Easter/Spring Pictures - Part 2

Easter Basket of goodies for all the kids to share

Getting ready for the egg hunt

Action Shot

Isaiah helping Logan - such a good big brother

Love this shot

Easter/Spring Pictures

Tunnel at Bounce U where we went for Easter Egg Hunt

Kayla and Joseph

Danielle, Brianna and Joseph

Brianna and Danielle

Happy Birthday Joseph Ryan

Dear Joseph,

Today is your 8th Birthday...where did the time go!!! You have been pure joy since the day you were born. I will never forget when I called Craig at the office to let them all know you were born, he prayed for you over the phone and in his prayer he said Lord, I know you have big things planned for Joseph, I can feel it already. He was so right...your heart is pure and your motives and intentions are exactly the way God would want them to be. That is what I am most proud of.


Your easy going personality and willingness to think of others makes you a pleasure to be around. Take that along with your comedic ways...your dance moves...your imitations and your love for everyone and we all get to be a part of the sweetest 8 year olds life.



Happy Birthday my sweet, mommy loves you.

April Birthday Boys!!!

We have lots of April Birthday's in my family. Isaiah (4/4) Joseph(4/7) Nana (4/9) and Noah (4/15). We all got together on Easter and we celebrated all the boys birthday's - Nana has certainly earned her own special day at this point!!! So that will come later.

Here are a few shots of just the birthday festivities from Sunday.

Isaiah's cake - he turned 14 but I have always made him this cake when his birthday falls on Easter.

Sponge Bob for the younger boys - I know he should have been way more yellow - I got carried away with my coloring and this was after lightening it up!!!

Joseph (8) and Noah (5)

Joseph, Noah and Isaiah - April's Cutest Birthday Boy's

Isaiah Daniel

My nephew Isaiah is turning 14, today, Easter Sunday. I made a special cake for him - he is sort of old for it now...but I have made it before for him on his birthday so it is a tradition. Pictures of the cake and Easter/Birthday celebration will post tomorrow.

Isaiah is in his last year of middle school and I can remember when he would come spend time with Joe and I at our apartment before we had kids of our own. We would get McDonald's and eat at the coffee table. He was so cute and sweet!!! He is still sweet and a really good kid. He is very active in his Church and youth group and he has a very keen sense when it comes to older people.

He is talented at many things...a personal favorite of mine is drawing. Here are 3 things that I scanned into my computer.

Keep up the good work Isaiah...and most importantly stay exactly the way you are!!!

Happy Birthday - Re-Re loves you.

Let the little children come to me...

Matthew 19:14 says "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

My son Joseph (7) loves to read. When the Church was reading through the New Testament in 30 days he was so excited and he read right along with us...he will often pick up his Bible and pick a random verse to read outloud to us. He was doing this last night...it was an odd transition, he was reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and all of a sudden he picked up the New Testament that he received at Elevation and started reading verses out loud.

I asked him to come sit next to me so I could hear him better because my mom was watching TV in the same room we were in. So he came over and was reading from Corinthians. Then he closed the book, put his little hand on it while holding mine and he said "Mom, I am going to think for a minute and then tell you a verse to read to me..."

Here is what he picked:

Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe in the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

John 14:10-14

What a perfect verse as we enter into Easter Weekend...the enemy doesn't stand a chance at our house!!!

Bullying

For days I have been following the story of Phoebe Price, the Freshman in Massachusetts who took her own life after being the victim of relentless bullying. This morning on the way into the office I cried as I listened yet again to some of the details. Phoebe dated a senior on the football team and there were other kids in the school who didn't like that...REALLY!!! As absurd as that sounds that is how it all started.

After months and months of continually being mistreated and bullied by other kids at school Phoebe went home one day and took her own life. How horrible must the bullying have been for her to feel she had no other choice???

This is a personal issue for me because our daughter, Danielle, who is only 10 now, was bullied in school last year. Her situation was somewhat different in that it was only one boy who was bullying her...but it took her weeks before she could tell Joe and I or the teacher what was going on because she feared what the boy would do if she told. This incident turned our home upside down...we had a child who would be in hysterics each night because she didn't feel safe enough in her own home to fall asleep. She needed (not wanted) to sleep with a parent. We went to family counseling for her and fought an uphill battle with the school administration regarding keeping the two of them in the same class. To be completely honest she still has setbacks and it is now 15 months later.

I have 3 nieces and 1 nephew who are in High School already and 2 more about to go to High School. The thought of something like this happening to them breaks my heart. They all are great kids with nice friends etc... to think that one thing they do could change their lives in this way just baffles me.

As parents we need to be SO SURE that we are open with our kids and that they feel comfortable to come to us with something like this...we also need to be their voice at the school and follow up as many times necessary and go as far up the chain of command as we have to. (We eventually went to the Districts Superintendent) Our kids need to see us going to great lengths for them and their safety.

On the flip side we also need to teach our kids to not be the bully. Everyone has a "story" and we may never really know what someones life is like outside of school so to judge, criticize or make fun of someone based on what we think we know is horrible.

At this point 10 kids and their families lives will be changed forever. One family lost their daughter forever...and the nine others are awaiting their fate with all of the legal charges that have now been brought against them.

Hold your kids tightly and let them know how much they are loved.