they will hold fast to the truths they know deep down in their hearts.  When life becomes hard and crazy – and it will – I pray James and Anna will lean on the only One who can help.  

You’ll Find Your Way
When I look at you, boy
I can see the road that lies ahead
I can see the love and the sorrow

We had a wonderful Holy Week this year – the biggest holiday we celebrate as believers in Christ!  

Beginning with the previous Sunday, Palm Sunday, we read each day from scripture (the book of Matthew) the events of the day.  From “Hosanna!” to “Crucify Him!” in the span of a week.  This is the second year we’ve done this together as a family and it really helps drive home the focus for the week.  Some days we read over dinner, sometimes right before bed, and some days we played catch up and read two days in one because of a busy evening the night before.  

On Saturday, Kenny and Anna dyed eggs and we celebrated the Passover meal together.  This is another tradition we started last year and also helps keep our focus on Jesus rather than eggs and bunnies.  Ideally, this is celebrated on Thursday or Friday of Holy Week, but it worked best in our schedule to do it Saturday before dinner.  

Saturday was a hard day.  For all of us.  There was arguing and misunderstandings and harsh words.  As we were about to start the Passover meal I almost wondered if we should abandon it because of how things were going.  But, the table and foods were set, and thankfully Kenny strongly suggested we move forward – that in being together and eating (getting something in our bellies) our moods would improve.  And, praise God, he was right.  As we moved through the traditions and scripture reading, our shoulders started to relax, smiles began to emerge, and the time was redeemed.  Oh, what a wonderful picture of what Christ does!  It was unbelievable how the purpose of Christ’s death and resurrection that we were discussing and celebrating took hold of our family and truly did redeem us and our time together.  I will always be grateful for that experience together.  

Matzo crackers and Charoseth – a sweet, apple/cinnamon/honey mixture

Resurrection Sunday was a glorious day!  Our service at church was wonderful and majestic and set the tone for the rest of the day.  Our family came over for brunch and an egg hunt and we enjoyed our time together.  

Grandma Lucile’s Coffee Cake!

Instructions before the egg hunt

Luke was SO excited about every egg he found.

Lynn brought Easter sugar cookies for each of us that we painted.  Such a fun idea and they were delicious!  

Kenny passed down his Chocolate Bunny Easter shirt to James this year.  My sister, Sheila, bought this for Kenny years ago.    

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed being outside together in the nice, warm weather.  

That evening we cooked a more traditional Easter dinner with ham, hashbrown casserole, and asparagus.  The kids and I made Resurrection rolls – something I’ve wanted to try for years.  We took large marshmallows (Jesus’ body), dipped it in melted butter, rolled the marshmallow in cinnamon and sugar (the spices used in Jesus’ burial), then rolled the marshmallow up in crescent roll dough and pinched the edges together (the tomb).  While baking, the marshmallow is supposed to melt and when you break open the roll, the tomb is empty!  A wonderful idea, but our tombs broke open while baking and we had sticky, marshmallow goo oozing out of the rolls.  They tasted delicious – like a cinnamon roll – but were pretty messy and probably something we won’t make again.  Oh well, a fun thing to try once!  

He is Risen!

Every time I get ready to post something about school, I thank God for the days and weeks our kids get to go.  Sometimes it’s easy for me to focus on the negative – all the days and weeks they’ve missed.  But truly, we are thankful and are not taking it for granted anymore.  

A couple of pictures from Anna’s 3rd grade Valentine party in February…

In March, Anna’s class dissected owl pellets (the undigested part of their food such as bones or hair that they regurgitate) looking for bones to identify what the owl had eaten.  

A recent note I spotted in Anna’s math homework to her tutor.  So sweet.  

And, Anna recently earned her Cursive License!  Mastering cursive is such a big part of third grade and we are so proud of her!

In 6th grade, James’s class celebrated Pi Day in March by wearing their new Pi Day
t-shirts, eating pie and pizza, and working through various math related activities.  Can you spot James?  

On an unrelated note, Kenny and the kids enjoyed April Fool’s Day jokes with each other.  It started first thing in the morning…James turned off the water under Anna’s sink so there was a delay while she hurried to brush her teeth before leaving for school.  He also put tissues in the toe of her shoe which made rushing out the door difficult.  When I went to hug Anna goodbye she reached down and squeezed my knee for a tickle and said “April Fools!”  Anna said at school she enlisted the help of a boy who knows how to make pop-up cards to make a pop-up spider card that read “Happy April Fool’s Day!” for her beloved teacher.  While the kids were at school Kenny put food coloring gel in their bathroom faucets.  That night while getting ready for bed, James had blue water and Anna green.  Anna pulled a joke on James by hiding her doll in his bed which gave him quite a surprise.  And lastly, Kenny filled Anna’s pillowcase with balloons.  She spotted them right away, though, before she laid her head down.  It was a full, fun day of pranks!