No bunny ?? !!

Some things were said last Sunday in Kids church that really touched my heart.It was about Easter. Made me want to share how we celebrate...at the risk of everyone thinking we are horrible parents and are "cheating" our children out of something. We do not "do" the bunny.(gasp)In our "defense" we did the bunny with 2 out of the 4 (actually 3, but Tori was too little to get/remember doing it) and there is NO DIFFERENCE in the excitement that they have the night before or morning of Easter. In fact the mornings are even more fun..with whoever awakes first waking the others by saying.."He is Risen"...to which the sleeping sibling pops right up and yells " He is risen indeed". It is sooo much fun and such a reminder of the excitement and joy that was being felt over 2000 years ago when our Saviour arose!! We do have their baskets sitting out that we put together while they are sleeping ( Yes..still the same excitement for us in making them..still them wondering what will be in it and trying to hear us while they are laying in bed waiting for morning to finally come :) FOR US it is about building our children's faith / belief up in something that is real...Jesus...yes our kids "pretend " things...we just feel, for us, that the belief and faith of a child is so powerful and strong..( The Bible tells us this) why take that faith and or belief , and direct it towards something that isn't true? Most people can remember when they found out the truth....strong emotions for sure. I was even reading that there are secular studies being done on this, to see if your ability to trust/believe in things is affected negatively. I know everyone says "I believed and I am fine" Lar and I can both say that too...but just because we are "fine" doesn't mean we keep rolling with it...just because we can. Our children should walk even closer to the Lord than we do and again For Us..we believe that this is a way of building up their faith in God. The real story is soo exciting..they don't need a bunny to make it any better.
We do the Resurrection Eggs each year ( Tori accepted the Lord while doing this :) !!!)
Watch the Passion(not Tori/Luke)/read the Gospel of John (have the movie now!)
We always make sure that their baskets are Christ centered..they all have the same traditional candy,including chocolate crosses,in each basket, then each child has their favorite candies/snacks/lil prize(s) in their basket; We serve a personal God who knows their desires and them personally.
There will be something(s)in their basket that they can use to strengthen their relationship with Christ..again what each individual child/teen:) would like/could use.
We do communion as a family.
We color eggs..and taught the kids that the way alot of things we do to celebrate Christ resurrection was also the way pagans celebrated "Easter" before Christ ( We think Truth/the History we know, is really important) we tell them that now we do it for different reasons..IE the egg. It was created good..used in a bad way..now we use it to teach the Trinity and use bright colors to color it ,symbolizing the joy God gives us,the beautiful life we have in Him, and how He changes us.( That ugly color that sinks through is a great way to show how having God in our lives affects not just what you see on the outside, but the inside as well..turns the yucky egg into a good one ..lol ).(our reasons for keeping that fun tradition)
We make a fun craft/activity each year. We are making Christian Fish this year. One year we secretly hollowed out an egg..still colored it ..and had one of the kids smash it on their forhead..lol..it was empty (like the tomb) and we all laughed our booties off !
Anyways..I am rambling.... Just wanted to share. Hope you don't think we are horrible..(we don't think people who "do" the bunny are horrible) This is just how our family celebrates the amazing and glorious resurrection of Jesus. Most importantly is that we believe in Him and His resurrection. How we choose to celebrate it comes in at a far 2nd. God Bless<3

Here We Go Again

Wow. For those of you who knew Larry went to Iraq to help pay off some of the bills we acquired with our first company, F.R.O.G. Trucking ( Fully Relying on God ) after having to close it down, ( the last year we had it, we paid about $80,000 in fuel alone !! ) it may seem crazy to try it again...but that is just what we are doing. After much prayer and God shutting and then opening the door for everything to fall into place,Larry left for his first run as an owner/operator yesterday.
Things have been really hard financially, even with me returning to work.( although working in Wal-Mart's bakery is such a blessing for me)
I pray God will use this to prosper us while bringing Him Glory ! Would love your prayers too :)

Glorious funeral

Thanks to those of you who knew my Aunt Sue died and was praying and sent cards...Thanks also to Tony K who let my church family at CIC know :). Her dying was a shock. My cousins were afraid to tell my Uncle Bob..fearing he would go into shock and have to be hospitalized..his health is not so great....They had been married about 46-47 years...I can't imagin...anyways..the showing and funeral were the same day. Uncle Bob didn't come until about 10 minutes or so before the funeral service was to start. He had first said he wasn't going to go see her...wanted the casket closed before he entered the room. He changed his mind. As they wheeled him into the room, everyone was so quiet......he started out telling her how pretty she was and how much he loved her and already missed her....THEN...he started praising God..so beautifully that I could not stop smiling this really big smile..he started out saying how he knew he would see her( and would recognize her ) again, because that is what the bible said and the bible doesn't lie..then he just praised and praised and praised God in such a beautiful,personal, and loving way ! God's presence was soo strong and the strength, peace, hope, and comfort he gave my Uncle was so evident !!! Even the pastor doing the service started crying and gave a message on salvation instead of what he had planned on. He talked a lil about her and the rest was all God and salvation ! He would say "Folks, this was not what I planned" and "This was not in my notes" stuff like that. Soo cool. My dad, who is an atheist was not very happy, BUT, it took alot for me to not jump up and yell AMEN!!! (Although I did have to say it in a lil lower than normal voice). It was so fitting for my Aunt :) She loves the Lord soo much ....I am so excited that she is with Him now...although I know her family is sad to have her gone. Say a prayer for them :)

Inauguration Day

Today April and I made some cookies and cupcakes ( at Wal-Mart ) for Obama's inaugaration tomorrow. I think I am going to buy some for my kiddos...they ( along with Lar and I ) were so sad when McCain didn't win. I thought they could eat some of them while watching the inaugaration. Make it a "fun" lesson in how we have to respect the position Obama will be taking, how GOD IS in control, and how He tells us to pray for our leaders, and then do just that. Anyways, Thought I'd share what we'll be doing to "cheer up " our day...in case yours might need a lil cheering up too ;)

It's a BOY ...and another BOY...and another BOY !!

They are lil yorkiepoos. Godiva ( our chocolate poodle ) had them a lil over 5 weeks ago. They are soooo cute!! We have had lots of fun with them. I put a post out on one of my homeschool groups, to buy a kiddie pool for them to go in. They lady who said she had a pool that I could have, was in the same situation I was in a few months back...( having to stop homeschooling ) Long story short , she was crying, I was praying, and we both hung up knowing what a personal, powerful, loving God we serve!!! What a blessing it was for us both. We both felt SOOOO encouraged....SOOO touched by God. We laughed that I thought I was just calling about a pool. Isn't God's ways so much greater than ours ? !!! Thank You Lord !! Here are some pics of the puppies..aw... On a side note, I'm thinking that now that Godiva is losing her preggy weight, maybe I will lose my sympathy weight I gained with her ;)

New Years /first communion

For the first time in years, we didn't go to the Evans'. Larry was on the road and Chas and Van went to their youth group party ( starting at 6 ). After work, I was tired and just wanted to have lazy home time... so after I dropped off the big girls Tori, Luke, and I went to McDonalds and then went home and played wii and ate lots of junky food. We took the stuff for communion up to the youth group party around 11:00. Luke has been wanting to take communion for a couple years. He accepted Christ at 3 and he is 6 now. : yes I know that is really young; Tori actually led him to Christ. We were all 3 in bed, he was scared, I said my usual..."who do you belong to?" He said "God" so I said "Ok, then you don't have to be afraid". He said "But I don't see Him" I said "But He is everywhere Luke-e" Tori says "Yes, and He is in my heart" Luke said " He is in my heart too" ( I wasn't going to touch that, because he was sooo little :( sorry God ) Tori said, "No He's not Luke " and went on to tell him the WHOLE story :) Luke excitedly wanted to become a Christian :).: He has understood what communion meant, but I wanted to have him be able to explain it in his own words with no prompting from me.(more than the "it is his blood and body ) Well, he did that for the first time New Years eve :) So our family (minus daddy :( ) along with the girls youth group rang in the New Year taking communion together for the first time! ( the girls were so happy for Luke) Awwww, what a blessing. Sunday morning he took it again at church. He was so excited..I thought he was gonna burst. Afterward, I was teaching mini jr.church with Kathy, and Luke told his class what he did, and volunteered to pray out loud for our class highs and lows :) Such a blessing to hear and see. I am so excited about what awaits us all this year ! God is AMAZING! May all of you and yours , along with my family, grow even closer to the Lord this year and live the abundant lives He has for us, which will further His kingdom. ; He is so worthy !! Happy New Year!

My oh so sweet ( and handsome) Hubby

Had to tell ya about my hubby's new voice mail...lol...it is so cute! It says.." Hi, you've reached Theresa's husband Larry. I can't talk right now, but leave a message and I'll call you back, and Theresa, if this is you, I love you baby ! " Aw, I giggle everytime I get it ! Did I mention that he will sing to and dance with me..WITH..no music playing !?!! Gotta Love him :)