Update

So, I just heard that Byron is doing wonderful today. Yesterday his mom could not get him to wake up and his feet were blue. On the way to the ER his grandmother was able to wake him up so they went to their pediatrician instead. She found that he had a fever and a slight cold. His mom was calling his heart doctor today to get some explanation as to the blue feet. They are keeping an eye on him but he has just been a happy little boy all day. Thank you for your prayers!

Please Pray

I wanted to post really quick and ask for prayer for my friend's little 2 year old boy, Byron. She found him unresponsive at his nap today and he is being rushed to the ER. Right before Byron turned 1 he had surgery to repair a hole in his heart but had been doing fine since then. Please lift them up in your prayers. Rosie, his mother, is 7 months pregnant right now as well. I will keep you updated as I hear more details.

Did you know?

Someone sent me the following bit of information and I thought it was too neat not to share.

Easter is early this year.

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20). This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.

Based on the above information, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22) and that is rare.

Here's the interesting information. This year is the earliest Easter any of us will ever see the rest of our lives! And only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or above).

And none of us have ever, or will ever, see it a day earlier! Here are the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2160 (152 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913 (so if you're 95 or older, you are the only ones that were around for that!).

2) The next time it will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So, no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year!

Oh, and I just had to post some pictures of my gerber daisy blooming the "right" color flower...

...and my pear tree in full bloom!

Mercy's Roommate

I was looking through some old pictures and I came across these that I had meant to share with a friend back when it happened. :)

Here's the story...When Mercy was a couple days old I needed to do something so I went and made sure to lay her somewhere safe, i.e. her bassinet, instead of on the bed where she could easily be "held". ;) Then a few minutes later I walked down the hallway to go to the children's room and as I passed my room I glanced through the doorway, I quickly did a double take since all I could see was these legs sticking out of the bassinet! As you can see below Charis had sought out the baby and decided she would like to lay beside her in the bassinet. :) Mercy wasn't bothered by it at all but from then on we made sure to be a little more careful and let the children know that they were really too big for the bassinet! ;)

What...who me???

You really think I'm too big???

I just thought she looked lonely... :)

50 Years

It has been hard to restrain myself from wanting to post really recent pictures but before anymore time elapses I wanted to post pictures from the special events of the past few months.

This one is the Pappas' Surprise 50th Wedding Anniversary Fellowship!

The couple now...

and then!

the food table

with the beautiful roses

a keepsake figurine for them, the plaque engraved at the bottom says,

"Celebrating a life of Sharing"

they were very surprised as we turned our annual Thanksgiving Fellowship dinner into the special time for them

everyone gathered round while my dad opened up our time together

the gift table with the collage frame Sister Judy did all by herself, not knowing that we wanted pictures of them to display for the event we were able to talk her into bringing it to church that day just to "show" us what she had done! hehe it was wonderful! :)

the cake table

50 precious years...

Ruth Ann and I did the cake together...it was fun!

cutting the cake...

Sister Judy is so cute in her hat...

feeding the bite...

not sure if after 50 years Brother Chris can do it any better ;)

But he still has that smile!!!

sweet

the newlyweds with (I believe) Brother Chris' mother and Sister Judy's parents

2 of Brother Chris' sisters were in town for a surprise 50th that the Pappas' sons had thrown for them the day before. It was a blessing to have them there as well.

After the fellowship we always have a sharing time centered on Thankfulness before the afternoon service

I'm just going to post a few pictures there were a lot more people who shared different songs and scriptures.

Our 2 who were not being so cooperative in front of everyone even though they had practiced.

Paige & Joy play a duet

Budding guitarists Robert

and Mark...great pictures btw ;)

And of course the Crane clan :)

And Brother Harding and his family were kind enough to come and share the afternoon service with us. Thank you!!!

I was bouncing a baby and wasn't able to take pictures of the event myself so all these were kindly donated by Ruth Ann. :)

And yes it did take me a week to put this post together as indicated by the fact it posted it with the date of last Tuesday!! Well, you know...life with children is rather busy. ;)

From Charis

So as I sat nursing Mercy this morning, Charis was trying to carry on a conversation.

C ~ "Mommy, the baby came out of your belly?"

J ~ "Yes Charis, she did."

C ~ "Are there any more babies in your belly?"

J ~ "No, not right now there aren't. Maybe later."

C ~ "Maybe later we have a new baby?"

J ~ "Yes Charis, maybe later. Would you like a new baby?"

C ~ "No, I'd like a new bed." :)

Which being interpreted is a couple of weeks ago we rearranged the children's room and I told Charis that when Mercy moved into her crib she would move into the trundle under Caleb's bed. So in the 2 year olds mind a new baby = a new bed since that is what she would get and that is what she seems to be interested in. ;)