Good Friday

Our Bible verse focus leading up to Easter was "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:10

More than in years prior, Elle is grasping a deeper understanding of God's love to us through His son, Jesus. What a sacrifice Jesus made to give us eternal life in heaven with our Father. Watching this knowledge unfold in your child's heart is JOY!

One way we focused our hearts, on this best time of year, was using the resurrection egg devotional. Oh how they looked forward to our evenings, discovering the next hours in Jesus' journey to the cross. They were somber and full of questions. This year, the crown of thorns and nails He bore for us deeply pained Elle. The story was brought even more to life at our church's Good Friday prayer walk. Each station had focused scripture and prayer regarding the last days and hours before our Savior was laid in the grave. Eric read and prayed with Elle at each station, but at the cross she was too burdened to kneel before it with Eric and literally pound in a nail. She quietly watched.... But at the final station, the tomb, she asked to pray and thanked God for Jesus and that He is alive. She hasn't stopped talking about Jesus' sacrifice...as it should be, all year long.

In celebration of our new life, found only in Jesus, we participated in Rent-a-Chick. My sister's family has a coop of them and was flabbergasted that we actually paid for this experience. Ha! It was good fun though and made for a memorable Easter happening.

So this is how it went down... we picked up two yellow and fluffy baby chicks from our nearby friendly farmer. Along with the chicks, they sent us home with a box, bedding, feed, water and food dispensers -- and then we experienced....

Funny story...on our drive home, we all had to go potty, BADLY! When we all had successfully made it on the convenience store potty, Elle shouted out, "HOSANNA!" ...just living The Word! ;)

The chicks were completely adorable and Elle was such a good 'mommy', cleaning their box, feeding them, replenishing their water and holding them until they fell asleep. Zane, not so much. I had to nearly force him to 'enjoy' this adventure and he just wouldn't have anything to do with it. Well, this lasted for five days and then those baby chicks just got ugly, smelly and not so yellow and fluffy. Eew, yuck! :( I'm thinking, a week would have been plenty of adventure for this city family.

My sister is still speechless. She informed me that I could have bought them for much less.

Me: "But what would I do with them when we're done?!"
My (compassionate) sister: "Kill them."

Uh.....yeah, right! ...we live in two different worlds!

And oh, cousin Titus also experienced Rent-a-Chick to his joy as well! ;)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a '3 brother-Wolfe' gathering...14 heads, 8 cousins, 5 pies, 60 cookies and unlimited card playing. Now all that, is something to be thankful for!

Our car doors opened, Elle embraced cousin Ami, and they disappeared. About the only time we saw them for the next three days was when they resurfaced for food. Those girls are silly and becoming precious friends - truly a joy for us to witness.

We found Elle and Ami 'painting' and dressing and dancing....


















Especially wonderful was having cousin Titus home for his first Thanksgiving.

He seemed quite entertained by all the action.

I love this pic of our boys connecting, while rolling and tumbling.

Zane still takes a bit of time to warm up at our large family shindigs. I certainly savor his cuddles and love that he still needs security and comfort from Mama. I know that all too soon this will pass and I'll be tackling him for some face time.

We knew our baby would get into the spirit of all things crazy and he soon joined in for some dress-up, piggyback rides and crafting.

























The only 'thing' missing was Grandpa and Grandma Wolfe, but they joined us via Skype for some laughs. Sadly, we could not pass them a slice of pie. :)

This Thanksgiving, the Wolfe family is grateful for our salvation and the fellowship we share through Jesus.