Life with my sister

This is our Easter picture. Gone are the days of matching shirts and dresses, bunny rabbits and pastel colors. Gone are the days of standing in front of Easter wreaths, azaleas, and jonquils. Gone are the days of bribing them with "getting" to take a crazy picture if they give me one good picture. Now we go to the store, everyone goes to a rack that appeals to them, tries something on, and we buy it. No tears, no bribery, no matching. It's bittersweet in some ways, but I'm embracing it. We had Easter baskets, candy and a prize. This year it was a Walmart giftcard. I tell you, that Easter bunny is getting lazy and a little tight with his money! This was the first year that we had no one that believed in the bunny at our house. It was different, but I can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. No sneaking around, telling story's, and I finally got credit for the gifts!! This was the first Easter since 2010 that I've been to church on Easter. Isn...

This is what we are singing this morning at our house and hope you are rejoicing with us! Henry adores this song and we are pressing repeat on our CD this morning as we prepare for church. "I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades." Revelation 1:18 Abby

I got my camera out last week while it felt like spring and took some photos of Henry in his Easter outfit. He was such a good sport. Henry holding a Jonquil in our flowerbed ("What the h*&& is a jonquil" - mama, daddy and julie, are you laughing??!! Rest ole Harold's funny soul.) . I love how God allows them to bloom way ahead of the other flowers. It gives us a little taste, hope and joy of spring before the rest of the earth is ready. This tulip tree in our yard is always so pretty to see in full bloom. I did not ask Henry to pose his leg in this photo, just his arm. It cracked me up to see his leg. He is learning to pose for mama...bless his heart! He will pay me back later in life. I am sure of it. I am in love with this photo. This is truly my Henry. Smiling, silly, and full of life. He did not pose for this one either. I just happened to snap the camera while he was giggling about the eggs. Nothing makes me happier than this smile. I pray ...

The boys pictured at the bottom of this post bring me so many smiles and much laughter. They will be 12 in a month. A month! One year away from teenagers! Help!!! One of the boys is a pessimist, a glass half-empty kind of guy. At times I feel like he just endures us. The other one is an optimist, a full glass kind of guy. I'm pretty sure he believes there could be a party at any time, and he will most certainly want to be there! To have such different personalities, their interests are the same. They both enjoy reading, watching movies, playing Wii games, and having air soft wars. The funniest thing is that when they have friends over for more than a couple of hours I'll look for them and find them on their beds reading. The friend is somewhere in the house or outside entertaining himself. It seems that they need a moment or two of quiet and solitude before they play again. It's like a mini siesta! They are rarely separated. They have the same friends, and the same i...

Henry keeps asking, "Is it Easter time?" and we keep assuring him that it is indeed!   We made some cheese cracker carrots  to give to some special bunnies this Easter week. It was so easy, inexpensive and super cute. I recommend it if you are looking for a little happy to make this week. We have also packaged up some jelly bean bark. I used almond bark and Starburst jelly beans. Those jelly beans are addictive so I was glad to get them melted into something besides my mouth! I am excited to pass these out to some of my little chicks this week. We visited Lifeway last week and bought these things to celebrate Easter with our little mister. The Resurrection Eggs are precious and he loves to open each one and tell us what they mean. The sticker book is a little too old for him, but it is fun to use the stickers with the story. The Story of Easter book is perfect for his age and explains Easter as God showing His love to us. It is perfec...

 A year ago today Abby and I asked for prayer for mom as she was having surgery. Little did we know that the three day scheduled hospital stay would turn into a three week stay. Those weeks were full of days that were trying on many levels. I cried, worried, laughed, and texted. Oh man did I text! Trying to keep everyone up to date on moms condition was important and something I did often. Crying, worrying, and laughing were also things I did often. Some of my sweetest times with mom were times she doesn't even remember. She was asleep, breathing with the help of the ventilator and I would lay my head on her shoulder and pray. And cry. She wore my mascara on the shoulder of her gown for many days. I also had some sweet times with The Lord. Oh, I poured my heart out to Him with tears and without. Abby and I began the hospital stay just praying that we wouldn't embarrass ourselves by our gagging. Neither of us like hospitals! God was good to answer that prayer. As He ...

I really have the best mother-in-love. She became a mother to Randall when he was five years old. She married his dad and has loved Randall like her own since day one. Molly was a God send for Randall and without her we would not have met each other. I have the best time with Molly. She makes me laugh and she laughs with me. I love laughter from a pure heart. She has one of the purest. Her love for Jesus is evident in how she loves us. I treasure that. I know all the mother-in-law jokes and the stigma that often comes with that relationship, but we are not like that. We have a Ruth and Naomi type relationship. I would go with her and she would go with me to the very end.  She is Henry's Nana and there is nothing more precious than those two together. Nana likes to come get him or have Randall bring him to her for over night stays quiet often. They live 1 hour from us. She and Papa (Randall's dad) frequent garage sales and rack up on toy...