Congratulations, Birthday Boy, Cousins, & New Life

Hello! We hope all of you had a wonderful Easter!

We wanted to send out a big Congratulations to some good friends of ours who received a very special Easter surprise... On Saturday Steve, Kelly, and little Anika welcomed Jacob into their family! Hooray! We're so happy for you guys! We love you!

In other news, our Seth turned 4 on Good Friday! Wow, it's hard to believe four years have gone by already!

Seth brings lots of joy into our life. He is a very lively, passionate, bright, and enthusiastic little guy. His strong will can be challenging, but we also see that his determined spirit helps him to learn so many things. Seth loves cars and playing sports of all kinds. He is also recently fascinated with outer space, astronauts, and planets!

A huge "Thank You" to all who helped make Seth's birthday special.

We so appreciate the cards, gifts, and phone calls!

Seth received a bicycle for his birthday and had a blast going on his first bike ride with dad!

We love you so much Seth, and we're so thankful for your presence in our lives!

Saturday and Sunday we had lots of fun celebrating Easter with family. Below here is a picture of Seth and Haddie's cousin Daniel. Uncle Rob and Jen have a huge swing set in their backyard - what fun!

Here's Seth, Haddie, and cousin Caleb, enjoying the swings and the beautiful weather!

Here is Haddie, cousin Hayden, Seth, and cousin Antonio! What a treat to get to play together!
Here's Easter kisses to you!!!


NEW LIFE
It was great to find some tiny perennials beginning to push through the dirt recently. Every spring we look forward to this time of year when the hard, cold winter melts and gives way to new life.

Speaking of new life....

You know, there were things I wanted to write on Easter Sunday.

...Things about how we were celebrating because a perfect Jesus died on a rugged cross as atonement for our sinful lives...
...That three days later his grave was empty and we rejoice because he conquered death.

I wanted to find a great picture of an empty tomb and write all about it.

In the midst of preparing two church services (that was Steve), getting birthday party details squared away (both of us), helping with three family meals (that was me), and serving one Easter breakfast (both of us), the post was never written....

However, as I looked at this picture of new plant life, it made me think about our own lives. Maybe you're not one who believes in the Bible, in the story of Jesus' death and resurrection... We can't make you believe this miraculous story... though we may want to.

Perhaps that's all it is to you. An old, dry story that you've heard a hundred times.

To us, it is something so different.

It is real and it means LIFE. A NEW LIFE, and LIFE ETERNAL, to be specific.

The belief that Jesus died, rose again, and forgave our sins has changed us.

Our hearts, full of sin, looked dead and brown like that Iris plant did last fall.

As Jesus has become our love, our passion, our purpose,

he has been changing us from the inside out.

Our lives are different. Gone are the things of old that weighed us down.

We are not perfect, but we are no longer slaves to our sin.

We have been given LIFE.

ABUNDANT and NEW.

We believe in the Easter story. Not because of tradition, but because it has transformed us.

If you want, you can join us for the remainder of our 40 Days blog project and read for yourself about how the salvation we received through Jesus has made a difference in our life.

We hope you are experiencing new life too.

It is so good.