Happy Dance and Dreams

We have hope; a hope that grabs the world by its shoulders and wake us all up to His promises.  When we are at our lowest we can hold onto that hope.  When we think we cannot make it another day we can snatch it up.  It is ours and He has promised us that those who fall asleep in Him will meet Jesus.  And that includes my Charlie boy.

This morning I woke up and my brother in law had sent me a text.

(And just to set this up, the several days previous I was grumpy.  I don't need anyone to say 'Amen' or agree...I know!  I was in a funk.  Even with vacation on the horizon I wanted to stay home in my bed.)  

Philip mentioned he had a dream and he wanted to tell me about it.  He said, "As weird as it may sound, I had a dream I'm supposed to share with you."  So I called and when he answered he said hello, good morning, and then went right into it.  He explained several pieces of the back story that I would need to know and then said, "Case, I know babies remind you of Charlie, because they remind me of Charlie too.  It makes sense that they would because he left this earth as a baby.  I want you to know that in my dream Charlie was giggling.  He was happy.  When he saw me he told Jesus to tell me about the babies.  Jesus explained that Charlie hugs the babies before they leave.  He said he hugs all the babies."  Philip stopped and then continued with, "Charlie is not dead Case.  He is alive and I think babies remind you of him because he has hugged them all!  A little piece of him is with them."

There was this weight lifted from my shoulders this morning after our conversation.  It made me sad for like a split second because of course I want Charlie here with me and then I realized those SMALL moments of joy I experience, he gets to experience 100% of the time.  Philip had no idea I was in a funk.  He had no idea why he was supposed to share that with me but I am so glad he followed the prompting from the Holy Spirit that said, "Tell her." because now I can picture Charlie giggling.  I can picture him hugging the neck of all those sweet babies coming to earth!  It reaffirms the hope I have and the hope I cling to.

What an incredible day filled with God's grace and love and HOPE!  We are all doing a happy dance today because we know Charlie is with Jesus and hugging ALL the babies!  

Easter

Easter was beautiful.

Our church service was perfect.

The weather was amazing.

The babies were fun.

Family was all smiles.

Easter Egg Hunt Extravaganza

We are entering the age where the twins are beginning to understand things that are going on around them.  One of my favorite things about this time in our lives is the "newness" of everything they do and see.  Macy plays tug-o-war with Scout and laughs so hard when she tries to pull the rope out of his mouth, succeeds, and he comes back for more.  Johnny has the biggest grin on his face when he sees or hears a truck and tells us what it is and then follows that by saying, "Vroom!" in what I like to call "boy fashion."  (What girl knows how to make car sounds at 20 months of age?!) It is amazing to me the things they know and the things they learn so quickly!

So we decided what better way to spend a Saturday than to take the babies (I am not going to be able to say that much longer...) to Tower Park and participate in the big Easter Egg Hunt.  It was technically their first "egg hunt" (aside from practicing in the back yard) and it went over just as we expected.

Macy absolutely LOVED it.  She is the cleaner/organizer of the two and she loves putting things "away."  Once she realized there were eggs on the ground and she was allowed to put them in her bucket she did just that until she collected so many eggs that her basket was completely full!  You could see the pure joy on her face.  She may have even gotten a little over zealous and looked for eggs in other kid's baskets to take for her own.  We had a little talk and she quickly got over it relishing in the fact that she could pull her eggs out of her basket and open them up to find these mini surprises (that she couldn't even really eat).

Johnny, on the other hand, was very interested in the trucks in the parking lot making noises near us.  While we were waiting for the hunt to begin John took him over to the trucks so he could see them.  As the countdown for the hunt began John quickly ran back over to the Easter egg hunt so that Johnny wouldn't miss anything...and boy was he mad.  He started crying and parked his fanny right in the middle of the grass refusing to pick up ANY eggs while he moaned, "trucks..." over and over.  It was a sight.  Eventually he leaned himself over five eggs in his near vicinity and stashed them into his bucket, but not without a continued frown.  We laughed over that moment and then as all kids do he got over it and ran through the grass while Macy continued moving her eggs from the grass to her bucket.

I could not ask for better memories of this day.  Every single thing my two kids did made my heart smile.  To make it even more of a great day (if that is possible) we rounded out the afternoon in our hammock eating ice cream in the backyard!  I even read a few chapters of my latest book obsession (The Antelope in the Living Room) while the babies napped.  I guess as John would say, "We're living the dream..."

I am looking forward to tomorrow, Easter Sunday, even more because that is when we truly celebrate Jesus and his death and resurrection.  My kids get to learn that it isn't about the Easter Bunny or about the Easter Egg Hunts, but instead about Jesus' sacrifice for us.  It is the first time I can begin to teach my two kids what Jesus did for them on the cross while enjoying the company of my entire family.  What more can I ask for?!