thursday three.

what a great week. holy week. and these past seven days have been some of my favorite. nothing spectacular happened (besides celebrating our risen savior... you know, he came back to life three days after being buried in a tomb) ;) this week wasn't out of the ordinary. but it was just good. ever have weeks like that?

i had several moments this week where i just made myself take time to treasure them in my mind. nick rocking bella and reading her stories before bed. nick&i talking on the couch after a long day. bella leaning in to give us kisses, talking to herself and bopping up and down in excitement, an ear to ear grin spread across her face. it's these simple moments that just make me feel blessed beyond measure.

since it was holy week this past week, this thursday three is all about easter.

nick

my parents had gotten each of us couples "the passion of the christ" movie for easter a few years ago. neither of us had seen it since it first came out, and nick suggested saturday night that we watch it and finally break it out of it's five-year-old shrink wrap. we got in bed--with a roll of toilet paper--and watched and cried. mel gibson may have kind of fallen off the deep end these days, but he directed such an amazing movie that is full of truth and depicts jesus in a way i really appreciate (you know, besides the flowing-hair-walking-beside-sheep, weak, boring, no personality emotionless jesus that we see all too often). it really prepared our hearts and set them right going into sunday. it's easy to become desensitized to what we really celebrate on easter; the unfathomable love and sacrifice of the cross, and the hope and power of the resurrection!

meg

i *love* going to church on easter. love, love, love it. it never feels like easter until we go to church. our church also has an amazing good friday service. at the last minute nick and his best friend, matt, got tickets to a rangers game, so me and camille (the baseball widows ;)) and my good friend candace took bella and went to the good friday service. on sundays, nick&i always go to our church's five o'clock service, which feels a little strange on easter... but it was well worth the wait. i love the feeling of celebrating in the midst of other believers, and easter is just the best. several people shared their testimonies and the hope that covers their pain... because he is alive. our service ended with this video that i've seen several times before, but forgot just how much i love it!!!

bel

since our eleven month old doesn't yet understand the theology of the cross or the resurrection, i think it's safe to say that the highlight of her easter was her easter basket. she loved it. let me rephrase... the highlight of her easter was the sunscreen that was in her easter basket. yes, sunscreen. i filled her basket with a few items that we needed to get anyway (i know, i'm thrifty like that) aveeno lotion that i adore, butt paste, bath wash and baby sunscreen. and she literally played with that bottle of sunscreen for what seemed like ages (especially for bella, our little busy-body!) she also got some new onesies, cute new pj's, some banana cookies and a stuffed easter bunny... and another one of her favs: bunny ears. this girl won't keep anything on her head, but once she saw herself in the mirror with those bunny ears on, she wouldn't touch them. guess she thought she looked pretty cool as a bunny. and i have to say, she was the cutest lil bunny i have ever seen :)

we had a great easter. so blessed by many things in our lives but most of all our loving and faithful savior!