Happy Easter!!!

Here's a recap of our Easter from start to finish...

Our hands AFTER the Easter-egg-coloring experiment... of course Mommy didn't realize the kit she purchased included actual PAINT...


After the boys searched out all their clues (laying behind/between them there...) they finally found their Easter baskets in respective bathtubs. They did pretty good considering Mommy and Daddy drew all their clues in pictures - they persisted and got into it quite a bit - thanks to Jane from Mommy's work for that idea!

Gabe coloring in his brand-spankin-new-sparkly-laser-eye-vision-SPIDERMAN coloring book, complements of Grandma and Grandpa Johnson...
Peace out, dude! I'm in my Easter-best!

The Waltzer Upper-Midwest Cousins... if you know them, you may not recognize them... for they are anywhere between 12 and 24 inches taller than when we were married, easily... from L-R: Bryan, Lindsay, Kyle, TJ, Gabe, Travis and Kevin... such great kids and such blessings to "this" generation...

That's about it... I took a cute series of pictures of the boys I'll post as well... hope everyone is blessed and ready for the renewing love of Jesus during this springtime season... the only thing I really left out here is that church of course completely rocked this weekend... hopefully early this week the Good Friday and Easter sermons will be uploaded and you can listen - for free! - whereever you are! Check 'em out at: http://rvc.podomatic.com/. Pastor Rob also just got done with an awesome "Bumper Sticker" series that was very cool, and that's there too - or you can click the link to the right to follow.

One other church-note is that the boys served with us for the first time this weekend in Children's Church - we were in the Preschool 2 and Preschool 3 rooms... Duane in one and me in the other... and the door open in-between... well, sort of out of Duane's desire to have "help", he brought the boys in to "assist" him... now, I was not so convinced of this idea, and Gabe waivered as a normal 4 year-old would, but they totally got the concept of serving the "little kids" - you know, it's a big difference when you're 5.5 and they're 3. I think it'll be a good experience for us as a family and plus it'll cut down on my separation anxiety. What a total awesome thing to serve at church alongside my kids and my husband - it was so cool!

A couple of other "TJ notes" from the weekend.

• TJ decided that the reason we were bringing rolls to Easter dinner was because Jesus "broke it" when he sat with the disciples... this led to a fantastic conversation about the Last Supper and what Jesus did for us...
• TJ spelled our Lord's name for the first time: JEUSU (emphatically, btw...)
• And, we decided we may have to start giving TJ an allowance so we can teach him the concept of tithing. He didn't want to part with a nickel he found on the floor of the Saab, so we figured this might be our sign. He told Grandma he was going to put it in the offering (all on his own), but boy, when that plate came 'round, he changed his mind pretty darn quick. :)

"Gabe notes"? I don't know... our baby is growing up... and I think he escaped the Terrible Twos which are usually really the Challenging Threes... and he's creating a whole new realm for us with How-did-you-get-so-stubborn Fours. We're addressing it in love, and watching God work in his life. His big thing is a prayer he learned at preschool, oh, it must have been two or three months ago... he still sings it - at the very least once - at every meal. He's doing well with his conversation and concepts - still not getting all his double consonant sounds - but the day he stops referring to school as "'cool", I guess my heart will break just a little bit.

Ok, that's really it (Grandma)... hope you all had a blessed day and here's to missing the rest of the Johnson family who is in 90-degree Tucson, and played 18 holes of golf or lounged by the pool between brunch and dinner today... we miss you!

love,
amjw