Easter

Easter crept up on us so quickly that it ended up being a pretty low key day. The big storm that blew through just a few days before Easter made it difficult to get out of the house and by the time Easter arrived there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground. There was enough snow that the children weren't able to hunt for eggs outside.

I did, however, manage to get my children to go outside and pose for a photo in the snow. How can you refuse your mother, right?

Then it was time to get back inside for church to begin.

Our friends from Fort Collins actually made the trek down to us to spend Easter dinner with us. With our husbands both being pastors it was already a long morning and we were exhausted just trying to stay awake. 

Garden Party

On Saturday my girls and I grabbed our favorite hats and headed to church for a Garden Party brunch.

It was a potluck, so I decided to bring deviled eggs. That's almost a no brainer since everyone loves them right? When you are a last minute planner deviled eggs are pretty quick and easy.

There were some pretty cute hats at the brunch along with a lot of visiting with some wonderful ladies.

Jane wore the same hat she wore in her wedding over 60 years ago. Isn't she adorable? I just love the ladies in our church. They're so fun and sweet!

They also work like crazy during the fall and winter months to make quilts that they donate to various places in Colorado.

This year they made 193 quilts that will be sent to area hospitals, nursing homes, and to others in need. I can't say enough about how wonderful our church is not only to our family, but also to people in the community. We had a great time visiting with all of the ladies and even won a few door prizes.

Food Pantry

Our church is tucked away, on top of a hill, in a cute little neighborhood. That neighborhood also happens to be a low-income area. What once were cute little houses from the 50s have turned into unkept, multi-family homes-not all the homes are unkept, but a lot them.

Rebecca and Rachel have begun volunteering and they really enjoy. If only they enjoyed the chores they get around the house as much as they love volunteering here.

Families are given large quantities of food along with a personal shopper.

We offer a variety of breads and rolls as well as fresh produce.

We purchase food for our food pantry from Food Bank of the Rockies and also take donations at anytime. The Food Bank of the Rockies also has free perishable food at the end of the day and also on other random days when they have a lot of extra produce. This past weekend our church was able to pick up 800 lbs of food for free which included bananas, potatoes, onions, lettuce, lemons, limes, and bread.

I've heard that our church members are becoming quite good at making purchases at the right time and we average about $0.08/lb for the food that gets purchased. They even have Starbucks coffe!

The gal that does the purchasing for our church does a fabulous job. She says she tries to find good and healthy items.

Our wonderful volunteers are checking out the stock on the shelves. We offer everything from fresh produce to cleaning supplies to dog and cat food. It's been great for our church to reach out to the people in the neighborhood and meet some new people too.

Garden Growth

This past weekend I while I was out running around I stopped by church to check on our garden. I haven't done that since we planted it last month even though I've been to church several times after that. Our lettuce mix is coming up nicely. We finally got some rain from the cooler weather, so I'm sure these cold weather vegetables are loving it. 

Onions.

The spinach is a little slow, but looks great.

We even have some little tiny carrots that have popped up. We even have carrots from last year still in the ground and they're still perfect. We're going to try and get seeds from them.

Look at these volunteer onions, or are they garlic. I have no idea but they've gone crazy. We also planted garlic last fall at home and they have grown like weeds as well.

Who needs to go to a park when you have a playground at church. I don't even have to push Elizabeth on the swing anymore. One little push is all she needs and she'll keep herself going. She can swing pretty high too. (David still can't swing himself, but that's 'cause he's a little stinker.)

Anna also enjoys the swing here and there. If no one is around to push her she swings herself from her belly. It's pretty cute.

Outtakes

I always try to get a decent photo of all the children together in their matching outfits. Who do I think I am for trying something that probably will never happen with six children? There's a lady at church who once collected Beanie Babies. Now all the children at church receive one each year. It's become a tradition. I suppose you could say that these are my favorite outtakes from the 30 or so photos that I actually shot? Enjoy!

And for those that asked where I got the matching outfits, they are from The Children's Place. It's pretty much the only place that has sizes small enough for Anna and large enough to fit Rebecca. I know this won't last much longer, so I like to take advantage of it while I still can.

The Hunt

We arrived to church on Easter morning just in time for the youth breakfast. Every year our youth prepare breakfast for the entire congregation to help raise funds to go to the catechism retreat in the summer. My Lutheran Stud makes his world famous pancakes and then forces serves them up to everyone. This year the youth raised record breaking amount of money for their trip. It was pretty exciting.

After breakfast there was a small 500-egg Easter egg hunt. That's an insane number for eggs for our small congregation. I had to cut my children off when their bags/baskets were full.

The little ones got a head start over the older children.

They were also more interested in opening each egg as they picked them up rather than filling up the baskets. There was more excitement in opening the eggs than collecting them.

I finally conviced Anna to pick up a few more eggs before actually opening them.

David has egg hunting down. He even managed to hide a few eggs in his pockets when his bag was full. Sneaky little guy is he.

Rachel's also an old pro and filled her bag up after just minutes.

Thomas also filled up his bag rather quickly and went over to help Anna fill hers up.

Elizabeth finally got the hang of this egg hunting thing and got her basket filled to the brim.

Our children made out like bandits. Being the mean mom that I am I told Rebecca she was too old to participate since she is now in Confirmation. What a bummer, although she is reaping the benefits of all the candy that was hunted, so she's not complaining. Stay tuned for more Easter festivities.

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy week. It's my favorite time during the church year. It's a wonderful reminder of the hope we have in Jesus.

The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out:


"Hosanna! 
'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD' 
The King of Israel."
Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:
"Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."

His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that theses things were written about Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness. For this reason the people also met HIm, because they heard that He had done this sign. The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after Him."

John 12:12-19

Because Jesus we have the hope of seeing our loved ones again in heaven someday.

Holy Week is wonderful week to reflect on what poor miserable sinners we are and to thank Jesus for dying on the cross for all of our sins. 

Since our sins have been forgiven, every single one of them, we can find comfort in knowing that we will live eternally with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and with the saints that have gone before us. 

Having this hope puts a smile on my face because I know that someday we'll get to see our dear son, Jonathan grow up in heaven.

And, Palm Sunday is a wonderful day for a birthday. :) We celebrated David's birthday in Sunday school.

The Big Game

Last Sunday our church played a big softball game. The youth challenged the adults to a game.

WIth guys like this you would think the youth didn't stand a chance.

But, they had youthfulness on their side. They could run and jump like this.

This is Cody. He really came through for the youth. He's trying to get a baseball scholarship, so if anyone knows of a college looking. . . 

This is his dad, Mark. Mark still has it. . .

There was a cheering section complete with pom-poms.

Several close plays were made.

There were some really great fans that braved the 90 degree heat.

My Lutheran Stud was the pitcher for the adult team.

We also had a grill going.

You can't go to a ball game and not have hot dogs. 

After the game the little youth wanted to play around.

Here is the future of the youth team.

By the way, the game was tight the entire time, but the youth pulled through with a grand slam, by Cody, to win the game. I think the adults want a rematch. You can check out the rest of the photos HERE. There are some pretty funny ones. ;)