Easter 2017

For Lent , I gave up the daily Social Media that was taking up too much time and focus including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter . At first it was uncomfortable and I felt very disconnected. Then I saw the value and felt better probably since I'm an introvert and fewer closer people in my life is where I thrive in relationships .  I haven't decided whether I'll delete the accounts or just heavily narrow what I follow, who I friend and what groups I join. I've read books, worked on projects ,  reached out to those people I love and yet don't see regularly otherwise. I still see value in the idea itself of encouragement , support, prayers and sharing Jesus with people I know don't have a relationship with Him. 

For the kids, we've been going through the stories of Jesus' life. 

We have our growing collection of Easter
 Books, as well as Resurrections Eggs, the Jelly Bean Prayer we do through out the season and various Resurrection centered  children's videos . We also added the The Easter Story Nesting Eggs this year as well. Our small group played Easter Bingo, made clay crosses and made Resurrection rolls. We had family in that weekend but did these during Holy Week. 

 

Easter decorations: 

 

Easter Egg Hunt in our neighborhood: 

 
 

 
 

Easter morning church service: 

Preparing our dinner table to have family over for Easter dinner. 

 

 
 

Levi turns 3

Levi's favorite show is Little Einsteins. He would watch it all day every day if I let him. I ran with that for the heme for his birthday party. It was a bit tricky since the show and merchandise is discontinued. I was able to find napkins and cupcake icing sheets and rings, I made everything else with my Cameo Silhouette and mixed in the colors. 

I made stations in the backyard to go with the show: 

 

And a couple of stations just for fun. Although I didn't think batteries for the bubble blower  , haha
 

 

 We love our outgoing huge vocabulary happy, thoughtful, handsome boy. At his 3 year check up he weighed 29.6 pounds and he's 38" tall. He's shown no serious interest in potty training and we've discovered he has some pretty serious seasonal allergies. He wears size 3 shirts, 2 in pants and still takes a good afternoon nap. 

 

 
 
 

 

N & P, Day 5

Tuesday, we took the boys out to the local children's home. I started this blog as a way to process and document our journey to building a family . We spent 3 years in limbo with miscarriages, failed adoptions attempts and more fertility and pregnancy tests than j care to own up to. 

NMCCH is who we filled in pages upon pages of referrals, backgrounds, history, profiles with. Billy and his family have been involved with this ministry since its inception. Explaining to Matthew where we were going, who lived there and why chocked me up . 

They gave us and he kids a full tour including offices, learning center and let the kids play on the playground for a while. 

On our way back to their house, we drove by a modest farm where my father in law gee up with his two brothers . 

After quiet time, it began to pour which is rare in the NM valley. The streets flooded fast, so we rented a few movies for the kids. 

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After their dinner and baths, we got them to bed and then Billy and I went to Cattle Baron's for dinner while Nana sat with the kids. Papa took food to Billy's cousins because the funeral was the next day for their mother. 

N & P, Day 4 Labor Day

I'm kind of infatuated with small town life. The slower pace, the focus on simpler, classic, timeless experiences and traditions. No rat race, climbing ladders or agendas. Ironically since Billy was born and raised in one, he's been there/ done that and isn't interested in going back. 

This morning after breakfast, the guys and I all headed to the state park for kite flying, hiking and park playing. The atmosphere was southwest and beautiful. 

After a great cook out and naps, the boys had watermelon in the backyard. It was a classic Labor Day weekend and I loved it! 

Between playing with toys friends of my inlaws loaned us for the week, the boys wanted to shuck corn with Papa. 

Yes, many places were closed yesterday and today in a small town. And that was ok. 

N & P, Day 3

Papa took the boys for a walk while we got ready for church after his prayer meeting. 

We played on the church playground as we somehow got there early. 

Morning church: 

Hearing Rick Atchley preach again was a flood of memories . His church is where I really found God, got baptized and learned that there really were people out there wanting to be like Jesus. People who wanted to be different than this world and to reflect that in their speech, attitudes, actions and money. I could write posts upon posts about how Jesus met and changed me and it's the best thing that ever happened in my life and worth everything I gave up before. 

After lunch and quiet time for the boys , we tried a splash pad and snow cones but both were closed. Small town life ;-) 

We took them to a nearby park, then went to the visitation for Billy's ain't who passed the day we arrived in town. We came home to play with toys loaned to my inlaws, had dinner and watched a video.

N&P, day 2

The boys woke up at their regular 7 am DFW time, which is 6 am NM time. We fed breakfast, picked fresh tomatoes, squash and cucumbers from their garden 

and then headed to the zoo. 

We played in the backyard, 

fed lunch, the boys had quiet time and then we headed to the park 

Then we went to a child hood friend of Billy's store opening and got photos with super hero characters: 

We chilled out with a new video I picked up of Charlotte's Web after dinner and then baths and bed time. 

Nana and Papa

Billy's parents have been great the last 4 years to travel 430 miles one way every 2-3 months to come visit us and Billy's brother in the Dallas area. We've had ASD issues to learn to manage and adding our third little guy. 

For Labor Day weekend, we felt we were ready to make the trip. My inlaws live in a small town of about 17,000 people.  The time spent and activities done have a hometown, simpler slow down times to them. It's not extravagant, expensive or new. 

We packed oh so much food since they don't have a specialty health food store and we couldn't garauntee access to gluten/ dairy free foods. 

We left Friday morning after breakfast and made better time (8 1/2 hours) then the last trip 4 years ago (11hours) with minimal whining or complaining. Tablets with videos and games loaded helped lots, plus snacks , silly songs, car games and small cat naps. 

When we arrived , hugs all around with some running and playing to get energy out before bed time. 

At bed time, our older two boys shared a bed and room for the first time. They were almost as excited as the two year old in a big full size bed. 

Successful travel day, ya!