Beautiful Babies on Easter Sunday

 

Phew....A Good Tired.

We are pooped tonight! We went to a crawfish party last night for my dad's work, ate Mexican afterwards with BB, Chas, and Jennifer, spent the night with BB and PawPaw, got up early and headed to the Zoo, came back to Oxford for naps this afternoon, went out to the Highlands to go fishing after naps, stopped on the way home to eat at Volta, and just finished bathtime here at home. Phew....can we say lots and lots of fun?! What a super fun weekend! Lots of fun memories made, and lots of good sleep awaiting us tonight :)

I love a "good tired."

Here are a few pics of all our fun.

He knows he is about to go see BB and PawPaw....happy little boy.

Coop always sits like this....I love catching things like this on camera.

I went upstairs for just a minute before we left and came back down to this. Hee Hee. (That's and IPad if you are wondering.)

Carter got a running start as soon as they opened the gate to the zoo.

First stop....monkeys!

What's all the excitement about?

My favorite memory from the whole weekend....Carter at the aquarium. A little tid bit about Carter....HE LOVES FISH. And always has. It all started with a book titled, Hooray for Fish that he loved as a baby. He ran around in total hysteria the whole 20 minutes we were in this building yelling, "WOOK! WOOK! WOOK, BB, WOOK! (gasp of breath) WOOK, BB! (another gasp) WOOK, BB, WOOK!" Well, you get the picture. So fun seeing him this excited. It makes me smile just writing about it.

Coop and his beloved PawPaw. Coop always wants his PawPaw over anyone else. I am pretty sure PawPaw doesn't mind this one bit :)

You think Coop had fun? He passed out as soon as we got in the car after a ton of fun at the zoo. Notice the cheerio on his neck....passed out mid snack.

Fishing at the Highlands. We all loved this. Can't beat a cane pole and a cricket. As soon as the cork hit the water, a fish bit the bait. Now that is the perfect way to fish with a two year old.

Got one!....well, we actually got a lot.

Classic Carter look....he thinks he's really cool these days and tries not to smile when something is funny. I love this look.

Got him to smile :)

Coop would have crawled right into that lake if I would have let him.

My boys catching some fish.

Can't wait to conclude our weekend with a celebration of our Lord's resurrection tomorrow!

Up from the grave He arose with a mighty triumph o'er His foes.

He arose a victor from the dark domain, and He lives forever with His saints to reign.

HE AROSE

HE AROSE

Hallelujah, Christ AROSE!

Happy Easter! Looking forward to the Easter Bunny coming tonight!



Time is in His Hands

I get a daily devotional from the Proverbs 31 ministries website (http://www.proverbs31.org/). I highly recommend these! I subscribed about a year or so ago, and I have read so many wisdom-filled devotions that have aided me in my walk with the Lord.

I loved the one I read this morning, so I thought I would share it with you.

Time is in His Hands

19 Apr 2011

Wendy Pope

“So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies.” Joshua 10:13a (NLT)

Has there ever been a time when you longed for just a little more light in your day to accomplish your tasks? When you need more time, do you ask God for it? After all, time is in His hands.

As we read in today’s key verse, God knew Joshua needed a little more time in his day, so He gave it to him.

Joshua and the Israelite armies were in battle against five combined Amorite armies to conquer the land allotted to them after crossing the Jordan. Joshua and his men were tired. The warring for the land had been intense. As the leader, Joshua decided to travel all night for a surprise attack. And then Joshua asked God to hold the sun and moon still so they could fight.

Over a decade ago God called me to radically trust Him with my time and get up each morning before the sun rose to spend time in prayer, and in His Word.

How can I do this? I remember asking the Lord.

I argued: I am a busy wife and mother. The baby is only a few months old. I need sleep.

It never occurred to me to ask God to help me by adjusting my time so that I could walk in obedience to Him as well as take care of all my other responsibilities.

Eventually I obeyed, but not wholeheartedly. My problem wasn’t that I did not want to know God better through prayer and His Word. My problem was that I believed I could manage the time in my day better than He could. I believed the lie that told me I was in control, arranged my day, and accomplished much. The lie told me I did not need God for the little details of my day-to-day living. The lie told me I did not need to tithe the first fruits of my day to God. The lie, lied.

Like the Amorite armies were defeated, eventually so was my lie.

Over the last decade I have learned like Joshua, to call on God and ask Him to “let the sun and moon stand still” so that I can accomplish what He has ordained for me to do. It is my desire to be at peace with His timing and not to complete my checklist.

Do I believe He has held time in His hands for me? Yes I do. How can that be? He is God, the great I AM, and the Creator of time. I am just a little “i am not” enjoying the story of God one day at a time.

When you need more time, will you ask God for it? Will you trust Him to hold your time in His nailed-scarred hands?

Dear Lord, help me know You are good and that I can trust You. Remind me today that my time is in Your hands. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Painting Cookies

BB brought all the supplies for us to paint cookies this afternoon. (Can you tell she was a kindergarten teacher for 15 years?) Who ever knew you could paint cookies? What a fantastic idea!

It would be an understatement to say Carter enjoyed this little craft, and we all enjoyed tasting the final product :) So yummy and so very, very fun.

Gotta make sure they are tasting okay.

If you aren't going to let me paint, you can at least let me eat!

Carter got fixated on this cross. I think he painted this one cookie for 30 minutes.

Thank you, BB, for such a fun afternoon. We love you!

An Eggstra Fun Afternoon

Please excuse the terribly cheesy title...I couldn't help myself.

Carter and I decided to dye Easter eggs one afternoon while Coop was napping. Super fun! Here we are boiling the eggs. We only did two for simplicity's sake :)

Reading the directions to Mama

Carter decided on green dye for these two eggs....great choice in my opinion.

Here goes the white egg into the green dye

And we wait....

And wait....

And wait..... :)

It's done....and drying....wait some more.

All dry! Now it's time for the fun part....decorations.

The final product....very proud. Can you tell?

Glorious Easter eggs

Some more front porch pics for Mama's sake. I have to say that they are very cooperative. I think they know it makes me really happy when they let me take pictures.

LOOK AT OUR NEW SWING SET!!!!! Wooooo Hooooooo!

I am super super super excited about it. This thing is going to make my spring and summer so much easier.

Thank you, Joel, for buying this for us! Thank you, PawPaw and BB for helping us put it together. Couldn't have done it without you!

Carter loves to say, "Ready, Set, GO!"