Roots

 

This is a picture of my roots.  All but 2 of these precious people are enjoying the splendor of Heaven.  Recently my Grandpa ( top left) lost another brother, he and his sister are the last ones walking this earth.  

My Great Uncle Merle's death came after a sudden stroke, which left his sweet wife, children and grandchildren heartbroken.  While they have clung to Jesus and rejoice in the reward awaiting his faithful service to Jesus, my heart hurts particularly for my Great Aunt.  She had to release her dear husband to Jesus and I can only imagine after years of serving the Lord along side one another how incredibly difficult that must be.

As another one of my great Uncles joined the reunion in heaven, I'm saddened that my roots are slowly reaching to heaven.  I am so grateful for this family of mine and what they have taught me.  I am so thankful that I was able to get to know them, many of them as an adult.  (I think my dad's family was simply too big to get to know my Great Uncles and Great Aunts, because there were only so many seats around the kitchen table.)

There is something about losing this generation that strikes a chord with my heart and pulls on my heart strings.  I could sit for hours and listen to stories my grandpa and his siblings would tell about growing up on the farm.  I wanted to soak in all their stories of a life much different than today's.  They lived through hard times, grew stronger in their faith and as a family because of it.  It took years of hard work to built back what they lost during the great depression but they did it.  And eventually their hearts slowly healed, but forever were changed over the loss of their brother in WWII.

I learned the importance of giving to the Lord from this family, and remembering where you came from.  Hospitality.  Serving the Lord whole heartedly.  A strong work ethic.  And the importance of remembering where you come from.

So while our heart may be heavy, I'm rejoicing over how these roots have impacted my life.

Easter 2015

The month of March just flew by for our family.  I had lost a few pieces from our resurrection eggs so it took me a while to locate some of the items that go inside them.  So we didn’t work on them each night leading up to Easter as we have in years past.   

We made the mistake of doing the egg hunt first then the resurrection eggs this year.  Micah was literally bouncing off of his seat, he could not sit still, or focus for the life of him.  Calvin listened attentively, while quietly munching away on his candy and Judah tried to steal Micah’s candy the whole time.  It was anything but worshipful.

I knew we’d be getting a package from my parents filled with plenty of sweets and the boys plus sweets make for a dangerous combo, but decided to go ahead and stuff the eggs with candy, Judah's I filled with animal crackers.  

Our boys don’t actually know about Easter baskets, so the day before Easter  I started feeling a little sorry for them and picked up one special sweet and a kinder egg, to put in their “Easter basket”.  

Now usually I collect sour cream buckets for our egg hunt throughout the year, because we live in a place where you can buy sour cream at any store in a small bucket, but this year I forgot and don’t think I used that much sour cream.  So I had to empty out a couple of baskets so they could hunt some eggs, just a couple minutes before their hunt.

After our resurrection eggs we showed the boys this video and surprise, they actually sat still.  (Micah saw the story in his Bible this week and was so excited because, we had watched that story.  So he did pay attention, I was shocked.)

Easter breakfast, we have the traditional of eating the Easter eggs the boys dyed the night before and this year I made smoothies.  I had planned on doing resurrection rolls but after some thought decided that would require some time and Judah is a hungry little grump in the morning so there’s not a chance he was going to wait for any resurrection rolls to bake. 

The rest of the morning the boys played, then after nap time we headed out to our friends house, where we enjoyed a great celebration with our team. We had an egg hunt for the kids.  Judah really got into it.  It was fun.  Micah of course had so much fun.  Calvin was in the big kids group, and was the smallest so he wasn’t overly impressed by his success, but he did pick out the prize he was wanting.

Micah of course didn’t give anyone the chance to choose the sword and pirate eye patch.  We’ve had non edible prizes after the hunt the past few years, so the person with the most eggs gets to choose first, then we work our way down.

We ate some ridiculous good food.  And had a meaningful worship time to end our time.  It’s such a joy to celebrate Christ’s resurrection with some pretty sweet friends.  Truly something to praise the Lord for, and I just love this song.

We came home and put some boys to bed, I finished packing and then we headed for the airport.  It was a full Easter, and I’m hoping next year no one needs to leave the country on Easter Sunday.

Man Camp

A little pal of Calvin’s had a birthday so his dad took the opportunity to go on a man camp.  The last one was 2 years ago, and this year Micah got to join in the fun.

Micah was so excited to go camping. He packed his backpack and was ready to go the day before the big trip.  Inside his backpack was a ninja mask, power ranger costume, ninja turtle sais, a slingshot and book called Just Like Daddy.  So he pretty much packed the necessities.  Calvin packed a swim cap and water balloons.  I think he was optimistic for some hot weather, instead they had fog, rain and cool temperatures.

You can tell moms were not present because axe throwing and knife throwing were a part of the activities.  My heart skipped a few beats when I saw the pictures.  I’m learning how to be a mom of boys, Marvin does a great job of providing lots of boy fun.

Of course a zipline, hiking, and campfire stories always add to a great camping trip.

Micah discovered he has a superpower after all.  Peeing power, I’ll just leave it at that.  ;)

They came home filthy dirty and full of stories.  It’s fun watching them grow up and thankful Marvin enjoys sleeping in tents in the cold to make these trips extra special for them.

I've always thought we live in the great place to raise boys.  Man camp helped support my theory!

Growing Up

I switched out Judah’s 18 months clothes for 24 month clothes last month and that same day he got a hair cut.  Marvin dressed him for bed and put him in the least babyish PJs he has.  My heart hurt a bit seeing him looking all grown up.

He’s sure a fun little guy.  I love his smile, hugs, kisses, and sweet temperament.  (Although he can throw a good fit too.)

He’s curious and quiet.  When often leads to scenes like this……………

when we forget to latch the kitchen door.

He’s becoming more and more verbal which is really fun.  Here are a few words he’s been saying recently:

Waa baa=water bottle

Baa=ball, bottle

Atch=watch

Ight=light

Ot=hot or cold

Owwww-ouch

Eeth=teeth

Ush=brush

Mama=Mama or anything that belong's to Mama

Notice a trend?  He completely leaves the beginning or endings off of words.  Regardless I’m thankful he’s communicating.  It’s been fun watching his speech grow this past month.  He’s even joined in when his brothers start singing or when he’s happily playing.  I just love his little songs.

He’s a busy little one, who loves his big brothers fiercely and loves a good wrestling match.  He’s already a tough little guy, and I’m always so amazed at how much he loves rough housing with his big brothers.

He's growing up....too quickly.