He is not here; He has risen!

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20

What a blessed few days for our family and our church, when we stop to meditate on the profound grace we are offered through the death and resurrection of Jesus.


The month of April carries with it a lot of joy and sadness for me, especially this year. This is the month my son turns two, growing so quickly he delights me with his thoughts and all the things he is learning, his smile and his laugh; the way he looks like me and acts like his father.


April is the month I lost my daughter, Ally, and the month I knew I would lose my father sooner rather than later. The grief remains a deep channel in my heart, sometimes flowing peacefully, bubbling softly in the background—and other times threatening to spill over the banks and sweep me away.


I know that despite my pain and my grief this year—despite anything that has happened, or could happen in the future—God has been so faithful to me. Years after the fact, I can see how God was working in my life at certain times, even when I was walking away from Him.

We all have days/months/years/decades when our faith is weak or wavering. We all have days we want to throw up our hands and sit on the couch and check out.

And sometimes we do.

I think the real danger for me at this point in my life is that I spend a lot of time planning the future and not enough time in the present.

This Easter my goal is to spend more time enjoying the gifts God has blessed me with.

Thankfully, I have a sweet, insistent two year old boy here to remind me that the present is:

“NOW! MOMMY!”

I had almost forgotten what 70 degrees felt like.

I kind of wonder sometimes why I live in this climate and not in Southern California, but DH reminds me often that family lives close and family trumps weather. I guess he should know, he's been all over the world with the military and has a very soft spot for home (a.k.a. Nebraska, or as he likes to refer to it The Good Life).

I'm in the process of baking some modified turtle brownies. I'm planning on layering brownies, caramel, and milk chocolate ganache to take to dinner with the in-laws on Saturday night. And Tony is taking brisket.

He cooks, I bake. Yet another reason why we are a perfect match.

This is Holden and my dog Titus watching Clifford the Big Red Dog.

I wanted to get a few more Christmas pictures in here before January.

These boots are made for walkin' (sort of)

The picture really speaks for itself.*

My son has been climbing on things for quite some time, but this week I found him face-climbing the front of his high-chair. I spotted him for awhile and then had to remove him when he ended up with his belly flat on the tray of the chair looking like a beached whale. His arms and legs were flailing around and I figured he had learned his lesson about trying to climb into the chair by himself.

Or maybe not, we'll see.

I walked into the house today after a nice evening of shopping and dining with one of my friends. The first thing Tony said was,

"You bought another pair of boots?"

I was so excited about my acquisition I put the boots on in the bathroom of the store and wore them for the rest of the evening. So he noticed them when I walked in the door.

I didn't mention to him how much better retail therapy** is than swimming in the bottom of a bottle of red wine, I just used Christmas, my birthday, and my stressful life as my excuse.

Merry Christmas to me!

(They weren't that expensive anyway.)

(Can you tell I'm trying to rationalize this purchase?)

* Please note the orange-y stain on the ice/water dispenser is not because I'm too lazy to clean it (which I may be) but that our water is so hard it looks like that when it dries. I have a two year old dishwasher with a broken motor because the water is so hard. Did I mention both my cars broke down and so did my dishwasher the same week my dad died?

**I know the lottery is just a tax on the poor and those who can't do math but would it hurt to buy a lottery ticket just for fun? $92 million and I could buy all of you some impractical boots just like mine!

Biohazard

It was so hot today I walked into Walmart with my boy on my hip, put him in the cart and then seriously considered hanging out by the refrigerated foods for awhile. I walked really sloooow to the milk area and just as slow to the checkout line--via the entire wall of cold foods.

And yet strangely enough I felt like making chili for dinner.

I've had a long day. Quite the experience trying to get my yearly OBGYN exam done with a one year old in the room. I would have found a sitter but I didn't know they were doing it today! I thought I was just going in for a postpartum visit. I'm pretty sure as he was using the speculum I was telling Holden to stay out of the biohazard trash. Nice. That's probably something only a mother would mention in passing conversation,
"So as he was using the speculum..."

Ok, no it's not. It's probably something only I would mention. I guess I like to imagine my readers cringing sort of like people do while watching The Office when it's just over the top embarrassing.

Oh, and if you don't know what a speculum is, don't ask. I know I kind of sprung that TMI on you...so sorry--I usually try to give more warning. Maybe I should caption this post:
LADY BUSINESS MENTIONED.

My dear husband won't be home till 9 so I have the evening to myself (well, sort of--there is Holden). Unfortunately I already watched my missed episode of The Bachelorette. I'm thinking of watching Wipeout tonight but think that I may be getting dumber with each episode of reality TV I watch.