April 17 These precious faces

Sunday evening:

 We read books, we cuddled, we laughed ... I will write more when I get back from Florida. Love these kiddos so much!

April 17 with KT

Sunday:  I am posting these pictures quickly, but will have to comment on them when I return from Florida:

 

April 17 RESURRECTION!

Easter Sunday:  Emma and I were privileged to attend the 10:45 service this morning. I have never attended a more powerful worshp service in all my life. I felt as if I had stepped over the threshold into heaven and I never wanted it to end.

I don't have time this morning to detail the service, but when I return from Florida I will ... because I MUST. From start to finish: the songs we sung, the baptisms and testimonies, the teaching (which was absolutely amazing) ... I can't even put it into words ... it was just completely AWESOME.

Pastor's message was entitled: "The Last Supper". He referenced back to ArtPrize 2015 to the art entry titled by that name--evidently it was displayed in the Kendall Art building--I never saw it and I really regret it. Pastor wove the theme of his work of art into his teaching. I'm going to post just two pictures I was able to find on the internet:

 I loved this sermon SO MUCH. This ArtPrize entry is by a woman who researched for 15 years the last supper of death row inmates and the painted those on plates. Here they are (above). 

MORE NARRATION:

Anyway, pastor's point was that these inmates had their last supper and what they chose for it told much about them as people--ah! I wish I could give the whole sermon here. But when Jesus had HIS last supper, it was NOT His last supper here on earth! He rose to life and ate fish with his disciples! He promises to eat with us when He comes again! 

I will continue this post later ...

April 16 The gift of Matthew

Saturday:  We belatedly celebrated Matt's 17th birthday this afternoon/evening here at the Beach House. I only snapped just a few pictures, but I really like these photos. Matt is grown up now, so I don't get to see him very much--and usually, Christopher is here at the same time. When Matt and Chris are together, they yuck it up together as brothers do ... but Matt is oftentimes in the background to Chris and I don't often get the opportunity to just see and listen to Matt one-on-one. But tonight, I did have that opportunity and he was such a GIFT to me. The name "Matthew" means "Gift of God" and this grandson lives up to his name.

Matt is a quieter soul and is a sensitive person. He is not much for socializing and often stays to himself. But here's the thing--he has a beautiful heart. He let me see a little bit of it Saturday night and I will treasure it always.

Here is Matt opening up my card--it took me FOUR hours to make this card, because I wanted it to be just right and I wanted to let Matt know how much he is loved. There were too many words inside to read just then but Matt said he would read every word later.

Kaity brought one of Kenzie's (her best friend) stuffed animals over for the visit. "Stitches" is a fox and Kaity set out to sketch a picture of him. She did a really nice job too! Emma took some pictures to show Kaity.

Matthew and Emma played several games of "Battleship" and just hung out together while I was getting dinner together.

We had an Oreo Icecream cake that did NOT melt this year (last year we discovered my freezer was broken after pulling out what we had hoped was a frozen cake only to find it very mushy). We lit 17 candles and sang to Matthew. Hasn't he grown up to be so handsome? I love his eyes and his face so much. 

After we ate our cake, Matthew, Kaity and I played "UNO" for awhile but then Kaity quit and began doing puzzles on the floor. Matt and I sat at the table and had the most precious conversation. There is so much to love about Matt, but one thing for sure is that he is genuine and doesn't fake what he thinks or feels. I loved listening to him and interacting. We talked about some faith issues. We talked about a few memories and family things. Most of all, I truly loved just listening to him share his thoughts. I pray that the Lord will do what only He can do for Matthew--give him eyes of faith and a heart that will truly know and follow Him all the days of his life. Thank you, Lord, for this grandson--he is such a precious gift.

April 15 Meijer Gardens with Emma

Good Friday:  Emma took the night off work so that she could attend Calvary's Good Friday service tonight. I'm so glad! Since we had the afternoon together as well, we drove over to Meijer Gardens to have a look at the butterflies. The "Butterflies are Bloomin'" exhibit is over at the end of April, so we were kind of at the tail end of it ... there were less butterflies today than when I was here a few weeks ago ...

But still ... enough to bring us delight for the short while we were there.

This MOTH was inside the glass enclosure. I would have loved to see it fly around and get a better picture, but this was the best I could do using my zoom.

And this Blue Morpho would NOT open its wings to demonstrate the gorgeous blue inside for anything!

I love the steamy temperature inside this tropical garden--it's super warm and humid and my whole body rejoices with it!

Emma and I split up because we were both shooting pictures and didn't want to interrupt each other. I tried to catch just a few of Emma ... it was very crowded in here today, so this was all I was able to get!

This immense room has three walls with variations of this "sculpture." I'm not sure what we are supposed to see in it or experience ... it's a bit "out there" for me. I just don't have any appreciation at all for sculpture I guess! I'm the same way with abstract art--I just don't have much in common with it.

Anyway, it IS interesting ... Emma was not at all impressed! Her only comment was: "WHY?!?!?" Ha!

After our Garden visit, we had about an hour to "kill" before the Good Friday service began, so we browsed around TJ Maxx for awhile and then went to the service. It was quiet and thoughtful and ... very wonderful. We sang beautiful hymns about Jesus sacrificing His life for us, we partook of communion, the last week of His life here on earth was read from Matthew's Gospel--it was better than eating a yummy meal! Thank you, Lord, for Your great mercy and grace in forgiveness of all of my sin. Anticipating Easter morning ...
 

April 14 Kaity-kins

Thursday:  It sure is good to be back to my "usual" schedule and NOT sick even a little bit! I'm so thankful! Kaity came over today for a few hours. We played and did our typical activities. I only took a very few pictures because ... Kaity isn't fond of having me aim my camera in her face.

Actually, there was ONE different thing we did together tonight. We worked on Kaity's homework! We had a really good time doing it too. Kaity is a very smart third grader! Her reading has improved immensely, and she is coming along just fine. MATH, however, is not her favorite subject (it's my very worse subject) ... but Math homework is what we did. 

We worked on square footage (area) versus perimeter of squares and rectangles. Some of it was a little tricky! I hadn't thought about this stuff in a very long time. I did okay in math during my school years--but I certainly did not excel in any way. However, I did memorize my times tables and I know I use the knowledge gained from that almost every day.

We really had a good time working on homework tonight. Kaity was not at all resistant to doing the work. She asked for help when she needed it and we got all of her assignments finished. Yes!

I tried to catch a few more pictures of Kaity just relaxing ... but see what happens?

Two photo bombs! That's okay. We played a game of UNO as well as three games of "Sleeping Queens." Kaity finished up the leftover french toast for dinner and she had a dish of "Death by Chocolate" ice cream for desert. 

Saturday, we are having Matthew over (Chris was invited too, but he is scheduled to work Saturday and cannot come) for dinner, birthday cake, and hopefully a nice time together. Looking forward to that ...
 

April 12 So MUCH JOY!

Tuesday:  Ah, another Tuesday--already?!?!? My the weeks fly by, don't they? We decided to stop and play over at Dwight Lydell Park on our way to my house today. I'm so glad we did!

The kiddos had so much fun climbing, exploring, playing ... I just loved watching their joy.

This park has "new" equipment, newer even than last year! These modulars are full of interesting things to learn about and to do. Above, Erin is making beautiful music by pressing various buttons ...

Erin is an enthusiastic playgrounder. She just turns into a little monkey when around anything she can climb. I cracked up watching her. She really has no fear whatsoever, but she isn't stupid about where she goes or what she tries ... she looks all around her and finds a way to safely do what she wants to do.

Aidan on the other hand, is pretty hesitant--especially with heights; but he doesn't like to be outdone by Erin, so he trudges along and tries stuff just a little bit at a time ...

Look at Erin's expression as she reaches the end of this log ... isn't she so funny?

There is a very cool climbing apparatus at this park. I'm not sure you can see how cool it is from these pictures--but there are ropes and little perches and rope stairways, etc. all over this thing. It's really fun to play on. If I were younger I would climb it like crazy ...

Aidan climbed about two feet off the ground and was quite contented to stay put. He said he found a comfortable chair right here ...

But Brendan had his eyes on the heights ...

Aidan stretched out and now called this "his bed."

Higher and higher climbed Brendan ...

I love LOVE LOVE these pictures of him. My heart aches as I look at his face, his expressions ... his heart is so precious and I just love him so much.

Erin was watching Brendan with a lot of interest. I wasn't sure if she was going to venture higher or not ...

Aidan felt SUPER brave using this rope ladder (it was all of 3' above the ground) ...

But Erin looked up and around and discovered a way up to the top that she thought she could handle ...

Look at the determination on her little face!

Aidan climbed another "rung" of the rope ladder and I thought he would burst from the pride of his accomplishment ...

Ah ... Erin made it to the tippy top ... it's really quite high up! I was a tiny bit afraid for her, but she is a very smart little cookie ... she held on with both hands and moved cautiously along ...

Aidan is asking me in this picture (below) "how on erf can I get down fwum here?" You can see how LOW he is to the ground in comparison to Brendan and Erin ...

Erin found a pathway back down and spent some time with Aidan ...

Aidan is still trying to figure out HOW to get down ...

... which is cracking Brendan right up ...

Look at Brendan's dear face ... 

His dear heart ... he has had MY heart since the day he was born ...

My favorite picture of Brendan (below) ...

And little angel Erin ... I could look at her soft little face and drink in her love for a very long time.

Such blessings! My heart is so full ... thank you so much, Lord.