I Love Easter for Sentimental Reasons

Easter is my favorite holiday, and I'm pretty sure it always has been.  As a kid I felt like everyone had Christmas, but Easter was just for me.  My parents used to make baskets for each of us kids and hide them around the house.  When we woke up in the morning there would be a trail of chocolate eggs, a different color for each kid, starting at our pillows and ending at our baskets.  This is one of my most exciting memories as a kid and a tradition I can't wait to continue with Little.





I'm sure a big part of why I love Easter so much is because I love spring.  I love how it feels to walk out into the warm spring air after the snow melts, and feel like it's the first time I've ever had sun on my face.  I love taking off my shoes for the first time and feeling the mud squish between my toes.  I love the tiny green buds of leaves and the smell of wet grass, the tulips and daffodils showing off the first colors of the year.





Easter is a day filled with love, for me.  I get to be with my family, without obligations or distractions, knowing that at that moment there is nothing more important to do than to simply be at peace with them.  I don't have to do anything but let the joy of my family fill my heart.  At church, everyone is rejoicing and thanking God for his love and his salvation.  Easter is the one day out of the year that I never question God's love or faithfulness. 

 



This year, Easter was a day for a quiet drive through sleepy suburban streets, teaching Little to smell the flowers, picnicking by the river, and playing with blocks with the spring air blowing through the house.

Easter was a day for peace.






 

Happy Birthday to Me.

My Birthday:
Day before: watch Outsourced (the movie) and eat Afghan take-out with dear husband. do whatever I want.
Day of:
6:30- wake-up and talk to my Dad. 
7:00- go back to sleep
9:30- wake up again. eat fruit-loops. do boring stuff. 
12:00 play with baby.  play with husband. eat ice cream.  do whatever I want.
2:00 feel sick.  take long nap.
5:00 wake up again feeling better.  eat ice cream. play with baby.
6:00 do boring stuff.
6:30 get coffee. walk to the river.  have a picnic. watch sunset.
7:30 eat ice cream.  greet husband. go home.
8:00 blog

It was a mostly awesome birthday.

Love of My Life

Do you ever suddenly realize something you should have probably known all along?  Something you always say, but you never really GET IT?  It happens a lot to me, because I have a hard time with clichés and over-used phrases, like "love of my life" or "Jesus loves you" or "for the rest of my life."  Last night, the phrase was "grow old together."
David and I have been together for a relatively short time, in the grand-scheme of things.  Next Monday, we will be celebrating three years together,  and we are only one month past our first wedding anniversary.  Veteran couples love to tell couples with fewer years under their belts, "Just wait" or "You haven't seen nothin' yet" as if saying your vows would bring on some form of punishment.   I shouldn't be too skeptical, because I might find myself saying that one day, too.  I know marriage is difficult.  I've gone through more changes in my first year than most couples go through in their first five.  But I would still rather spend every stressful day with David, than fuss and toil for my own selfish needs.
Since the day we were married, I have been more fulfilled, more confident, and more happy.  Everyday that we spend together tests us and makes us better people.  We may fight, but we always end up with a better understanding of each other.
I never really had a plan for my life.  I never thought I'd be married with a little girl, and I certainly never saw myself in a place like Virgina, and today I'm glad I never did.  You might call that following God's plan, but I think it's probably lack of foresight.  In my life I have very few plans, and they are to be a good mother, and to grow old with my husband.  If those things happen, I will die a very satisfied woman.

Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you feel loved today.

"This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
... God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.  There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..."
1 John 4

Since We've Been Gone

So, I was away from the blog world a little longer than I intended, but now I'm back and ready do dive back into writing!  I'm sure you're all over the Chtistmas/New Year posts, so I won't bore you with the details.  I know what you're really here for anyway, and it's not to read about my life.  You're really here to see the Little.  So here's what we did while we were away from Wiggle Wagon:

We visited Santa and the elves with our cousins.

Little learned how to sit so we could give her her first real bath.  Her favorite part about baths: making squeaky noises with her feet.

 

Grandpa had his traditional Christmas nap during present-opening.

 

Little opened her first presents

Cutest play-suit EVER from Miskabelly Vintage!

Little fought off all of the cousins to sit on Grandma's lap.

 

We visited Great-Grandma and Great Aunt Brenda in Ohio.

 

We mined for babies at the Natural History Museum.

 

We ate Krispy Kremes on the way to Mount Vernon.

 

Little sampled the wildlife at the Arboretum.

 

She tried on Mommy's gypsy hat.

 

And helped Mommy with the laundry.

Now you can continue with your life as usual.

Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving was nothing less than amazing.  It was our first Thanksgiving as a family an I cooked for hours.  We spent most the weekend rolling on the floor, watching movies and eating left-overs.

On the Menu:
Candied Walnut Gorgonzola Salad
Green Beans with Hazelnuts and Lemon
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Skillet Cornbread
UNBELEVIABLY delicious Cornish Game Hens
Pumpkin Pie

 

 

 

 

A Year of Blessings

On this day a year ago, David and I announced to our families that we would be having a little baby.  We were both nervous and somewhat frightened at the prospect of raising a baby when neither of us had a steady job.  We had no idea what path The Lord would take us on, where we would be or what we would be doing.  For all we knew, David would be working in a factory and me in a coffee shop and praying that we would have a can of beans to split between the two of us. 
Now I'm sitting in my home in Virginia, enjoying the few days of break that David has off from school, feeling very full from our first Thanksgiving meal together.  David is cleaning the kitchen while we sing "Alice's Restaurant" together and Little is sitting in her chair squealing, giggling, and whipping her rattle around. 
Today, I am thankful for a home, a family, a future, a husband who cleans the kitchen for me, a pumpkin pie I've yet to eat, and a healthy and giggly baby girl.  But more than anything, I'm thankful for a God who is faithful and loving, beyond any reasonable cause.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!