Easter Weekend

**WARNING! This is a long post.**

Well, the end of Music Retreat turned out to be only the beginning of a LONG, BUSY, but FUN weekend. Saturday, we celebrated cousin Grace's 16th Birthday with a cake, and small get-together with Gramma and Grampa Colburn and the Bickford kiddos.

Caylyn and I dyed Easter eggs! It was fun and she did a good job saying the colors (with a little prompting from Gramma!). She really enjoyed putting the eggs in the dye and then putting stickers on the eggs. Such a big girl!

Sunday morning, bright and early, we headed to church for the sunrise service. Early morning is such a great time for reflection. On the drive to church, I reflected on what it might have been like for Mary and Mary Magdalene to come the the tomb and find it EMPTY! What thoughts raced through their minds when the angel said to them "He is not here, for he is RISEN!" They knew that He was the Son of God, but he was also their dear friend whom they had watched die. Another thought, what a great plan for soul-winning is found in Matthew 28:5-9.

"And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. (6) He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. (7) And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. (8) And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word. (9) And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him."

First, the lost are seeking for Christ. They stumble through life searching for meaning that can only be found in Christ. We must tell them to "come, see the place where the Lord lay" after He sacrificed Himself for our sins. The we must tell them the greatest news in the history of mankind: "He is not here: for he is risen!" This news can only bring great joy and a desire to tell others as He has commanded us. What a great time of reflection this Resurrection Day brought... we do serve a RISEN Saviour!

I missed the sunrise service because Caylyn and Trent are quite active first thing in the morning. :) We had a nice breakfast there at church with some good fellowship. Easter morning service was wonderful. I'm so glad we have "The Peace of God versus the Peace of the World" as explained in Sunday morning's sermon. All were encouraged to bring Easter Lilies "In Memory Of" loved ones who have gone on before us.

Here are the kids at church...

Sunday afternoon, we had a big Easter dinner with Gramma and Grampa and Grace. We also started a new family tradition... an Easter Egg Hunt. I know, big whoop, lots of people do an Easter Egg Hunt. Well, this was our first so it was special for us. Caylyn did such a good job finding all the eggs while Trent picked up one and threw it on the ground so he could get the jelly beans. :)

Happy Easter, everyone!

Spoiled Rotten

This week we have a guest staying with us! YAY! Chad's cousin, Grace, is up for the week because she'll be attending Music Retreat. I was just excited to have some company around but she has been the biggest helper EVER!! I've washed dishes a grand total of 2 times since FRIDAY! She's made almost every meal (and they've been quite delectable, I might add) and she's great with Goober and Gomer (aka Caylyn and Trent). I haven't told Chad yet... he's going to have to hire a maid after Grace leaves because I've been so spoiled this week!

We have had a good week so far after a very BUSY weekend. What weekend isn't busy around here? Tim and Grace came up on Friday and it was so good to "Unca Tim" here for a visit. We'll be VERY glad when he can finally move up here! Saturday morning, Chad and Tim helped Pastor install a shower in the ladies' bathroom at church... just in time for the retreat! The grand total now 50 teens and 15 adults! Praise the Lord!

This might be the last post before the retreat so Happy Easter, everyone! Remember the true meaning of Easter and praise the Lord that we have the blessed assurance that we serve a Risen Savior!

Day 1: Disaster

So our first official day of school (with a curriculum) was a DISASTER! Monday morning we had some errands to run so school didn't happen until after nap-time. Ideally, I want to do school with Caylyn while Trent is taking a morning nap. Ideally.

Caylyn was not interested in sitting down to learn and Trent was curious and wanted in on the action... which only frustrated Caylyn even more! Finally, I was able to engage Caylyn in a learning game with crayons and Trent was sitting in my lap looking at a book. Whew. After we managed to cover the few things we needed to cover, we watched a PBS documentary on cows. The kids were only able to handle a few minutes before then were distracted, but I found it quite interesting. Namely, the fact that cows are the most useful animals as you can use everything from them for survival. Also, did you know that Henry Ford got the idea for an assembly line from slaughter houses? It also made me never want to buy meat from the store! Industrialized feed lots house several thousand cows at a time and they have to give the cows antibiotics to keep disease from wiping them all out. They are grain fed to fatten them quickly so they can be sent to market. I would much rather have meat from a cow who is able to graze on it's own. Someday... maybe... we'll have a cow or two of our own! The are quite social creatures and good in nature... AND Caylyn LOVES cows! By the way, that's the animal we are learning about in school this week. :)

Yesterday was better and we have blue, yellow, and green down. Now we are working on writing the letter "A" and the number "1". Fun, fun!

Where did the Weekend Go?!

I just blinked and it was gone. Sniff, sniff. It was a good weekend though. Bright and early Saturday morning we headed to Bangor to visit with Gramma and Grampa. We did some shopping and then they took us out to eat at Uno. Yummy! We also went to Marden's (my first time to the one in Brewer) and my head is STILL SPINNING! I was so excited because I finally found dress shoes for Trent for $3.99. I refuse to pay more than $5 for a pair of shoes they'll outgrow in just a few months.

On our way home we stopped in Lincoln to visit a few of the girls from my Sunday School class. We only caught 3 at home, but it was still so good to visit with them outside of Sunday School. On a side note, all the girls are really great. They are attentive and ask really good questions. Pray for them, that they will have a desire to learn about the Lord. They asked if we could read through the whole Bible in Sunday school! We've compromised and are going through each of the stories from Genesis to Revelation. It's a great study for ALL of us!

Sunday is always busy with church and it was a good day in the Lord's house. The weather was SO beautiful that we went for a walk after the kids' naps. We tromped through the mud and snow, but it was still fun! I was also able to hang some clothes to dry on my new clothes line! (Thanks, hunny!) It's going to be great to save some money this summer...

Enjoy some pics from our walk!

New clothes line :)

Cozy in the coupe

He can never resist climbing a tree!

She's trying to figure out how to get on the swing without falling in the puddle.

A stream that runs under the road.

We have to stop and look at the "water" every time we go for a walk!

On the run...

Starting Early

Today...

Caylyn started school. We set aside a time each morning to learn. Since she's only 2 its a very short time. :) Today we started with the letter "A" and the number 1. She was SO excited when I showed her how to write an "A"! She giggled with delight as I helped her trace it. We also learned the colors blue, green, and yellow. She was quite partial to blue. We both loved our first day!! Next week I'm actually going to try a free curriculum I found online for 2-4 year olds. It basically lays out lesson plans for each day and follows the same theme for a week. The first week we are learning about cows! YAY! She already LOVES cows! We are also learning the letter "A", the number 1, and a square. It should be a lot of fun! Trent tried to get in on the action, so I let him color a little which led to playing peek-a-boo with his color sheet and eating his crayon. Boys!!!

We also went outside today and Caylyn felt the need to jump in every mud puddle in sight! Of course. We went for a walk and I put Trent in the Cozy Coupe (from Nana and Papa). He loves riding!! He laughs and yells the whole time!! The weather was beautiful today, but I must say that I'll be happy when all this mud is gone. :) It will soon be time to put all the winter clothes away and bring out the short sleeves! YAY!!!

Caylyn looking at her colored picture.

Trent playing peek-a-boo!

Laughing together... so cute.

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