Easter

It takes a lot work to make a holiday special. As a child, you never really notice all that goes into it. But, as a parent now of 3 children, holidays are a lot of work. Special meals means lots of cooking. Fun, meaningful activities take a lot of prep work and planning. And, we don't have any extended family around so most of it is up to me and Charles to do. And women are usually the tradition keepers in their families.

Easter egg bath on Easter Eve- new tradition!

Zekiel watching the bath fun and wishing he were big enough to join them. Next year, man!

Charles was in charge (ha!) of the resurrection rolls this year. Last year was the first time we made them and we used the crescent rolls out of a can which leaves a nasty feeling/flavor on the roof of my mouth. Yes, they are easier but, we have a bread maker and decided to make our own rolls. Charles is the bread master and he did a fabulous job with the rolls. They were delicious.

We wanted to make them ahead of time the night before but, we ran out of time. I was asked to speak on Easter Sunday by my wonderful husband :) Ok, I volunteered. I love speaking in church. Call me crazy. Then, I was also asked to sing. AND I had to prepare a lesson for my Sunday School class. I was released as Primary Chorister last May (but, was still filling in regularly until Aug) and got called last Oct to teach Sun Sch to the 16 & 17 yr olds. I was so happy to be with the youth again! Anyways, I realized on Easter Eve that I had committed to doing too much and was kind of stressing out.

Charles helped me to see that it would be okay to have our resurrection rolls when we got home from church for lunch instead of breakfast. I'm grateful that he helps me be flexible when I am being rigid for some reason.

At church we found out that our good friend Becky who Azure and Vince just adore was in the hospital. Right away I knew we should visit her. Seeing her there really made our Easter feel special, like the real meaningful holiday that it is. We brought her some Easter cupcakes that the kids decorated with special Springtime liners and toothpick banners that I got on clearance last yr after Easter. Charles followed my directions to make cream cheese lemon frosting.

We had a lovely dinner with Theresa and her in-laws who came from CA. We followed tradition and read the Easter story in eggs.

For our Easter gift this year, I bought caterpillars for our butterfly habitat that I bought last year for Easter. This is our new Easter tradition!

Watching these little guys (why are caterpillars referred to as male and butterflies female? thoughts?) grow and get into the chrysalides was emotional. I cried a few times. When they have grown full size the caterpillars crawl up to the top upside down and hang there. Then their body starts shaking like crazy and- get this- the bottom 1/4 of their body falls off! Did you know that?! I didn't. I imagine that that probably isn't a pleasant feeling. We could see their eyes and little faces as caterpillars. When they emerge as butterflies, their eyes and their face looks completely different! This was one point when I got emotional. Our potential is so much more than we can even imagine. If you told that caterpillar part of it's body would just fall off, and that it would grow beautiful colored wings and fly- it would probably boggle it's little mind. We are divine beings and our potential is limitless if we have faith in that Creator who created us.

Looking forward to teaching these lessons over and over again to our children (and myself!) by watching this amazing metamorphosis. You can order them here.

Oh, and I had a birthday. Now, I'm 32. Which is kinda weird. I told someone I was 31 last week and then said, "Wait. No, I just had a birthday. I'm 32 now. I think." I can see the signs of aging in my face and it's a little unnerving. Sometimes I still feel like I'm 16, and then I see a picture of myself and I'm like, "Wow. I'm getting old." We still have lots of wonderful years ahead, right? The best is yet to come!

And one last thing- last year on my birthday I made a wish...

and part of it came true that very week ;) The other part came true on Christmas day :) Remember, the Lord fulfills His promises! To you, and me. 

Nativity

I pretty much volunteered to be Mary in our ward's reenactment of the Nativity. I was so fitting being "great with child". Little did I know our baby would really be born on Christmas day. Charles, of course, had to be Joseph.

 They got some candy from Santa. Azure and Vince were reindeer in the skit b/c you know, reindeer were definitely in the manger.

I was asked to sing, "O, Holy Night". No small feat being 9 months pregnant. Breath control was difficult.

Vince stayed by my side while I sang. He hugged my leg a few times. Such a mama's boy.

Our very real Christmas miracle

Ezekiel Lamadrid Jensen was born at 1:25pm on Christmas Day! He weighed 8lbs 6oz and was 21 inches long. My biggest baby yet! Azure was 7lbs 3oz and Vince was 7lbs 15oz.

His detailed birth story will have to wait. Why does it take me so long to write detailed accounts?

My due date was Dec. 21. With my track record I knew he'd come later than that. I was holding out for Sunday, Dec. 23. It was Joseph Smith's birthday and we talked about Joseph for a middle name. If he were born on the 23rd we thought it'd be appropriate to use the name. Sunday morning came with no real contractions and I panicked a bit. "What if the revelation I received was that he'd come by Christmas time? Did it really mean he'd be born by Christmas day?" I had Charles give me a blessing that night to calm my worried heart and mind. In it he said, "The Lord will fulfill His promises to you." I still didn't know what that meant. But, it gave me hope. Something to hold onto for a little while more.

I am absolutely humbled that he was born on Christmas Day. Every time I think about it tears well up in my eyes. Do you remember that we found out last Christmas that we were pregnant? And after my miscarriage I felt the Lord speak to my mind and heart saying, "You will have that same baby in your arms by the following Christmas." Friends, the Lord loves us so, so, much! He fulfills His promises! Zeke is a living testimony of that for me. I hope my mortal mind can remember this miracle when I lose hope or faith or feel unloved. My heart is so full.

The birth itself went well. A few things I wasn't really expecting. Some things I didn't plan very well for. I have even more respect for my body. I went into labor on my own and actually dilated pretty fast without any Pitocin. Yay! More details later...

His shoulder got stuck and I ended up with a 3rd degree tear. I had one with Vince too and it wasn't that bad. But, this time has been much more painful. Friday and Saturday I was in so much pain that I felt it was tainting my birth experience and I was sad that I couldn't bask in the glory and wonder of his birth b/c I was too consumed with pain to do so.

My emotions have been all over the place. Joyful ecstasy to paranoid anxiety. Totally normal for the first week after giving birth.

My body is shrinking down and it feels so good to not be pregnant anymore. It's exciting to be able to wear some of my old lose-fitting clothes again! (ie non-maternity clothes- don't worry they're not my normal form fitting clothes. Can't fit into those quite yet)

And I am in love with my Zekiel. (That's what Vince is calling him and I love it. He also calls him Baby Zete) I could just inhale him in. Tan tierno.

Best Christmas present EVER!

I imagine the Lord chuckling at me whenever someone would tell me of their Dec or early Jan birthday and I would think, "Ugh. I'm glad my birthday isn't so close to Christmas." Or even more recent, "I would never want to have a baby during the holidays." But, now. Now, every time someone asks when his birthday is I will remember that the Lord loves me. I will remember that the Lord indeed fulfills His promises to me. I will remember the importance of forgiveness. The Lord knows what is truly best for us, so much more than we think we do.

"For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I asked of him" 

1Samuel 1:27

Halloween festivities

Azure changed her mind multiple times this year about what she was going to be. Last year I bought her a sailor costume and a princess costume on Nov. 1st  (great time to buy clearanced costumes). However, she really wanted to be a pepperoni pizza after seeing the previously mentioned Halloween costume demonstration. That was a little too involved for me to get excited about. I know, way to quell your child's imagination! I admit I am much too intimidated by grandiose projects.

 Maybe she toyed with the idea of being Daddy.

She finally decided on her pirate costume that she had so cleverly put together earlier. And I found this Superman costume at a consignment sale for about $5.

Charles helped me concoct this pumpkin costume out of electrical tape.

Zeke-o-lantern

 We decided to go trick-or-treating on our favorite street in Savannah- Bluff Dr. a rich neighborhood on Isle of Hope overlooking the river. We were not disappointed. Such lovely Southern style homes. We had a great time with the Saavedras.

The stash

Who knew?

A few months ago Charles started digging through his family history and found out that his 6th or 7th great grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War in South Carolina! And that some of his ancestors settled there for awhile. And there's a historical site at the battle where he died. Who knew?! So, of course being only 3.5 hrs away we had to make a trip in early September. In their visitor's center we got to watch a video about the battle and his grandfather was mentioned.

I love this pic of Vince with his head bowed in reverence for his ancestor who fought and gave his life here.

We made a weekend trip out of it and headed up to the temple in Columbia too. While Charles was with the youth doing baptisms I took the kids to the Children's Museum since we had yet to go in Columbia. It was pretty good.

Celebration Bahama- Our 6th anniversary

On Black Friday last year we bought a Groupon for a 2 night cruise to the Bahamas. We had seen this deal before and talked about getting it, but we weren't too sure. We decided the next time it came up we would purchase it, so we did!

We knew we would use it for our 6th anniversary in May. We could only go on a weekend and gratefully for us, our anniversary this year landed on a weekend (Sunday). I really like celebrating the actual day of things so this was meaningful to me.

When we found out we were expecting last Christmas I realized I would be too far along to go. (The cut off limit per cruise rules was 24 wks). So, we looked at going for my birthday instead but, it didn't look like it was going to work. When I miscarried I realized this was yet another reason that the timing was not right.

The timing of this trip proved to be one of my respites from the nausea and vomiting. I only wished it was longer than 2 nights. This trip was just too quick. It almost feels like it didn't even happen! 

We dropped off the kids at the Dworczyks Saturday morning and boarded the ship in West Palm Beach, FL that afternoon.

The boat took off at sunset.

The food wasn't as great as Royal Caribbean's but, I was still grateful for it and ate every 2 hrs :)

We purchased an off-shore excursion to spend the day at this resort- Lucaya Grand Bahama. My jaw dropped when I saw the view. I loved their swimming pool! (This is not us if you can't tell)

 I love my buttermilk-mayo boy :)

Charles had the brilliant idea to purchase snorkels for this trip. We saw lots of cool little fishes.

And he took lots of pics of me. I don't look like this anymore because I'm almost 6 months pregnant and am fatter :)

Coconut water is not my favorite. I made Charles finish it. Made for a good pic though, right? Also a word of caution- it does a number on your bowels.

It was a fabulous trip filled with romance and food. Only one slight quarrel regarding a jet-ski rental ;) Happy 6 years to my eternal companion and best friend. I love you Charlie!

Easter and forgiveness

We are SO in need of an update over here. Let's just start with Easter and then I'll back track later. You all know Easter is my favorite, right?!

One thing I do dislike about Easter though, is that it always falls on a different day, or different month, each year. I really, REALLY love Easter being the 2nd Sunday in April. Conference weekend the week before Easter is so perfect. It really sets the stage for our whole Holy Week. Can I make a deal with someone that Easter can forever and always be on the 2nd Sunday in April? Please?!

Conference! I could do an entire post just on Conference. I felt a common theme was forgiveness. And, oh, how I needed that topic! I mentioned in my birthday post how challenging it had been for me. Things seemed to click in my mind how I could go about forgiving while maintaining my personal boundaries. (a huge source of my struggle) Of course, I had prayed and fasted about it many, many, many times. Conference just made it all come together.

I will just say that God does answer prayers (sometimes it takes a long time to figure out what the answer is) and that He respects our agency and is very patient with us. He is intimately involved in the little details of our lives.

I made amends with my offender the day before Easter with a lot of support from friends and mostly Charles. I could not do it without him! It felt like a big milestone in our marriage. There's no way I can make it to heaven without this guy. No way.

If anyone reading this is carrying around a burden or a grudge against someone let me motivate you to reconcile it- not for their sake, but your own. I feel much happier! Forgiveness is not synonymous with acceptance of the offenders actions or even friendship. That was hard to figure out!

Onto Easter....

egg dyeing

and egg hunting

not egg snacking (no hard boiled egg fans here)

Some bunny loves you ;)

On your marks...

Go!

zip-lining

and tramp-jumping

static hair flying

Resurrection roll making

early morning rejoicing

I awoke just before sunrise to read all 4 accounts on the morning of Christ's resurrection on our back porch. It's something I try to do every year since my time at BYU. (preferably at dawn and outside) Hearing the birds chirp enthusiastically as I read and watched the darkness dissipate into dawn filled my heart with love and gratitude and testimony.

Azure and I sang Hosanna together (just the two of us) as part of our ward's Easter program. This is our 2nd time performing together. I just love that girl.

Having forgiven my foe the day before, coupled with a morning devotional and a performance with Azure, really made this an even more meaningful Easter. Christ lives and He loves us!