Graduation

Dr. Linwood "Flava Flav" Rose (that medallion has got to be heavy)

Liam loved the graduation speaker so much (I actually took pictures through my zoom lens of all the people nodding off in the Convocation Center. He wasn't the only one!)

Mark graduated from JMU with his Master's in Public Administration this past weekend. He worked six years toe earn this degree. It was very exciting to see him walk across the stage and to know that it was over. The kids were troopers through a very long graduation ceremony and were extra excited to eat cake and pie with their dad to celebrate his achievement. Liam knew that our babysitter, Miss Jen, was going to be graduating too and that she would be leaving town once she got a job. He told Mark that he didn't want him to leave. He didn't understand that his dad wasn't going to be leaving town. So incredibly sweet.

Easter Egg Hunt and more Easter pictures

I love this picture so much!

Text from our Easter sermon at church

¹ Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. ² It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.

³ I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. ⁴ He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said. ⁵ He was seen by Peter and then by the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he was seen by more than 500 of his followers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. ⁷ Then he was seen by James and later by all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. ⁹ For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church.

¹⁰ But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace. ¹¹ So it makes no difference whether I preach or they preach, for we all preach the same message you have already believed.

¹² But tell me this—since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. ¹⁵ And we apostles would all be lying about God—for we have said that God raised Christ from the grave. But that can’t be true if there is no resurrection of the dead. ¹⁶ And if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. ¹⁸ In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! ¹⁹ And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world.

²⁰ But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.

1 Corinthians 15:1-20

What a great sermon we heard last Sunday. Jesus is alive and He has died for me. Someday I will see those who died believing in Him. I will see my dad and my brother again. Death will not win! An awesome reminder of why I celebrate Easter.

*Egg hunt pictures to come soon.

Easter eggs

We colored eggs with Peyton and Liam on the night before Easter. They have done it quite a few times so they're old pros. Peyton took her time and did one or two eggs at a time. Liam filled all 5 of his egg cups and did his very quickly....then he kept asking Peyton for her eggs!

Luray Zoo

Peyton was on spring break last week so we tried to find some fun things for her to do. We had snacks at the local bakery, went to the Harrisonburg Children's Museum, and took a trip to the Luray Zoo. It was really hot the day we visited the zoo and the kids complained a lot about the heat. There are a lot of reptiles, snakes, and birds at the zoo. There was a bobcat, a tiger, some ring tailed lemurs, condors, turtles, and a family of Capuchin monkeys that were very fun to watch. I'm not sure we'll travel the distance and spend the money to go again because there are other zoos we have visited that have more to offer, but I think we all had a good time. It was a bit hard to tell with all of the whining about heat (from Liam more than Peyton!)

April Fool's Day

Happy April 1st! We made "bacon and eggs" out of white chocolate, m-n-m's, tootsie rolls and caramels. The kids caught on right away!

Signs of spring

Signs of spring are everywhere. It seems so odd that just a few weeks ago we were blanketed in about 2 feet of snow and now the daffodils are poking out of the ground and my chives are growing! I love seeing these little reminders that spring is here. I love hearing the birds chirping, seeing spots of green in our otherwise brown yard, and opening the windows during the day. I bought tulips from the grocery store this week and they are so pretty. Peyton wanted to plant tulip bulbs in the fall and I forgot, so we have to do it this fall.

I think after this very snowy winter, I am just feeling relieved that a new season is here. I am so excited about things that are happening in our church family and am so blessed to be a part of that. I am excited to share Easter with my children and to talk about what it means. They have been talking about egg hunts and Easter candy and we've been reminding them that Easter is first and foremost about the resurrection of Jesus. They are so young, but I desperately want them to be rooted in the church, in God's word, and to develop a relationship with Him. I wish that I had more of a relationship with Him when I was younger. I just wasn't at that point in the journey, the point where I am now.

I am grateful for reading my Bible each day, for having praying friends, for a husband and family that I love, but most importantly, for having a risen and living Savior! How awesome to think that Jesus walked the Earth, died for me, and now works through me. I can have an impact for Him if I just listen and obey. It just blows my mind, inspires me, humbles me, and breaks me. So this Lenten/ Easter season I'm focusing on Him, the one who forgave me and continues to forgive me. The one who just asks me to come, not to come to Him perfectly clean and on my own merits, but offering a free gift of salvation to me, a free forgiveness of my sins. It's awesome!