Easter

We had a great weekend with family visiting. My mother-in-law, sister-in-law, and niece Ciera came Thursday night and stayed until yesterday. It was so much fun! Jonah LOVED spending time with them. He is really a family boy. He is constantly talking about all of his aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. We stayed busy this weekend. The girls did lots of shopping on Friday! We hit the mall and almost every other store I can think of here! You could sense sort of a panic at the stores, particularly among teenage girls and their moms, because the impending cold weather was doing a lot of damage to a lot of people's Easter outfit choices! Jonah had a cute little outfit, but it was shorts, so he couldn't wear it this week....since it was SNOWING Easter weekend!!! I still can't believe it! But we all went to my aunt Joy's in Athens for a family Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning. A lot of family came from Lufkin and Houston for that, and it was fun. Even though the hunt had to be inside because of the snow. Jonah really got the hang of finding eggs. I'm sure we'll be hunting eggs around our house for quite a while! Joy did a marvelous job of putting on a fun Easter party.

Then, on Saturday, I drove to Keller for a few hours to go to Lizzy's baby shower. It was really great seeing my college girlfriends....a couple of them I hadn't seen in almost three years! I felt like we had all changed in a bunch of ways, but we still had fun and laughed together and were silly just like we always had. I was glad to still feel that bond. In some ways, I didn't expect it because it had been so long and some of us hadn't kept in touch that well, but it was so good and felt a lot like old times. Lizzy looked adorably pregnant....she's having a girl, and it was fun to celebrate with her. Except it made me really sad that she lives in Orlando now....I need her to be closer so I can see that baby more! I mistakenly left my camera in Athens, so a bunch of them took pictures and promised to email them to me. Once that happens, I'll post some. After the shower, I swung by the hospital to see my friend Kelli, who had her sweet baby boy, Campbell, on Friday. She looked and seemed great, and the baby is doing so well. He had the most STYLIN hair I've ever seen on a newborn! Seriously, his thick medium brown-colored hair looked like it had blond-highlighted tips! It was so gorgeous! And spikey in all the right places. He'll be a heartbreaker, no doubt. =) I hated that I only had a few minutes with them....I wanted to love on him longer. But I will definitely be making another trip up there soon to do that. Not REAL soon. If you haven't noticed, I've been quite the traveling girl lately. And while I LOVE it, I must admit that it feels good to be home for a while. April will be a little bit slower. Now that Jonah has been back home and somewhat in his normal routine again, he's been acting much better. It's just hard for me to be consistent with responding to his issues when we're traveling, and he knows it. But now we're back home, and he's not winning anymore. yay! He's so funny. He just keeps me laughing a lot. Right now, he's playing with my toes as I type. Weird, huh. I know. I'm awestruck that he is 22 months old today! This means some serious party-planning needs to begin. I'm going to do a zoo-animal themed party this year, since he loves them so much. I have ideas for decorations, cake, party favors, etc. - but none for any games or activities if I decide to also invite little ones, besides family. I'm open to any ideas anybody might have!!!

I loved Easter at our new church. The truth that kept going through my mind all weekend was what a gift it is that because of the cross, not only do we find salvation, but we also get to have a new way to live that brings joy, true contentment and peace even in the midst of hard circumstances. If it weren't for Easter, that wouldn't be possible. And I am oh so glad it is!