Happy Easter

This Easter has been so special... Kaitlyn is old enough that we are able to try to explain why we celebrate Easter, and what it means. It's so hard consider all the knowledge that we take for granted. Even having to explain that Jesus raising from the dead was special because no one else does that (I didn't want to complicate it by bringing up Lazarus, etc...). I'm so glad that while we will do our absolute best to teach our kids all they need to know for life and godliness, their salvation doesn't rest on what we do or say. We pray every day for God to be moving in their hearts and drawing them unto Himself even from this young age.

The past few weeks since K's birthday have been quite eventful... My Mom had double knee replacement, so Rick's folks came here to stay with the kids so I could go to Ohio to help Mom. Mom is doing great, and I am so glad I was able to be there. That was the longest I'd ever been away from the kids, but they did very well for their Florida grandparents. I'm not sure who wore who out more though!

Then we spent a long weekend back in Atlanta... how wonderful that was. We hadn't been there since last summer! I so love to see Kaitlyn, and now Zach, playing with Isaac and Hannah. And those late night "tea chats" with Lori are priceless to me. We also got to go see the Atlanta Passion Play (atlantapassionplay.org) that we were involved in for a number of years. The Wilson's (recently moved from here) met us there, so it was good to spend some time with them. The play was excellent, as always. I always come away with a fresh perspective on some aspect of Christ's life. And getting to go backstage and see so many whom we love was just wonderful! And we got to see the Odom's and Cloer's on Sunday... Jerry led worship and Oh! Speechless! The choir did a terrific cantata on John 3:16. And Kaitlyn sat through it with us, and she enjoyed it too. I think almost as much as she enjoyed the mints that Nana gave her. I just enjoyed the whole weekend, especially watching Kaitlyn reconnect. She remembered everyone, even though it'd been so long since we'd last seen them. Good memories to build for her.

My joy from our trip to Atlanta was tempered by my return to JC knowing the Stalcups were gone. Back to Chicago. It's just so far!! I miss them already! Kaitlyn wants to know why we can't go have lunch with Abby and Matthew James. So I'm looking forward to our next trip to Ohio, because hopefully we can meet up with them then!

Zach has finally decided that walking is better than crawling, and he's really getting around well now. He even got into chasing Daddy around today while they were playing football. It won't be long until he'll figure out how to run! We had a full day with church, and big lunch with friends, and playing hard in the evening. Kaitlyn pooped out on the chair at one point, which was a mistake... she's just really not ready to give up those naps yet. Whew!!

I would be remiss if I did not mention how fabulous the Easter weekend was here in JC. Our church service Friday night was so moving, and really prepared our hearts for the joy of Sunday. Reggie's sermon this morning was the clearest I've ever heard the gospel presented for non-believers, from start to finish, from need to provision, simply, clearly and without all the "Christian-ese" language it's so easy for us to fall back on. I pray many were saved, and perhaps many more who may listen online!

And now for a couple pics...

I don't know why I bother getting "real" clothes for Kaitlyn. All she wants to wear is her dress-up stuff. But at least in winter, she's got to have something on underneath to keep warm. Gotta love the look!

And here's our big 18 month old. I can't believe he's already a year and a half old!! And he's such a cutie and a flirt!