Easter Weekend In Texas

If you know me personally, you know I love the great state of Texas something fierce. It's where I grew up, it's where my family lives, and it will always be home. I flew back last weekend to spend Easter with the family while Parker was away for the weekend. It's never fun being without your buddy on holidays, but it was wonderful to get to spend Easter weekend with my family in my favorite state!

We did the usual- Easter church service and eating all. the. food. I'm not sure how many deviled eggs I had, but I'm not mad about it.

Honestly, it was just a good weekend of family togetherness. I always like to recap these moments because they are oh so fleeting. Here are a few snapshots of our weekend celebrating the risen King!

My parents' church always adds services around the holidays, so we switched things up and went to Easter service on Saturday night. Here is a shot of everyone before church! We were missing Parker, my twin sister (Danielle), and her husband Logan (who was snapping the picture). My littlest sister, little sister, and her boyfriend are on the left, and my parents are on the right. 

Danielle is a nurse and unfortunately had to work this weekend, but she showed up after church so I could hug that growing belly! To say I am excited to be an aunt is an understatement. I am so in love with this little babe! I got to meet her at the hospital Sunday morning for an ultrasound to see the little wiggle worm in action. Happy aunt!

I don't get to see my two little sisters (Natalie and Faith) as often as I want, so it is always a treat when we are home at the same time. It was also my dad's birthday this weekend, so all his girls were home to celebrate! Natalie and Faith's gift for my dad was so out there and hilarious- a boombox pinata (he loves the 80s) with pictures of Winston Churchill (he loves that guy) and filled with margarita mix and patron (the man loves his margs). Who thinks of this stuff, right?!

Jenny was staying with a friend over the weekend, so I got to love on my favorite Texas pups! I rode in the back of my brother-in-law's convertible with my fur nephew Sully a couple of times over the weekend. We love dogs around here!

So that was it! It was a wonderful weekend spent with people I love. Had Parker and Jenny been there, it would have been just about perfect. Easter 2016 is in the books!

Dying He Saved Us

Today is Good Friday. For those who may not know, this is the day Christians commemorate Jesus Christ's crucifixion on the cross. The thought of Jesus dying on the cross for millions of people who rejected Him is something I don't think I will ever fully understand until I get to Heaven. I am such a picture of imperfection and I didn't do anything to deserve redemption, but I am humbled and awestruck by His love for me. 
What I love most about today is the reminder that we serve a God who understands our trials. He was tempted. He struggled. He bled. He knew pain while He was on this earth just like we know pain today. 
We do not serve a God that cannot identify with our heartbreak. 
When I think of heartbreak, obviously I go to our journey of losing our daughter. I prayed to God to save her, to spare her, but I also prayed that ultimately His will would be done. His will was not for her to live a full life by human standards, yet His plan for her life was still carried out. During those weeks of knowing something was wrong and praying that Taylor would live another day, then another day after that, I clung to God more than I ever have in my life. I was so dependent on His guidance and strength. I didn't have the strength on my own to get through it. Through that dependence, I also began to praise God. I praised Him for the miracle that she was and for choosing us as her parents. I still thank God for that every day.
In praising God through the darkness and sadness, He allowed me to see the blessings. Yes our story ended in heartache, but there were innumerable blessings along with it. From getting to name her to hear her heartbeat to share our story, we were so blessed with her. The cool thing is, we don't have to wait for the victory to praise God. We can praise Him in the storm. Had we waited for the victory to praise God in our situation, I'm not sure we would have ever started. To society, there was no victory. There was only death and a sad ending. Had we not given our journey to God, I probably would have seen it that way too. Instead, I see so clearly that there was, in fact, victory. The victory was in her short, precious life. The victory is that she is healed in Heaven. We praise Him in the storm because He is good. We praise Him in the storm because He understands what we are going through more than anyone else can. 
Jesus provided us with such a beautiful example of suffering. We have all endured hardships in this life, and sometimes it feels like we are so alone, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. Jesus knew what it meant to hurt on this earth. He knows our pain and our heartbreak, but he died on the cross so many years ago to make sure that suffering wouldn't last forever. Today is about celebrating a gift and about a God who loves us more than we could possibly imagine. 
I hope you all have an amazing Easter weekend. If anyone has any questions about what today and Sunday represent, please email me. I don't claim to be an expert, but I'd love to talk to you or pray for you if you need someone. 

Mulching: It's Like Dying Easter Eggs, But Not

This weekend Parker and I went home to see my family for Easter. This is the last holiday where we will have the luxury to just drive home on a whim, so we knew we wanted to spend it with family. I would love to say we dyed Easter eggs, hunted for eggs, and the like, but that's not quite how this weekend went down. What did we do? We mulched. It's a lot like dying Easter eggs, but not.

In all seriousness, I was really excited when I found out we would be getting our hands dirty with a little old-fashioned manual labor. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and I was just happy to be spending time together as a family. I guess that's what happens when you become an adult. You just want to spend quality time with the people you love and don't care how you get it. So 160 bags of mulch later, I got my quality family time check in the box!

I don't have the best back so I am really just posing with the bag of mulch. In my three years of back problems, we've found the one perk: not having to lift 160 bags of mulch. Glass half full, people. I was on spread-the-mulch-around-and-other-miscellaneous-tasks duty. I also got awarded LVP (least valuable player) for taking a 2 minute phone call. Apparently there are no phone calls when mulching! My little sister, on the other hand, handled those bags like a haus.

The world's strongest man and the world's most cheerful helper, respectively pictured above. These two carried those 160 bags like champs!

And the award for simultaneously being the cutest and most worthless helpers goes to these two furballs. They were loving all that sun and brought a certain element of charisma to the group.

With everyone working together, we breezed through the task Saturday morning and were able to lay low and relax the rest of the weekend. It felt good to get outside and sweat a little with the family. Parker had a sore back and I probably needed 2 showers to wash off the stink, but we couldn't stop talking about how much fun it was on our way home! We also felt like we earned the giant Easter dinner we had, so there's that. Overall, the family was very pleased with the final product:

Of course Sunday was all about Easter and the real reason we were all together. We are getting back on our feet after a tough season in our lives, and man do we have a lot to be thankful for. With the exception of missing my twin sister and brother-in-law, the weekend was perfect. God has been so faithful to us, and getting to celebrate the resurrection of His son was a blessing and a gift. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well celebrating with the ones you love!

No Greater Love

Today is Good Friday. Some of you may know this day marks the day Jesus died on the cross over 2000 years ago. On this day our debt was paid in full. Jesus was a perfect sacrifice made by a loving Creator to atone for our sins, but can our human minds even fathom how much He loves us?

I've used this analogy before, but I love Parker with all that I am. I would do anything for him, and he would do the same for me. But Jesus didn't die for millions of people that loved Him. Most of the people at the cross that night ridiculed, mocked, and hated Him. Yet He died for those people and everyone else. Can you imagine paying the greatest sacrifice so that people who absolutely detested you could be saved? Jesus performed the ultimate act of love the night He died on Calvary. No earthly love can hold a candle to how much our Heavenly Father loves every one of us. 

When I think of the sacrifice Jesus made for me over 2000 years ago, I honestly feel ashamed. I have been judgmental, I have lied, I have been impatient. I have sinned so many times in my life that I can't even count, yet He still died for me and still longs for a relationship with me. 

"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord." -Romans 6:23

Today, we celebrate the greatest act of love the world has and will ever see. Living He loved us, dying He saved us. I am excited to spend time reflecting on what today means and remembering how much God loves us. He sent His son to die on a cross for you and me. There is no greater love. I pray that each of you remember how much you are truly loved by your Creator.

Living He Loved Us, Dying He Saved Us

Today is Good Friday and the start of Easter weekend, and it's always such a great time for reflection. We have heard so many times that Jesus died on the cross and rose again that it has almost been trivialized in our brains. We forget how truly awesome it is. I was thinking about it last night from a new perspective and I still cannot completely wrap my head around it, so I wanted to share.

I'll use Parker as an example and try to keep this as light as possible. If someone told me I had to die in order for Parker to live, it would be an unthinkable and nightmarish situation, but I love Parker so much that I would be able to do it with little to no reservation. Not only do I love him so much, but he loves me that much too. It's not fun to think about, but I could die knowing the person I love most in this world got to live. Jesus died so that all of us could be saved. When He was dying on the cross, there were a few people there that loved Him and were grief-stricken, but the majority of the people there hated Him and mocked Him during those final hours of torture before He died. Jesus not only died for those who loved Him, but He died for those who hated Him. What kind of love is that?! How could He sacrifice Himself for people who despised and rejected Him? It's just amazing to think about, and I don't know if it is a love we can humanly comprehend.

Glorious Day by Casting Crowns (Jeff Johnson does a great version too) is my favorite song during Easter time because the lyrics are so raw and powerful.

This is such a special weekend to reflect on the ultimate sacrifice and just thank God for sending His Son to die for us. Not only did He die, but He overcame the grave and rose again. Again, I think we have heard it so many times that it has lost some of it's conviction, but I am challenging myself to really meditate on that for the next couple of days. I am so excited for this weekend and look forward to the Easter baskets and the candy and the big Sunday lunch, but even more so I am excited to let this weekend remind me how fortunate I am to be saved. I did absolutely nothing to deserve this gift, but Jesus did it because He loves us.