Great Strides '09...

Luke, Kate, Javan, & Jonah

On May 30th, Kate, Luke and I will again be participating in the GREAT STRIDES walk in Placentia with Team Jonah. GREAT STRIDES is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's largest and most successful national fund-raising event. Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a devastating genetic disease that affects tens of thousands of children and young adults in the United States. As many of you know, our cousin, Jonah Ostermann is living with this disease so this is a cause that is very near to our hearts.

Jonah is a sweet, loving little boy who is about as energetic and adventurous as a four-year-old can get. Kate & Luke love to play with him and his brother, Javan. Jonah adores babies and Luke loves the attention he gets from his big cousin. Although Jonah is healthy and active, his day to day life consists of endless medications and regular breathing treatments to keep him that way. His parents are amazingly vigilant in doing everything necessary to keep him healthy but what is needed most is a cure. Research and care supported by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is making a huge difference in extending the quality of life for those with CF. However, we continue to lose precious lives to CF every day. That's why your help is needed now more than ever to ensure that a cure is found sooner - rather than later.

I would love you to help me meet my fund-raising goal of $500 by sponsoring me in the walk. Your generous gift will be used efficiently and effectively, as nearly 90 cents of every dollar of revenue raised is available for investment in vital CF programs to support research, care and education. Last year Team Jonah raised $37,000!

Making a donation is easy and secure! Go to http://www.teamjonah.com/, find and click on our names on the right side of the page, then click the "Click to Donate" button on this page to go to make a donation that will be credited to my team.

Thank you for your support!!

Happy Easter...

Happy Easter, everyone! This morning after everyone was up we started our celebration. This was the first year of establishing our Easter traditions that I hope will last for many years. We had our Resurrection Rolls, then hunted for Easter baskets with an Easter egg scavenger hunt. Each egg had a clue to where to find the next egg...5 eggs later they found their baskets from Daddy & Mommy in the dryer. With Kate getting older and more able to understand things, I have been thinking a lot lately about the observance of Easter and how to teach her why we celebrate. We decided to nix the Easter bunny and focus more on the reason for the holiday. As Christians this is our holiday, even more than Christmas, this is the foundation of our Christian faith. It is the perfect opportunity for me to teach my children about the greatest sacrifice made by God, giving His Son to die a horrible death to insure our salvation. Kate knows of the Easter bunny and we won't forbid participation in egg hunts or visiting the Easter bunny (if they ask) but our celebration will be of Jesus' death and resurrection for our sins.

They couldn't believe Mommy actually let them eat chocolate in the morning. They kept looking at me like they were getting away with something naughty, but they loved it.

We headed to church in our Easter best and enjoyed a great sermon on hope. All of the kids looked so cute in their Easter outfits, matching or coordinating with their siblings. After church we stopped by John's parents house and got a cute family picture.

Then over to my parents for an afternoon full of food, Easter egg hunts (pretty sure we had about 20), visiting, playing, and way too much sugar. It proved to be impossible to get a picture of Kate, Luke, and Brooklyn but here's one cute one I did get...I think it's a framer.

Happy Easter! He is Risen!

Resurrection Rolls...

Tonight Kate and I made Resurrection/He Has Risen Rolls. We followed the instructions of a very cute blog that Rachel introduced us to, Mustard Seeds. It was a great experience for both of us and the outcome was more than delicious! I was actually shocked by how good these things were. The preparation was so fun, too. Kate just loves spending time alone with us and had a great time. She had some pretty funny things to say. At one point she was having some trouble accepting help and when I mentioned we were having some issues she said, "Yeah, because you're the boss and I don't like it." It was very calm and matter-of-fact and I couldn't help but laugh. She also got really into the story behind the rolls:

Marshmallow symbolizes Jesus, pure white and sinless.

Luke had to check out the action before going to bed.

Butter represents the anointing oil and the cinnamon/sugar symbolize the spices that were put on Jesus' body after He was crucified.

Wrapped in biscuit dough and sealed like the tomb, the dough is rolled into balls representing the stone rolled in front of the tomb.

After baking, the "tomb" is empty...He has Risen!!

The rolls taste sweet..."Easter is a time to celebrate the sweetest gift of all--our salvation through Jesus."

This will definitely be a new Easter tradition for our family. I think it's a great one for Easter morning, as the rolls are much like cinnamon rolls. I highly recommend checking out the recipe on the website above and making them with your little ones. **They are really yummy warm out of the oven but the marshmallow doesn't completely disappear until they are completely.** cool.

A Mother's Broken Heart...

Kate and I have been talking about Easter and the meaning of our celebration as Christians. It's so hard to know how to explain such an awful death and the reason for it to a 3 year old. We're keeping it pretty simple and she seems to get it to a certain extent. Today we read, from her Bible story book, the story of the crucifixion and resurrection. She does not like how "rude those guys were to Jesus". =) She also has a book called Little Girls Bible Storybook for Mothers & Daughters by Carolyn Larsen that has stories and life lessons based on scripture. I opened the one called "A Mother's Broken Heart" based on John 19:1-30 and could barely get through it. As a mother, I can't help but feel emotion and empathy toward Jesus' mother. And anytime I read the story of His death and the sacrifice He made for us I am so humbled and grateful. While it is obviously fiction based on real life and I'm not sure how accurate this assumption of what it must have been like for Mary on the day Jesus died is, I thought I'd share this story. If nothing else, this is a reminder of the pain and true sacrifice our Lord made when He sent His son to die such an agonizing death. We will never fathom the depth God's love for us as His children. Since I've had children of my own am I much more able to truly appreciate His love for me and I am overwhelmingly thankful.

"A Mother's Broken Heart"

Sometimes late at night Mary would look at the twinkling stars and recall when the shepherds and wise men had come to worship her child. She remembered old Simeon and Anna in the temple saying her baby was the Savior of the world...the Messiah. Mary knew the teachings about the Messiah. But when people said those things about Jesus, she tucked them away deep in her heart, and wondered what they all meant.
Today, she knew what they meant...and her heart was breaking. With every ounce of her being, Mary wanted to run through the streets of Jerusalem shouting, "Don't hurt him. He's my son. God, do something- STOP THEM!" Yet deep in her heart, she knew that the events of this day could not be stopped. Mary stood in the crowd as Jesus struggled to carry the heavy wooden cross. The cross on which he would die.
Mary was swept along with the crowd to the hill called Golgotha. She slid to the back of the crowd when the soldiers threw Jesus to the ground and began pounding the heavy spikes through His hands and feet and into the wooden cross. With every clank of the hammer, Mary wanted to turn and run as far away from this horrible scene as possible, but she couldn't. He was her son, and she had to stay with Him.

When the cross was dropped into the ground, Mary looked up at Jesus. Blood was running down His face, mixed with the sweat of agonizing pain. She looked into his eyes, the same eyes she had played hide and seek with when He was a toddler, eyes that had laughingly teased her when He was a child, gentle eyes that even on this most horrible of days were filled with love for the sinful people who had come to watch Him die.
Mary's eyes were locked on Jesus, wishing she could send strength from her body to His. She knew the end was near when Jesus asked one of His friends to take care of her and she felt an arm slip around her shoulder.
When Jesus died, Mary fell to her knees, sobbing in agony. "My arms feel so empty, I ache to hold my son, to tell him that everything will be alright." Simeon's long ago words made sense now. Her soul was pierced by the pain of this moment.