Ruthie sent us an Easter Box!

Wow! Ruthie sent us Easter Movies!

Hayley found a book just for her!

Wow Ivy...it makes music!

What do you have Ivy?

Here are some kind of puzzles!

Ivy helped Hayley put the puzzles together!

This was a donkey....heehaw!

Ruthie also sent us Easter Cookie's to decorate! Hayley didn't want to decorate hers! She wanted to EAT IT!

Ivy did a great job decorating the cookies!

Ruthie...thanks so much for thinking and praying for us! Thank you for calling us! Thank you for sending things that you know the girls will love! After the cookies were decorated, Ivy and I made soup.  We took the Jelly Bean Prayer and printed off the labels. We put Jelly Beans in a ziplock bag. We then took the bags of jelly beans, cookies and soups to our two neighbors. It was nice to visit with them. Please pray for both of them to put their trust in Jesus!

Maundy Thursday Foot-Washing (On Wednesday at our house)

So daddy sat us in a chair and told us to take off our shoes and socks!

Hayley was amazed! She is normally not allowed in "big" chairs and why is Ivy taking her socks off?

Mom starts to read John 13:1-17 and daddy ties a towel around his waist just like Jesus did!

Daddy then washes the girls feet!

Hayley was so interested!

Daddy talks about Jesus words to Peter, "Peter, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me!"

Hayley liked getting her feet washed!

I am so thankful for this special time with Brent and the girls! I'm so thankful that Jesus died in my place! I'm so thankful that when we put our trust in what Jesus did for us on the cross, He washes us! He washes our sins away! (We have a big Resurrection Celebration at the Seminary tomorrow night and Ivy has soccer practice so we decided to make the most of our Wednesday at home!)

Some FUN times this week!

Afternoon snack of apples on the couch!

Hayley is always loving on someone!

Ivy decided that she was tired of her baby dolls and insisted that Hayley be her doll and take a nap!

Hayley's comfortable bed! Ivy is such a good mom! Unfortunately, Hayley didn't like being the doll and didn't want a nap!

Daddy made a 100 on his Greek Test! We went to Sweet n Swirly for yogurt!

This is my hard working husband! I love him!

The girls love yogurt! Our favorite is the Greek Black Cherry!

Hayley needed another hug!

I took the girls to an Easter Celebration at a church near our house. I didn't know ANYONE! But it made it so much easier to pay attention to the girls! We had a great time.

Hayley really liked her basket!

Such a good big sister!

See...Hayley liked her basket so much that she wanted Ivy's too!

A sweet lady named Ms. Pockets told the Easter Story, we had mini cinnamon rolls and then the kids got to make their own resurrection eggs.

Ivy filling up her eggs!

I am thankful for this fun week! It was FREEZING cold yesterday. I had on three shirts and two pairs of socks. Today, it's sunny and so warm! Some things that God's been reminding me of this week is how He loves to talk to us and loves to answer us! Brent text me yesterday morning and said he needed some prayer. The girls and I sat in the floor and prayed for him. He said that the day was much better after that.
Ivy and I have been memorizing Col. 1:9-14. "And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."  It was so fun to talk to Ivy about what the word ceasing means. We thought back over times when we have prayed for long periods of time for God to answer. We remembered how we prayed for little Leah. God answered and she was born and she is so precious. We remembered how we prayed without ceasing for Emma and she was born and she is precious. We remembered praying for Memaw to feel better and she is. We remembered  praying for Mimi to feel better and she is.  We remembered praying for our friend Jamie to feel better and have a baby and she feels better and now has a baby boy! We remembered how we prayed for God's wisdom about moving to KY and here we are!!!
 Speaking of prayer, I Love watching how Hayley is learning to bow her head and pray. She loves to say AMEN! This week we forgot to hold hands one night at the dinner table. We started praying and she started shouting "hand, hand, hand!"
This week, I have also been reminded of how important forgiveness is. The class I'm taking right now is a blessing. Our instructor reminded us of how important forgiveness is. How important to take "little things" and "big things" to the cross.  I have much to learn in this area but mediating on the cross and how much I am forgiven has been a joy for me this week. "If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared." Psalm 130:3-4 "Love keeps no record of wrongs" 1 Cor. 13:5
I'm ready for Easter week...ready to see family and friends next Friday!!!

Major Circles of Latitude

Coloring the map of the World

This week in CC we are talking about the five major circles of latitude. I am learning so much with Ivy! We colored a map of the world, took strips of brown construction paper to show where the five circle/ lines of latitude are.  For snack, we cut an apple and used spinach leaves to make the continents. The lines were fruit roll ups. We needed a bigger apple and smaller strips of roll up but she understood the idea. We also learned a song about the circles, and did body movements to help us memorize the major circles.  What are the five major cirlces of latitude?  The five major circles of latitude are  Arctic Circle, Tropic of Cancer, Equator, Tropic of Capricorn and Antarctic Circle!

Our finished craft!

I'm learning too!

Putting bears in a cup!

Stacking the cups!

Ivy look at this!!!!

Hayley is learning a lot! Her vocabulary is really improving! I am so thankful! Yes! I was a little worried about it! God is faithful! He is answering our prayers. She used to call a dog an "ak". Today she said dog. She would call a cat a "mmow". She now says cat. She looks at Emma's picture and yells "Oma! Oma! Oma!" One of the funniest things she says is Wahie!  That's flower in case you didn't know! She says giraffe, zebra, duck, blanket, etc. I love watching how God is helping her develop. She is absolutely the most loving person I have ever met. She hugs and kisses and says "Love you!" She demands hugs! She really gets offended if you don't hug her. It's so good for me. (You know I'm not a big huggy person!) She yells at everyone in the store until they say Hey! She is very demanding. She can say some of her ABC's! She goes around looking for a pencil and paper and when she finds it she scribbles her ABC's. She is loud when she is hungry! She LOVES Ivy. She LOVES her daddy. She LOVES LOVES her mommy! I LOVE LOVE LOVE her!

Oh and if I can get her to sleep later in the morning that would make me LOVE LOVE LOVE her more. That's what I'm praying! She wakes up yelling for her papaw! Crazy! She hasn't seen him in a while but every morning this week she has woke up yelling for him!

Learning!

I really do want to write down all that God is teaching Brent, Ivy and I...oh and Hayley is sure learning a lot too! Hayley is learning how to scream EAT! EAT! EAT! BITE! BITE! BITE! Such a hungry little girl lately! I think she is catching up from being sick so long!

Last weekend, Brent and I went on a "Date Night" that Family Life held at the seminary. Brent was so kind to register us. Thanks Brent! The meal and the talk were great. Before going on the date, we both had to complete a marriage oneness profile online. It provided great things for us to think through and talk about. The thing I took away from completing the profile online was...Praise God for the good things in our marriage. For those of you who know us well, I hope you take a minute right now and reflect on how far God has brought us. Some of you will remember the chap stick! Some of you will remember how I didn't want to go to church at Brent's church. Some of you will remember so much more than I can remember.  God really has done a work in Brent and I. He is continuing to do a work! I am so thankful for the Sanctification process. So friends who read this take some time to look back over your marriage and WRITE OUT how God has blessed! It's so easy to forget how God has been faithful. It's so easy to focus on the negative.

I'm also taking a class right now on Marriage and Family. We are reading Creative Counterpart by Linda Dillow. It's got some good reminders! Being intentional to set asside time for each other has been really important for Brent and I. It's so easy to put the kids in bed, take a shower and fall into bed. We both are tired. But, we have been asking God to help us find time to just talk and connect. Sometimes, it's when the girls are still awake. We sure haven't done it perfectly but we are praying that we would be more and more intentional.

Here are some questions that you can ask your husband....(You can find your own questions if you don't like these...but Brent and I liked the idea of having questions to ask each other!)

1. What is the happiest thing that has ever happened to your husband?
2. What has been the hardest experience of his life?
3. What are his secret ambitions, his goals for life?
4. What are his deep fears?
5. What about you does he appreciate the most?
6. What traits of you would he like to see changed?
7. What man or men does he admire most?

Here are some questions that you can give your husband to ask you:
1. What could I do to make you feel more loved?
2. What could I do to make you feel more respected?
3. What could I do to make you feel more understood?
4. What could I do to make you more secure?
5. What can I do to make you feel more confident in our future direction?
6. What attribute would you like me to develop?
7. What attribute would you like me to help you pray to develop?
8. What achievement in my life would bring you greatest joy?
9. What would indicate to you that I really desire to be more like Christ?
10.  What mutual goal would you like to see us accomplish?