april THREE

I almost forgot to take the boys' picture today. Then I looked at the calendar on my computer and realized I get to take another picture of my three boys. I honestly love these monthly pictures and enjoy looking back on the pictures I started taking of them last year!

This is in our backyard {or maybe I should just say it's the part of our yard that's located behind our house since our whole yard is fenced in} under our very own mango tree. I have never seen a mango on this tree, nor eaten one from it although that would have been nice. But the boys, the big boys that is, like climbing it. It's their "climbing tree".

Jamie is taking Noah and Jude to a showing of Madagascar 3 at MishMash tonight under the stars! They're super excited and I think it'll be a fun time for them with Jamie. Some fun "guys time".

We had a good Easter weekend. Very low key and chill. We read the Easter story, watched a cartoon version of Passion week {on Good Friday} and Resurrection {on Easter Sunday} and the boys had some good questions. There was no candy or egg hunt at our house although we did participate in a small egg hunt at MishMash on Monday and the kids were just as thrilled to be searching for laminated paper eggs than to be finding candy. Note to self - don't bother with the candy next year.

On the third of every month I take pictures of my three boys. See past monthly pictures here.

ash wednesday

today is ash wednesday. the beginning of the lenten season.
each year, lent becomes more to me. i think this is a good thing because i think it means that Jesus means more to me - that He becomes more to me. so this is good.
i don't have any specific resolutions/goals/things i'm giving up this year, but my hope is to slowly introduce the concept of focusing on the sufferings of Christ to my kids as well as regularly spend time in both the Word as well as on some lenten meditations. and i'm also hoping to re-read Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ by John Piper {free download!}. one of my favourite Piper books. if you haven't read it, it's a short book and a great way to focus on Jesus and what He's done for us.
if you're looking for some lent resources either for yourself or for your family/kids, here are a few places to start:
a daily children's lent devotional - counting down from days 40 to 1.
a blog post on why we do lent by the lovely Ann Voskamp
8 weeks of devotionals by Noel Piper
40 ideas to help with your lent preparations
and i'd love to have one of these candle wreaths, perhaps i'll find a master carver here and get one made for lent/advent...

make a Jesus tree by Ann Voskamp (scroll to the bottom)

so much more

i fell off the running bandwagon for a bit.
it was maybe for a few weeks, but it felt like years. {indoor running really bites.}
i'm happy the weather is somewhat decent again.
we went to my parents' friday-saturday and i brought my running gear and actually psyched myself up to go for a run.
my brother convinced me to go on a trail i was pretty familiar with so i mapped out just over 5km and went for it.
it was drizzly. and kinda cool {weather-wise}, but running on a trail? beside a river? with the birds chirping?
so good.

as i ran i sang in my head a few verses of "nothing but the blood" in time with the pounding of my shoes on the path,

what can wash away my sin?
nothing but the blood of Jesus;
what can make me whole again?
nothing but the blood of Jesus.


oh! precious is the flow
that makes me white as snow;
no other fount i know,
nothing but the blood of Jesus.


it was good to run and clear my head; to sing {in my head} and pray and talk with Jesus and think about Him and what He gave for me.
i thought about what amazing grace it was that i could even just breathe in and out as i pushed my body to run a little bit faster.

it was good.
the boys had just had an egg hunt at my parents' and it was fun to watch noah hop along and scoop up some eggs and find the little presents my dad had stashed for them.
we had brunch and later on went on to jamie's side of the family where we were inundated with candy, chocolate and more candy.
i'm still struggling to figure out how to live in this world and yet to teach my boys that there is so much more to easter {and christmas and life!} than chocolate and candy and food and presents. there is so much more to be gained by knowing Jesus.
and yet
there are sweet memories to be gained by redeeming and enjoying some of our culture's traditions and teaching our children that yes, we do fun things like open presents on christmas and search for chocolate eggs at easter. but without Jesus it's all meaningless.

For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.


For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.


In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

ps i'm totally doing an egg hunt for the boys tomorrow morning. and because we brought home at least 10lbs of candy/chocolate yesterday the only thing that will be edible is pocky. {i'm not a meanie, i promise. my kids go ape-shit crazy for it!} i put pennies, nickels and dimes in plastic eggs and little veggietales characters will be their little gift. i think it's going to be a winner, folks.

spring has sprung

now that's better.

as i pulled out my easter baskets from last year i smiled in pleasure at how much i still like them. that was worth the $4 i spent at zehrs last year.