Library Concert

Yesterday the library hosted a special concert featuring fun music, snacks, and time to make a craft. You were both a little more hesitant than when we go to regular Toddler Time (you kept asking for Ms. Shannon and were confused why she wasn't running the concert!), but warmed up in time to enjoy some snacks and make your own musical instrument.

Afterwards, we headed to the park to soak up the beautiful day. It was a great way to kickoff our spring break!

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Week: Happy Easter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

Easter Week: Day 4

Today was spent at Grandpa and Grandma Karen's house. A backyard filled with little boys, giggles, and fun times. What a beautiful day and wonderful way to spend our Easter Eve!

  

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Easter Week: Day 3

Easter Week: Day 2

What a full and busy day we had. As do most of our Tuesdays, we began our day at the library. It's official. You both have complete crushes on our sweet Ms. Shannon. Your eyes light up when I say we're going to the library, and you both ask, "Sha-shan?" As we walked into the library, there she was, walking towards you. You both went running to wave and say hi.

Not only did you get to see Ms. Shannon (who read a lot of fun Easter books), but Paka and Zsu Zsu surprised us by joining us too!

From there, it was off to McDonalds for some breakfast and your first time playing in the play zone (to which your daddy responded, "Did you wash their hands??" He loves you dearly and is so protective of you, little boys!)

After our morning, we headed home for some more Easter crafts (we made circle prints by dipping Easter eggs into paint).

While on our afternoon walk, we got a phone call from Paka, telling us to head over to their house - they had a surprise for you! Set up in the garage, was your own personal, Thomas the train ride.

What a busy, playful day!

Easter Week: Day 1

While Christmas is, without a doubt, my favorite holiday and time of the year, Easter is definitely the most important holiday we celebrate. I love that Easter falls around the same time as spring begins to bloom because of what both represent. Easter is what our faith and our belief is built on. Without Easter, and the resurrection of Christ, we would not have the hope and promise of eternity. I claim to understand the power of this holiday, but in reality, my human brain cannot comprehend the power of it all. I cannot understand how a man would send His only son to die for each of us. And not just any death, but a horrible, violent death. Since becoming a mother, this has only become more difficult for me to imagine. How much must God love of us all, to make such a sacrifice? It is such an overwhelmingly powerful thought.

I know this is all still far from your realm of understanding. So, we are celebrating the holiday all week in toddler terms because I know every small thing we do is shaping your foundation...even if that means we hide Easter eggs and do Easter crafts. We pray it is these small moments that begin to build your roots and your foundation in your love for Christ.

You both have such a passion for letters right now and I'm absolutely blown away by how many letters you each know already. I hadn't planned on really focusing on learning our letters until you were about 3 years old. However, I wanted to begin exposing you to letters early on - and with that exposure we found, you love your letters! So, who am I to stand in the way of something you've shown such an interest in... especially something as great as letters! Driving in the car has become very entertaining as we hear shouts from the backseat, "A! Two As! R! W! E," and the list goes on.

So, sticking with something that I know you're both passionate about, for the past week, we have been "dotting" letters. Using your dot markers, you hunt for the letters in the Easter egg. I didn't know if you'd be ready for this, but you did both of these by yourselves and love shouting the letter as you "dot" each one. I'd say you got it down!

Today, we also painted a paper "E-e egg (Easter egg)." 

Once daddy got home, we showed off how well we've mastered our colors by going on an Easter egg hunt. Wiley, you were hunting blue and yellow eggs; Ryan had orange and green. This was a HUGE hit!! You were squealing with joy just waiting while we hid the Easter eggs. Daddy and I were both impressed that you seemed to know just what to do without much instruction (this was your first time every hunting Easter eggs). You both kept saying, "hide and seek, Easter eggs!" Being that hide-and-seek is one of your favorite games, it makes sense that you'd be so great at spotting the Easter eggs. My favorite is when you'd find your brother's color - instead of sneaking it into your own basket, you would run it to him, making sure neither of you missed any eggs.

 

 

 

 

 

What a fun start to our Easter celebration!

Let Faith Arise

When I first began writing to you, it was my therapy. It was evidence of my faith that I knew one day you would exist, no matter how difficult and dark the journey to get to you might become.

Recently, it has served as a memory-keeper, a way for me to document our lives so that one day, we will be able to remember all of these wonderful, small moments.

Our "Let faith arise" theme is now even bigger than what it first began - which was our hope that our faith would lead to you, a child / children. As our lives seem to be on the verge of yet another journey, we again hold on to our faith knowing God has everything in His hands. In the moment of any challenge / new adventure, it is sometimes difficult to see past what's right in front of us. It is difficult to see past what seems like the black and white facts. We don't have the big picture though that God already has which is why we trust Him! We must have faith and know completely that God knows exactly what He's doing and where our lives are headed.

There seem to be so many possibilities, and yet so many unknowns for our family in the very near future. And while we don't know the details yet, we are choosing to let our faith guide our decisions.

I was offered a special position on my school's administration / leadership team yesterday. And while this has always been a dream of mine, it means my part-time position will no longer exist next year. So, my options are: back to work full-time and putting you boys in the care of someone else, doing what I've always dreamed of career-wise or staying-at-home full time, doing what I've always dreamed of personally.

Following my heart, this would be such an easy decision - I have years to develop my career. I only a precious few more years with you boys until you go off to school yourself. However, financially, this part-time job provided just the perfect amount of income to help us out.

I was at war with myself all day yesterday - I could not escape the thoughts running through my head. One minute I was convinced I would stay-at-home, the next absolutely sure that I needed to take this job to help provide for our family. Together, the three of us took a nice long walk with God! We sang and prayed to my Let Faith Arise playlist asking God to guide our decision and to calm our souls and minds with this choice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, we are approaching this decision like any other we have made in our lives - praying and trusting that we are following God's lead and that He will continue to provide for our family.