Allelujah!

The Lenten season and Easter is always such a powerful and emotional time for me. It is so moving and amazing to think of all that Christ suffered for us. For me, a sinner. Then the joy of Easter. Being given the assurance that one day I will rise to be with Him.

We started off our celebration of this amazing event at church today. Our church has a early sunrise service (6am). No we didn't make it up that early, but some year it might be fun to go. We made to church around 8:00 for the Easter breakfast followed by the 9:00 church service. Pastor had a great sermon and the choir added some beautiful music. After church we had our first egg hunt. Nick was one of the organizers so he, and some volunteers, hid about 2,000 eggs. Our church is located on a few acres with big oak trees so it was the perfect spot for the egg hunt. Both girls got plenty of eggs. Although Faith had trouble spotting them. I think she even stepped on one before she saw it. I think she was a bit distracted by all the other kids running around. After church we headed over to Chuck and Jo Ann's for a delicious lunch. The girls had another egg hunt in the house there. They certainly got plenty of Easter goodies! We had a nice quiet day visiting. Nick's aunt Elizabeth was able to join us in the afternoon. The girls always enjoy time with her.

Aunt E of course brought a little treat for the girls and read them Peter Rabbit. She is a former teacher and always has something special planned for the girls when she sees them.

Grandpa and Grandma and two of the granddaughters.


Our family all dressed up.

Checking out the goodies from the egg hunt at Grandpa and Grandma's house.

Faith on the hunt.

We got the girls a few things this morning too. I found this basketball in the girls' favorite colors (of course pink and purple). I think dad is looking forward to playing with them this summer.

The Country Life

We felt it was finally time for us to get some farm animals at our place so last week we got nine chicks. To my relief they are all still alive and doing well. Currently they live in the garage. The girls are having a great time holding them and helping to care for them. Honestly I am having a great time too! I realized that I missed having animals around the place. I'm sure as they get bigger the excitment will wear off and it might be a pain when we want to travel, but it brings back memories of having chickens when I was a kid. Back then we butchered our chickens, but we have decided to take a different route and have laying hens for eggs. I know more about butchering then the laying hens, but I guess we will learn along the way. We are also considering getting a rabbit. My dad has fixed up my old bunny hutch and we have been frequenting the pet store so another addition to the farm may be in our future.

Faith by the chicks.

Our little chicks! So cute although they are already starting to get a few feathers. They grow so quickly.

Home Improvement

We recently did some work on the house. This winter we had the wood floor in our kitchen refinished. We were also able to get a new fridge. It is sure nice to have one that isn't falling apart. The bottom shelf was broken almost in half. I had to hold up that shelf every time I wanted to open or close one of the veggie drawers. I'm sure the new one is also much more efficient!

Nick took on the project of installing a new kitchen light over the table. I was very happy to see the old tacky one go!

The biggest change to me is the new carpet. We put new carpet in all the rooms upstairs (expect for kitchen and bathrooms of course:) It is so nice to have all the same color upstairs and not a different odd color in each room! Maybe in a few years we can get new carpet downstairs too!

Another shot of the new carpet before the furniture got moved in. The girls were running a farm with dad's old tractors and animals.