Perspective on Wealth

Check out this article from the Get Rich Slowly blog for an interesting perspective on wealth.  It will leave your more grateful for what you have right now.

May Monthly Update

Alright, it has definitely been more than a month since I have written any type of update, but none the less. here is one now.  At the very end of March, we moved to Village Manor to be closer to the seminary.  The smaller space is worth being close to school and we gained a lot of green space for the kids to play outside.  I'm also loving the wood floors.  They are so much easier to clean with kids.  The first semester of James being back in school full time has been successfully completed.  Things are slowing down for the summer since James is just working.  Madison is one now and is walking.  Marissa will be turning four next month on "June nineteen" as she loves to tell anyone who will listen.  Makayla is doing well too and has started talking non-stop.  Her favorite thing is playing with all their little animals and people.

Easter Baskets

As I mentioned before we don't use the Easter bunny as part of our celebration.  However, like Christmas stockings I haven't give up Easter baskets for the kids either.  It can be difficult to avoid the Easter bunny paraphernalia when looking to fill them.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money on candy and little trinkets that would quickly lost and broken.  Plus, I know they'll be getting candy at church during the Resurrection Egg Hunt.

 We found our filled baskets on Etsy from Green Mountain Wee Woolies.  The girls will be able to use their baskets from year to year and they each have a few simple, lovely items in their baskets.  The contents shown are from Marissa's basket and the other picture is of wool covered soaps that I also got to add to their baskets.  Each girls basket is different in color and the contents are slightly different.  (I feel I need to say that the seller was wonderful and did a custom baby friendly basket for Madison and each of the girls' baskets had something extra stuck in that wasn't part of the sale.)

Christianity Today has an article with ideas for a Christian themed Easter basket at the bottom of this article.  We didn't go for strictly Christian themed baskets.  I'm okay with gift giving being a part of the whole celebration and don't feel that the gifts need to necessarily have a spiritual significance.

DIY Resurrection Eggs

Many of you have probably seen sets of Resurrection Eggs used at church egg hunts and for sale in Christian book stores.  Resurrection eggs are a set of plastic Easter eggs with a small object inside that is used to tell the Easter story to children.  Mrs. Wilt at The Sparrow's Nest has a wonderful post on making your own set.  Enjoy.

Preparing for Easter

I have spent a lot of time this year thinking about our Easter celebration, and our celebrations in general.  James, I'm sure thought I was crazy when talking about Easter in January.  I want to be purposeful in planning holiday traditions that honor God and reflect what we claim to be celebrating.  We've never done Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny with the kids, but have sometimes struggled in thinking of better traditions to fill our celebrations with.  I read, Treasuring God in Our Traditions by Noel Piper, and it is full of just those things.  You can see a photo of the book to the right, and read the whole book free online here.  Take the time to at least read the Easter section. 

The girls are already beginning to remember what is special about certain holidays.  The know birthdays involve cake and Christmas is about baby Jesus.  As Christians, Easter should be our most celebrated holiday as we reflect on Christ's sacrifice for us on the cross and the victory of His resurrection.  

I hope to share with you ideas throughout the month on celebrating Easter with your children in a way that brings them to the cross and an empty tomb, not just bunnies and colored eggs.

A General Update

After a long bit of silence, I thought a general update was in order.  February was quite crazy for us.   After a trip to the emergency room, I was admitted to the hospital and had my gallbladder removed.  And since mom in the hospital wasn't interesting enough, we got hit with the flu at the same time.  Even when I finally was released, neither James and I were in good enough condition to take care of the kids.  Our wonderful pastor and wife, took care of  our oldest two for three days.  Being in seminary away from family, what a wonderful thing it is to be able to rely on fellow believers.  We are all much healthier now.

I am enjoying taking SWI classes for the first time in a long while.  I am finishing up SBC I & II and am taking Old Testament and New Testament Survey starting next week.  James is excited to be back in classes as well.  He'll be hitting mid-term time next week and be getting into paper writing more heavily as well.

The girls are all doing well.  Madison can stand up by herself now.  She falls down pretty quick too.  Its funny to watch her bob up and down in the middle of the living room.  Makayla is starting to talk so much more clearly.  Marissa can write most of her letters now, and that's her new favorite hobby.  If she's not writing them on paper, she's tracing them in the air, or with her foot in the dirt.

A Humbling Experience

Interviewing with churches for potential ministry positions is quite unique.  In no other situation, that I can think of, is the entire family part of the interview process.  For whatever reason I had taken particular care this week to make sure everyone was dressed appropriately and that we had all the extras for the kids like snacks, juice boxes, distractions for during the interview etc.  I had spent a lot of time in prayer for James, the sermon, and the congregation throughout the week, but I had also spent time taking care of things that would allow us to make a general good first impression.  We left quite early Sunday morning to allow for a long commute and plenty of time before Sunday School began.  All seemed to be going well as we spotted the church without a problem and had time to spare.  Then as we pulled in to the church parking lot a car sick child vomited.  Marissa emptied  the contents of her stomach, and everyone except the baby ended up with some on them.  We needed our extra time to change the kids clothing and get ourselves and the car cleaned up the best we could.  It was a humble reminder for me that many of the things I had spent time on this week didn't really matter and that the situation was completely in God's hands.  The message brought from God's word was excellent even if the man brining it still smelled a bit like soured milk, and I have nothing but peace about the situation now.