A moment etched in our heart for life...

I was way too exhausted last weekend to post on the blog because we had one of the busiest weekends ever and this weekend was no different; however, I have to share with y'all some life changing moments that have taken place of the past two weeks...

Today, we celebrate that Jesus is Risen! He is not dead, He's surely alive!  On this super special day in history we celebrate that Jesus conquered death after paying the penalty for the sins of the world (past, present, and future) on the cross of Calvary. I just want to encourage you that if you have accepted Jesus' sacrifice on your behalf, you can overcome anything because He overcame!  

This day will be a treasured memory that will be etched in my mind forever...  Abigail got baptized!  As David said before he baptized her, she professed her faith in Christ at a very young age and there were times when we were taken back that a little person could truly accept, love, and trust in Jesus so early in life, so we have just prayed and watched for fruit as evidence of her faith.  Over the past 3-4 years we have seen her faith tested and grow as she has clung to the Lord through the toughest of times (when she was worried about Grace and missing her and her daddy), and give Him the glory for all of the good in her life. She has a childlike faith that drives her to share the good news of the gospel with others and rally all prayer warriors when something is heavy on her heart.  Her baptism didn't save her, that happens when profession of faith in Christ happens (prior to baptism), however sharing her profession of faith via baptism in front of her family, church family, and friends was certainly a joyous moment this Easter.  

 Abigail got to sign the horse trough that she was baptized in...

What a blessing that all of our family (minus Uncle Allen) was present to celebrate this special event in Abigail's life...

My Sis-in-loves...

The crazy cousins...

Yesterday, we had the cousins Easter celebration which is always a treat to get to see how much they all love being together.  Grace LOVED the Easter egg hunt!  You know that we have been practicing, so she not only nailed it, but she was especially excited that these eggs were filled with her new found passion...  chocolate!

Let the egg hunt begin...

More fun at the cousins house in the country...

Last weekend we participated in the Superhero Heart Run to celebrate our very own superhero, Gracie Doo, and all of the other heart heroes out there!  We just assumed that we would all be walking a 2K as as a family until Abigail heard them announce that the 5K runners were going to head out first.  She quickly tuned to us and said, I want to do the 5K for Grace.  David offered to run with her (since she is too fast for me) and off they went.  She completed her first 5K in under a 9 minute pace! David said that he kept thinking, surely she is going to need to slow down or walk any minute now, but she pushed on running the whole thing saying to herself "I can do this, it's nothing compared to what my sissy has been through!"  So proud of her!

Grace went to the birthday party of one of her besties that she met at Family Camp and who happens to live around the corner from us.  The party was at a giant playscape (it was a great form of physical therapy for her) and she was fearless climbing on all of the contraptions; however, this meant that I had to climb up, over, and through all the crazy obstacles right behind her (my little helper, Abigail, was at a soccer game at that time so I was on my own :-).  The sweetest part of this experience came when Grace would get through one obstacle she would sit down, look back at me, and start cheering "gooooo mommy...  gooooo mommy!"  Once I made it to where she was she would take off to the next obstacle.  She did this every time and if there was another child near nearby she would cheer for them too.  What a humbling picture...  It takes way more effort, coordination, and determination for her to accomplish each obstacle than typical kids (or for me for that matter), however, God used her to cheer the rest of us on.  

Sweet Village, hope y'all had a blessed Easter weekend! (((hugs))) and kisses to ya...