Mercy Days Class of 2010-2011

Clara Hope - 1 year

Benjamin - 2 years old

Samuel - 2nd grade

Emma - 8th grade

Hannah - 10th grade

Hannah & Emma's photography teacher, Cheryl Joyce, took these beautiful pictures! So thrilled to have them all taken at the same time. It was really a last minute decision and Cheryl did such a fabulous job making it happen :)

Thanksgiving 2010

We had Chris' family here for Thanksgiving this year and having everyone together is such a rare event!

I am definitely a work in progress with the whole "hostess" thing, but living far away from our family has definitely encouraged me in the right direction. Having such hospitable friends here in Virginia has also been key in developing a love for sharing our home. I hope our family will look back on these sweet times and remember the blessing of family.

And because I delete all the pictures where I am speaking firmly to my children through gritted teeth, they should be none the wiser ;) Remind me to tell you sometime about how I had the camera on the tripod and set the timer as a test and then walked away to give my boys some correction ... you know the kind where words are not really necessary? Yeah, well I kind of accidentally caught that moment on film.

Needless to say that pic didn't make the cut.

Since the pics are numerous I will break it up and do a series of Thanksgiving posts. You all can wager on when I'll forget to keep posting.

Chris' brother Scott, and his wife Robin, drove up from New Orleans and spent the week with us. We met their insanely precious baby, Lili, for the first time.

See what I mean?

She stole a piece of our hearts when she left and I think being privy to so much of her daddy's life before she got here makes it all the sweeter.

Scott was about Hannah's age when Chris and I began dating and he has been like a brother to me the last 20 years. I have watched him grow from a mullet-headed punk to this adoring husband and daddy that loves his girls more than life.

He was always a doting uncle to my girls and so much of their early years are sprinkled with precious memories of him in their lives ... to the point that Emma listed: Dad, Mom, Hannah, Emma, & Uncle Scott on her family tree during preschool 10 years ago.

And believe me when I tell you that it was around that time that I was pretty-darn-well-certain that settling down and starting a family were not on the horizon for him. Of course I was plotting against his evil plans of Corvettes and lake houses with prayers and petitions to match.

So those prayers, combined with meeting sweet Robin, were too much for my bachelor brother-in-law to resist.

God's providence is so good!

And sweet Lili is such a reminder of His grace ...

Update on Jason

My cousin has been moved to Baylor Hospital in Dallas to begin his rehabilitation which I believe will last about 6 weeks.

He has made great progress in the last week and I am anxious to hear how his first day of rehab (today) goes! Learning how to deal with the paralysis is a huge process for the entire family so please continue to pray for their renewed strength and that they be encouraged along the way.

The community and their friends and family have really cared for them in ways both big and small ... from meals and mowed grass to providing tires for Steven (his brother) to have on his truck as he makes a lengthy trek each week from Lubbock to Dallas to visit his brother.

There are details about God's provision throughout this whole event but one I want to share is about this horse that they had purchased recently, who unbeknownst to them, lays down on the ground when given the proper signal (and also speaks spanish instead of english but that is a whole other issue ... now I am thinking that might have been what was wrong with my ornery horse when I was a kid!)

Ya'll, the horse lays down on the ground.

And this was somewhat of a perplexing ... even odd problem that they had.

Until now.

My aunt and uncle and their boys have owned, raised, trained and ridden horses all their life. So now this crazy-spanish-speaking-laying-down horse has the ability to be trained for something like this:

I would love to post pics of Jason and his precious friends that have all but camped out at the hospital but since I don't have those yet I will post the ones I have from our trip several years ago.

We love you Craig family!

Thankfulness ... Day 7

Today I am thankful for a visit from Chris' brother Curt, his wife Cinda, their 1-year old daughter Addison and Gigi!

Curt and Cinda are moving from Jacksonville, Florida to Pennsylvania and made their way through Virginia this weekend. We had a sweet time together on Saturday night where we were able to have a mini-celebration for Addison's birthday and enjoy some time together!

I'll post more pics later, Gigi ;)

Easter

I tried to upload just a couple of pictures but I just can't do it. Here is a plethora of photos from our Easter weekend.

Easter Party at church on Saturday

Easter Morning

After Church

Taken with the camera timer!

Our Easter Garden from Holy Experience

Lest you think we take perfect pictures, I give you ...
The Outtakes:

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter! Resurrection Sunday is the truly the most important reason to celebrate.

He is risen!