easter 2014

happy easter!!!
we took 1 picture. and got this! pretty impressive.
it was right after breakfast, so we all look a little sleepy, but it was nice to have it over with!

i made those ties for the boys to wear to my sister's wedding...1 1/2 yrs ago! they are getting a bit short...

my breakfast :-) after 46 days without sugar.
i couldn't JUST eat a donut. my paleo ways die hard. the donut was yummy...but not as good as i thought it was going to be.

we went to a different church to worship. our GOOD friends, the snyders, go to a new-ish church and he is the worship leader. we had been wanting to go for a while, and this seemed like a good sunday to do it! it was wonderful.

spent a LONG time that afternoon sitting with pat on the front porch and talking. and then he slept and i read.

took the kids for a bike ride...and let pat stay home by himself (it was the least i could do after he gave me 2 DAYS by myself!)

and we had a nice easter meal at home. just the 8 of us.

crostini with blue cheese and peaches and honey, ham, salad, deviled eggs and resurrection rolls.

followed by brownies and ice cream. that WAS as amazing as i thought it would be ;-)

the joy and freedom and celebration of Easter is so much sweeter when you observe Lent. but after giving up sugar/sweets for the last 3 years, it is also true that nothing...NOTHING is sweeter that His love. while i fully enjoyed eating what i wanted yesterday, not a bit of it satisfied me like His love does. also...just like that verse (1 corinthians 10:23) says, " "Everything is permissible"--but not everything is beneficial." even though i had the FREEDOM to eat whatever i wanted...i knew i shouldn't eat some of it because it was going to hurt my stomach and make me miserable. i still ate some of what i shouldn't. and i suffered for it...just like i do in my life...i look to the things i KNOW won't satisfy like He will...and i suffer the consequences. 

Easter. what a beautiful day. and not an egg hunt or egg basket to be found. it's just too hard to focus on those things AND keep our minds and hearts on what the day is TRULY about.