Easter Time

Happy Easter! Okay so it's a little late...buy you have three little children under the age of 5 and see how long it takes you to post something!! :) I load the pictures on one day and then several days later, get to the writing part of things!

Anyway, we had a wonderful day. It didn't turn out the way WE had wanted it to, but it still ended up being a beautiful Easter. Here's why:

We didn't go to church as a family...Mike had gone to the Easter Vigil to watch some friends receive their sacraments to become members of the Catholic faith on Saturday night, so I went to Sunday morning mass at 8am with Rebekah!

We didn't do an Easter Egg Hunt...we usually attend our friends hunt at their house but this year due to the snow on the ground the eggs couldn't be hidden outside. So they had to cancel it. It would have way too much to have that many children in their house hunting eggs.

We didn't make the kids their Easter Baskets, (er the Easter Bunny didn't)...with all of the illnesses, hospitalizations, new baby, tired mommy, inability to get out of the house and do any kind of sane shopping, and a serious lack of money due to the above...we just didn't get around to it. Plus, I have to admit, I knew they would be spoiled by their grandparents, (thank you Grammy, Grampy, Pepere, and Anne Marie).

They were also surprised by their Auntie Lee Anne and Uncle Pete who sent them a gluten free basket in the mail from a bakery in California. It had chocolate covered peeps, pretzels, and marshmallows. It also had two different kinds of flavored popcorn as well as some chocolate chip cookies. It even came with a little blue bunny and a plastic basket. Then their Auntie Lori and Uncle Dan gave them the ultimate treat...a large box of Junior Mints (for each of them), also known simply as Juniors. Ya, I don't think they noticed a lack of baskets from us!

What we did do...we had a terrific tasting gluten free coffee cake (Gluten Free Pantry Coffee Cake Mix) with the kids, followed by a fantastic meal as a family with Grammy, Grampy, Auntie Sherry, Uncle Mark and cousin Jack. We followed that up with chocolate fondue at Auntie Lori and Uncle Dan's house where we visited with Auntie Lee Anne, Uncle Pete, Pepere, Anne Marie, and cousins Ian and Emma.

We dressed the kids up in their Easter outfits because how often do you get to see your children looking so handsome and pretty in pastels?? (Looking at the thumbnails of all of those pictures makes them look like Easter eggs.!)

"That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil-this is the gift of God." Ecclesiastes 3:13

We ate, we drank, and at the end of the day we were able to count our many blessings from our family. Our children were tucked into their little beds at the end of the day...full of chocolate...but tired, happy and loved. What more could we ask for...it wasn't perfect in our eyes, but it was the way it was meant to be. Maybe it's my age...(32), maybe it's having been married...(6 1/2 yrs.), maybe it's from being pregnant so many times...(4), all I know is I've come to trust in God more now than at any other time in my life. What better time to find trust in Him than at Easter time. Just look at my three beautiful little blessings.