Happy Birthday, Bro! :)

Today is my brother's 11th birthday. It's a little hard to believe he is already that old! I know it sounds kind of funny, but it makes me feel old!

Liam was my playmate when we were young, and now that we are older, he is one of my best buddies! We have always been very close, and I thank God for giving me a brother.

this is an old picture...he looks so little! 

He was like 7 or 8 here. He sure has grown up! :)

 

 If you know my brother, you know that he is very...funny. He's always cracking jokes and talking in an Australian and British accent. Someone recently told me that they thought Liam was so funny and it must be fun to live with him. And it is. He sure keeps me laughing!

Liam loves to be the clown. My mom has had to remind him many times to be quiet while we're doing school. :)

Liam is also very compassionate, and always has been. He has a kind heart and desires to please God. He has said for a few years he thinks that he might want to be a pastor when he grows up. And I think he'd make a great pastor!

 And for old time's sake...this is a picture of of me and Liam during our Germany days. :)

Happy Birthday, Liam! I love you. A lot. :)

Summer Pics (Part 1)

Hey, guys! How has your summer been so far? Ours has been good, but busy!

We have been enjoying the pool, a lighter schoolwork load (we are mostly doing just math and science), being able to wear shorts and t-shirts again and playing outside (even though we can only be out there for about 15-20 minutes before running back into the air conditioned house :) ).

just chillin'....

pretty Dresden :)

I love the little flowers all around, just beginning to bloom.

 

    And this...is the product of a little baking project I conducted for Dresden yesterday afternoon. As you can probably tell, the right half was Liam's area to decorate, and the left, the girls'. The beautiful icing designs were the artwork of Liam and Dresden...okay, I helped a little bit! 

I think we should go into the business of making and decorating cakes, don't you? ;)

So that has mostly been our summer so far in pictures; I am so glad to be holding the camera again, capturing the little moments of our everyday life, as I haven't had the time for several weeks to take pictures and have missed it. 

I hope you all are having a great summer as well! Stay cool and Happy Saturday! :)

Easter Festivities and Pictures

The sign on our front door.

Yes, I'm back.  And yes, I am going to be sharing some of the Easter festivities going on at my house right now, as well as a few pictures. And by a few, I mean a lot. :)

-Yesterday evening, my mom took us to a park that she discovered recently that is really close to our house. It was a beautiful evening and I took a lot of pictures, as you will soon see.

Yo, peace, man!

Aha! I caught you, bird!

:D

They forget that the camera has really good zoom and that I can be as silent as a mouse and as quick as a deer and have been known to hide behind trees and bushes, camera poised and ready, waiting for the perfect shot. And...I got them. *evil chuckle*

frolicking through the lush meadow...

"Fine! If you smile for the camera and cooperate, then I'll take a silly picture."

-I watched The Passion with my parents, brother, and grandparents last night. And wow. It made me really think about why Jesus did what He did and how much He loves me in a way I had never thought about before. Seeing how the people treated Him; mocking Him, spitting on Him, and digging a crown of thorns into His scalp was so painful and hard to watch.
And then when Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do", I cried because He was asking God to please, please forgive those who were crucifying Him when we so often do not want to forgive the ones who hurt us.
It was an extremely hard movie to watch, but it sort of wakes you up, makes you think about what really happened that day. We are so used to the children's story book version of the crucifixion of Christ that we sometimes forget how awful and yet wonderful at the same time it was. I recommend The Passion for all Christians to see; it is very thought provoking.

 -In the middle of the night last night, some teenagers apparently thought it would be fun to egg our house. Needless to say, we were not thrilled, especially my mom. *sigh* And my question is: why? Why is that fun?


-This morning, we went to the office of the apartments where our grandparents live because there was an Easter egg hunt there. They served coffee, doughnuts, juice, candy, and cupcakes. Liam, Dresden, and Megan had a lot of fun running around frantically, looking for Easter eggs. It was fun to watch them. I, being too old for the hunt, mostly just observed and ate. :)
I didn't bring the camera, so there are no pictures of that part of our weekend.

 -Earlier today the annual Coloring of the Eggs took place. :)

What is with the peace thing all of a sudden, Liam?!

-We have a white, cardboard cross that we have put in our yard in the days leading up to Easter for two years now.

Before Easter, the cross looks like this:

On Easter morning, which would be tomorrow, we turn the cross around so that it faces the street, and it reads:

How true!
 It is so great to be able to say these happy words: He is Risen!
Happy Easter!

Good Friday...and what a good Friday it was!

Dresden and her sweet friend, Grace.

 A family in our homeschool group's neighbor owns a small horse ranch in the country, so yesterday our homeschool group got to spend a fun afternoon at the ranch learning about horses and even riding one of the older, calmer ones. Dresden loves horses, so she was very excited!

I snapped a quick picture of little Georgia. :)

Joey, a very, very large horse. He.was.big.

Joker, the 27-year-old horse...he was a lot calmer than Joey and was more well trained.

Cheryl and Lily, who will be 2 this month. She is named Lily because she was born on Easter, so she's an Easter lily. :)

Georgia and one of the friendly barn cats.

I took a lot of pictures of this pond. Nature is one of my favorite photo subjects, because it always stays still. :)

Grace found two very long dandelions. :)

I love Spring!

Dresden, brushing the horse.

Megan got to brush, too!

You might have to tilt your head to see this better; I couldn't figure out how to put this right side up and it was the only close up of Dresden on the horse!

Cheryl walked beside each child that rode and talked to them; Dresden loved it!

Liam

Megan wanted to ride, but she got scared so Cheryl rode with her; poor Joker was so patient and gentle and just stood there while kids who are not experienced riders got on and off, on and off of him; he was a great horse for children to ride.

Even I got a turn to ride! The kids lined up youngest to oldest, so I was the last one except for a few kids who stepped out of line who went after me.

It was a very fun day and I learned a lot about horses that I didn't know before. Cheryl was great with the kids and really loved working with the horses. We all had a great time. Yay for homeschool field trips!

Today is Good Friday, as I'm sure most of you know. I always feel kind of sad on this day because it makes me think about what Christ went through when He died on that cross all those years ago to pay for the sins of me, you, and so many more.
And tonight I'm going to experience all of that in a more real way, because I will be watching The Passion with some of my family, a movie that realistically shows, as much as a movie can, all that Jesus went through that day. And to know that He could have stopped it with only one word, but He did not. That He loved us so much when we did not love Him, that He would die in such a terrible, terrible, way to save us. Knowing these things makes me so thankful and so undeserving. I can't really put it into words, so that is all I will say. I am grateful.

Yep. That's me...

What is this?! A picture of Liam where he is actually smiling and looking at the camera? Can it be?

I found this about why "Good Friday" is good, and thought it was well said.

Why is Good Friday referred to as “good”? What the Jewish authorities and Romans did to Jesus was definitely not good (see Matthew chapters 26-27). However, the results of Christ’s death are very good! Romans 5:8; “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” First Peter 3:18 tells us, “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit.”

Many Christian churches celebrate Good Friday with a subdued service, usually in the evening, in which Christ’s death is remembered with solemn hymns, prayers of thanksgiving, a message centered on Christ suffering for our sakes, and observance of the Lord's Supper. Whether or not Christians choose to “celebrate” Good Friday, the events of that day should be ever on our minds because the death of Christ on the cross is the paramount event of the Christian faith.

Even though this day is always a bitter-sweet day for Christians, we have joy because we know that that was not the end. Oh no! It was only the beginning. But we're not quite there yet...that story was saved for another day...

Have a Good Friday. (ha, ha!)