Resurrection Day!

I just looked back at last years post from Easter. I had to laugh....Charlotte was soooo little & looks totally different : ) 1 year makes quite the difference! Next years pictures will include two little bitty Valentine girls (and no pregnant belly... unless the Lord decides to surprise us).

Robby was out of town until Friday night & I had my mom in from Kingwood to join in the fun of taking care of Charlotte, Bennett & Bella. She & I took Charlotte to the Maundy Thursday service with Celebration Community Church. We met at an outdoor pavilion in Celebration & had perfect weather. There was a little breeze that we all enjoyed as we are headed into the HOT summer here. This was one of the first hour long services that Charlotte has been with me & it was a challenge! She did great until her snacks ran out then she got a little crazy. We did some walking & then would return to listen to Gregg speak for a few more minutes. It is SO easy to be frustrated with not being able to fully pay attention with the responsibility of caring for a little one. I do have to remind myself that the phase we are in is very short in the long run & that right now, it is important to love Charlotte by helping her learn how to sit still & listen to someone as they teach us about Jesus. She did not have any problem during the music because she absolutely loves Luke who leads our worship team. She would point at him & clap (even if no one else was clapping) & enjoyed bobbing her head to the music.

Even with the distraction, the service was wonderful. We sang a favorite song of mine called How Deep the Father's Love For Us. God continually uses these lyrics to reach into my heart & remind me of how great the sacrifice for my sin really was & how deeply I am loved by Jesus. This service has only had about 20-30 people each year for the past 3 years which really surprises me. It is such an important time to prepare my heart to accurately reflect on the death of Jesus. I do pray that more people will join us in the coming years.

Robby got home late Friday night & it was great to see him! We spent all of Saturday as family & really enjoyed some relaxing. Throughout the day I was so thankful for the conversations we were having. It was mostly sharing things we had learned in reading over the previous week & brainstorming ideas about how to teach Charlotte about the death & resurrection of Christ.

Sunday morning, we headed to church at CCC & got to serve in the nursery. It was busy & entertaining, as usual : )

Here are a few pictures:

The fam.....with the growing belly!

Char & Mommy

Daddy & Char

Sweet Charlotte Grace

We have been reading Charlotte's bible with her in the evening and had gone from Jesus riding into town on a donkey through his Crucifixion. There was a picture of him on the cross where you could just see his feet & Mary was crying & holding onto the base of the cross. Charlotte could not get past the page! It said, "the people who loved Jesus were very sad." She kept touching her face where tears would go & saying "uh, uh, uh" in a really sad voice, with an extremely sad face. It was exciting to read the story of his resurrection & say, "Jesus has risen! He is alive !" We pray that the Lord would help her grasp whatever she can of what we are teaching her & that it would be the beginning of a strong foundation. It will be neat to see the change in her awareness & understanding from this year to next year as she is able to communicate more clearly with us.

As far as how adorable we thought she looked, we loved her sweet little dress! I got some beautiful hand me down clothes from a friend at work that has 2 girls so this dress was in Charlotte's size & Karis's size! We decided to dress them alike.....they were too cute but were difficult to photograph together : ) I decided to add in a family photo of Rob's brother Steve, his wife Jenny & Karis.

Celebrating that Jesus has risen & is alive doesn't have to be celebrated only on this weekend each year. I am praying that I would recognize daily that He has overcome sin & death, He is ALIVE & is the reigning King over all creation for now & forever! What comfort to believe that as we face each day of our lives.