Christ Is Risen! Alleluia!

May the resurrection of Jesus bring you joy and hope today and always.
R, J, N, J,G and M.


"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead" 1 Peter 1:3

Color Failure

We attempted to color the eggs. The store was out of dye, so I used the food coloring we had at home....weak! It was all natural coloring. Mixed with hot h20 and vinegar. Got lousy results. Ah, well.

Yes or No: Coloring Eggs

Well, tomorrow is Easter Sunday. Again, I just have the older guys with me, and I'm not sure what to do about the eggs. I don't think they'll care one way or another. In fact N. specifically asked if we could do them NEXT weekend when the littles return. BUT--that's just wrong. A) Poor G. can't eat eggs. B) It's just wrong!

So what do we do? Do I really want to do all that messy dye stuff? It's a hassle. They don't seem to care. But, to be honest, I care. I LOVE colored Easter eggs. I don't want just plain boiled ones either. I love the festive colors. Does it have ANYthing to do with the Resurrection of Jesus? Nope. But I just love those colored eggs.

Hmmm.....

Florida Fun!

We're loving our relaxing time here in Florida. On day #1 we spent the afternoon in Opa's boat, lazily going down the St. Mark River. We spied numerous turtles and a baby alligator! J was not thrilled....where there's a baby, there's a momma! :-)




I love how our kids just feel so relaxed with any of their grandparents, aunts and uncles. It's like no time has passed and they just feel instantly comfortable with them. That's why I LOVE this picture of Aunt Gigi and Gabe.

Shan Yu

Here's a Picture of Shan Yu in action.

Sweet Surprise

So, what was my son doing while he was left all alone in my office while I was in a meeting last night? Apparently, he was making me the sweetest card in the WORLD! It was sitting on my desk this morning:

"My Dad is the Best (lots of underlines) by J."
(Inside) Lots of hearts and in the big one in the middle: "Dad rocks the world."

Wow. It's an amazing feeling to be so loved when I deserve it so little.

Please Pray For J.

J. is having a tough time with her heart in FL and is exhausted. Please pray for her that she will be strong and stable enough to enjoy the time with her family.

Easier With Two

:-) So the older two boys and I were ready for the day in.....20 minutes this morning. That simply does not happen when the whole crew is here. Also, the one who normally needs to get a step by step reminder of all that he needs to do--made his own lunch and everything without being asked, pestered etc.

Works wonders, I guess to remove the distractions of little siblings. But they are clearly missed. :-)

Mr. Fix-it?!

Those of you who have followed this blog for a while, or who know me fairly well know that me and handiman projects don't mix very well. So.......I'm here to report a modestly successful adventure.

We were getting an error message on our washing machine. (Within two months after the initial repair contract expired. :-)) I spent a little time on-line and discovered two possible solutions. It became apparent that the solution would be the one involving me opening up the machine and fishing around inside. right.

Well, thankfully, someone put a diagram up. helpful. Simple. Three well hidden screws and the front panel would slide right off. Except that they weren't screw heads. I tried to twist them off with pliers, but I just could not get any traction. So I went to my socket set. I found the right fit, but I was missing the in-between piece to connect the socket and the wrench-part. (See, I don't even know what these things are called.) Off to the hard-ware store with socket pieces in hand. I did find what I needed and it worked! I had to prop the whole machine up on a brick to get at the screws and slide the cover off. Then I had to unscrew the drain plug. Here, I stupidly forgot what a drain plug plugs, namely: WATER. Lots and lots of water, now pouring all over the floor. Ah well. It eventually slowed to a trickle and then a full stop. I slid out the drain filter and voila! and ewwwww. A few people had discovered socks in theirs. (improbably--really don't know how ANYthing makes it into that.) What did I discover?

Well, first let me say that my wife was embarrassed that I'd post this, fearing it reflected badly on her. But I assured her that it did not. After-all, I do a good percentage of the laundry myself, and the tiny offending items are easily missed among the mountains of laundry we do each week. Well, the problem was quickly apparent. Tangled in a sopping ball of matted lint I found:

3 rubber bands.

11 Paper clips.

1 button.

1 toy magnet.

9 separate pencil stubs and various broken bits. (yes. nine distinct, tiny pieces with sharpened points.)

1 zipper.

1 small Lego piece.

and 94 cents.

1/2 and 1/2

So this morning, J flew with M. and G. to her parents' house in Florida. They went down to celebrate my mother-in-law's b-day in a couple days and to (hopefully) catch some rays. I'm here with the older two. It's a bit of a busy week up here, being Holy Week and all. The poor boys will be up at the church building with me for 5 of the 8 nights we're together, but I think we'll still be able to carve out some good time together. We're looking forward to it.

It is strange how QUIET this place is with half of us gone. wow.

Mulan!

We've enjoyed a very busy weekend here as N joined his cast in a fantastic production of Mulan! Four performances in two days after a week of dress rehearsals left all of us wiped, but it was worth it. This was definitely N's best performance yet!

Here's the whole cast...fantastic costumes and sets!