Lent tradition leading to Easter

Many of you have seen the elaborate Advent tradition in which I have made 25 ornaments out of clay and other things which hang from a live branch. It is a season of expectation. Lent is different in that it is a time of reflection, more somber. I made this tree out of cardboard and painted it brown. I put it up on a wall in our living room. I then followed patterns that I had and made these ornaments out of construction paper. Each one represents a story from the life of Christ. Preston can point out any ornament on the tree and tell you the story. You can see from the picture below that there is a palm branch which was the first of our holy week ornaments. It was the ornament for Palm Sunday. 

 This visual of the stories I feel gives Easter a more prominent place in our house. It keeps us on track as a family to have quality devotion time.  Plus we have been able to share some of the stories with guests we invite to our house.

Also for Lent, we have been meeting with other adults on Wed. night and going through a book. We will be celebrating Easter together as a small knit group. 

It has been a reflective season of fasting and prayer. We are anxiously anticipating Sunday when we can rejoice in the fact that "He is Risen"

If any of you are interested in the patters for the ornaments email me and I'll send them your way. I think the original creator did these in felt, but construction paper was perfect for us. 

Some of Isabellas favorite people

These are just a few people who get to love on Isabella through the week. The first two are Tim's language helpers. The bottom picture is my language teacher. 

He just is...

Tim is really the most amazing man I have ever known. He is both patient and kind. He loves Jesus, and loves sharing Jesus with others. He gives me room to be me, with all of my faults and ugliness! He loves me anyway! Im so blessed to be married to Tim! There is no special occasion, but just an overwhelming sense that Im totally in love with this man! He is a GREAT husband and an AMAZING father. I am a blessed woman I really am! This chaotic, crazy life we live would be lonely with out him. Im thankful in this moment for this undeserving gift that God gave to me. I am humbled really.

finally some proof...

...that she really is the happiest baby

 The last 2 days have been warm and we have even seen the sun poke through. Here in Hanoi sun during the winter is a rare thing. Even though Isabella is so happy every day, she has been particularly happy to see some warm weather and sunshine.

                     She is also saying thank you Amers for the adidas onesie that she finally gets to wear.

On more Isabella happenings, she has finally started to get the OH SO CUTE chunky rolls in her legs. They are so cute, you just want to pinch them all day. So hurry up folks come and visit us and see for yourself the happiest baby in all of Vietnam!

gifts and games

Tims family sent 'trouble' the kids game. I am pretty sure we have played it every day multiple times a day since he received it a couple weeks ago.  It has been a great game to teach him good sportsmanship.  When we send one of his little guys 'home' or he does it to us we say, "that's okay it is all part of how you play the game." Also for whoever wins we tell them congratulations. He does a good job at this.

Another thing they sent was a couple of crafting kits that they got off of our amazon wish list. We opened it up over the weekend and he made this lovely Caterpillar.

Thank you so much of thinking of Preston he is loving all the other things you bought as well. My personal favorite in the package is the Bible story coloring book.

Very thoughtful thank you!

I love rock and roll...

I love saying things like, "my kids"
I love giving hugs and kisses to two of the most adorable munchkins on the planet
I love having baby hands and feet to oooh and aaah over

Isabella is such a good baby...I love making her smile. Preston is the best big brother and is such a great helper. I am BLESSED!

a pinteresting valentine

I got this idea from pinterest :) I got a picture of Preston holding his hand out and then poked 2 holes in the picture. one above and one below then stuck a real sucker through his hand so it looks like the sucker is coming out of the card. We then added a little valentine touch. These are what Prestons friends will be getting as well as our Vietnamese teachers. :) A huge thank you to pinterest and all the fabulous ideas you give me