Easter...A Day of New Beginnings

We may think of Easter as a day for new beginnings.  God sent his son Jesus to not only die for us but to rise again.  He wiped the slate clean for us and then presented us with the amazing miracle of raising Jesus from the dead on the third day.  Easter comes with spring...the green grass, blooming flowers, and new beginnings.  Our family also experienced an amazing beginning on Easter.  For the first time in over two years we attended church as a family for the first time.  Ever since Ava and Reese were born Zack and I took turns going to the 9:00 and 10:45 services.  The girls' immune systems were too fragile to take the risk of playing with sick kiddos in the nursery.  However, now that they have made it through two full winters and flu/RSV season has minimized, we will be taking them to church with us so that Zack and I can finally worship together again.  I didn't really anticipate being too emotional about it but as soon as I dropped the girls off in the nursery and someone asked me how it felt, I shed some tears and said it felt really good.  God is good.  We are truly blessed.

(I think our camera had something on the lens...bummer!)

Other than that, the girls got the hang of Easter better this year.  They actually knew that the eggs went in the basket and that there were things in the eggs.  Rice chex and goldfish though.  We'll save the candy for when they really know what they are missing!  Of course the girls were all dolled up in the dresses that Grammy and Nana bought them.  Too cute. 

In the evening we went over to our great friends next door, the Southards, and had a nice meal with some other families.  The kiddos got to have another little egg hunt and we had a wonderful time spending it with others. 

On a side note, Ava is scheduled to have a procedure on Thursday, April 11th to have her trach site fully closed (if it isn't already) and some scar revision in this area.  She was also supposed to have her G-tube (mickey button) removed from her belly and surgically closed this day but when we got her out of bed last week she had decided to pull it out herself.  Since the site was too small to put back in we have just kept it clean and covered with gauze.  I guess she decided it was time to do away with it.  However, there will still most likely be some scar revision on this site on the 11th as well.  Any prayers for this procedure would be greatly appreciated.  This is hopefully the last procedure Ava has to have due to her premature birth.  Pretty exciting!

P.S.  Ava and Reese got new trikes with Christmas money that we've been saving.  They are loving them!