Sunday, April 15, 2012

Today we went to Elizabeth Park with the girls. We are trying to do as much as possible with them because last year we hardly did anything with Abigail because of Bill's work schedule. It is a huge blessing to own your own business but at the same time there is a cost to your family especially in the beginning. With both of us being home and the wonderful addition of Madison we recognize it so much more now. But if it were not for the business Bill couldn't be home with all of us now and when I have to return to work.

This is such a beautiful park. My Grandparents use to tell me they would frequent it often throughout the years and when I was creating a website for Healthy Hartford a few years back I brought my Grandmother back there while I shot the photos for the website. I fell in love with the roses and tulips and as a result Bill and I try to go back around this time of year.

We are trying to bring some order to our house. We are moving our office into the spare bedroom downstairs the smaller of the two and converting the larger room currently the office to the girls playroom. First we have to repaint the walls because the humidifier caused drip marks along the edge of the walls, plus it gives us an excuse to paint and try to relax a bit. The room is all prepped and ready to be painted. I started to paint it this evening but the color looks a little to dark for such a small room. So I stopped to see what Bill thinks before we have to redo the entire thing again. It will be so nice to get the office back to when we first did it four years ago! It is crazy how things can get so chaotic.

Madison tired out from the afternoon at the park.

Abigail is turning out to be quite the little climber. In fact this morning she decided that her new picnic table we put in the kitchen (to help her eat better) was her new climbing toy! The night before she decided her toy car was meant to be stood on and the steering wheels purpose was for her to sit on. Quite the little character she is!

Today Abigail said "wall". She also figured out how to put the car key in the lock to unlock the car doors. :-)

Today I was so touched because when we said Grace she held out her hand for me. My heart was so thrilled!

Monday, April 9, 2012

My first official blog posting, how exciting! I started an electronic journal when I was in the hospital last year with placenta previa. Madison Grace is now with us and we just celebrated her first Easter! Seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Abigail's first Easter. Last year we took a trip to Virginia for Easter to be with my family and for my aunt to meet Abigail She was only 5 months old, 5 months Easter day in fact. Now she is a wonderful 16 month full of energy and joy little girl! Madison is 2 months old and such a sweetie!

Saturday before Easter Sunday I took Abigail to her first Easter egg hunt. It was sponsored by a friends church with the theme Hunt for Hope. I loved the theme because we all are seeking "hope". What better hope than the hope we have in Jesus Christ! After all isn't Easter all about celebrating His Resurrection, not about bunnies and candy! We missed the food and bounce houses but we made it just in time for the hunt. Abigail didn't know what to do and was distracted by all the people and bunnies walking around. I walked around with her and helped her pick up the 11 eggs and then we watched the others briefly and decided to head to the park for some fun. I felt badly for her because it seemed like her first egg hunt was a flop. Daddy and Madison weren't there and we missed most of the event! We had fun at the park and she just loved hanging out with the bigger kids. It was heavy on my heart about her not having fun at the hunt so I prayed about it and decided why not do our own Hunt for Hope Hanson style! So I went online and used an idea from a woman online and just expanded on it. I took 12 large plastic eggs numbered and filled them with symbols representing the story of Easter. For example I took a olive cross that I got from my trip to Jerusalem and put it in the egg as a symbol of the crusifiction along with the scripture:

(John 19:18-19)
¹⁸ There they crucified him, and with him two others—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹ Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

I also took 6 large eggs and put little cards in each with a butterfly (symbolizing "new creation" and a Prize #). All the other smaller eggs were filled with candy. When the girls were done collecting all their eggs in the bags that I made for each of them we all went to the front of the house to open the eggs. I had the girls give me all the eggs numbered 1-12 and we opened one at a time in sequence to tell the story of Easter. My husband did a great job at telling the girls the story. Unfortunately I had to miss much of it to go in the house and feed Madison but what I saw was awesome! I had our camera set on the wrong setting when I was taking the photos so many didn't come out. :-( I am sad because I didn't get photos of the girls or us all dressed up. As usual we were in a hurry to get to dinner and by the time I was feeling better (I suddenly fell ill shortly after arriving) we missed our photo opt because Abigail was having a melt down (short nap earlier). As Bill said we will have to reenact it because the girls looked stunning!

This Easter we went to Chris's house, Bill's sister and had a wonderful dinner prepared by her.

Hunt for Hope 2012 Easter Egg Hunt Hanson Style.

Auntie Chris with Madison for the first time!

Auntie Chris helping Abigail hunt for eggs.

Abigail's cousins on the hunt!

Abigail's first jelly bean!

Bill demonstrating how Christ was put on the cross.

Abigail kept throwing her eggs onto the pavement like it was a game. :-)

Madison getting fed by her G-tube while we sit and relax after the egg hunt.

Madison wide awake taking everything in.

Madison ready for night time with her first Easter sleeper with bunny feet.

Thank you Lord for your sacrifice on that cross so that we may have life and life more abundantly! Praise the Lord He is Risen!