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Art, Art: gardening, Art: God's creation, Faith, Family, Family: Jason, Family: Me, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: easter, Family, family pictures, family portraits, flowers, spring | 
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Posted by mahlbrandt
04/22/2014
Easter was beautiful this year. The weather. The church service. My people. A quiet afternoon. Dinner with family. My two-year-old daughter’s simple understanding of the meaning of Easter.
I wasn’t necessarily planning on explaining death to her at this age but between one of our chickens dying around the same time as her great-grandmother (and namesake) died, we’ve had some conversations about it already. She understands that dead means gone, we won’t see that person or animal anymore, and their bodies are buried in the ground. Her understand of Easter (thanks very much to the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones) is this:
Jesus died on the cross. The whole earth was sad and the rocks cracked. They put him in a tomb with a big stone. The stone was rolled away. He’s not there! He came back and He’s alive!
On Saturday as we were driving to the pharmacy I heard her singing in the backseat, “Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross.”
Leave a Comment » | Faith, Family, Family: Jason, Family: Me, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: alianna, easter, Family, Jesus, precious, resurrection | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
03/31/2013
We started off our Easter Sunday early since Jason was playing in the band at church.
We enjoyed hearing the choir warm up.
Ali got the whole nursery to herself for a while. She loves the slide, of course.
Mmm…
Later, my parents and in-laws came over for Easter dinner. Grandpa let Ali decorate his face with stickers. What a good sport!
Oh, these two melt me!
Hey look, a good family photo! Thanks for taking this Mom! And thanks for putting shoes on, Jason!
And one outtake: Uh oh…someone has learned how to cheese for the camera.
Leave a Comment » | Faith, Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason, Family: Me, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: church, easter, Family, holiday, resurrection sunday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
03/27/2013
On Saturday, one of our neighborhood MOMS clubs put on an Easter egg hunt at a park. It started at 10am on a cold, dreary morning when we all slept in. We pretty much missed the hunt. When we arrived at the field, the last group was scrambling for the last set of colorful eggs. I quickly grabbed one and tossed it at Ali’s feet. She was not getting the concept so she had no sense of urgency. And thankfully, because she had no idea what an Easter egg hunt is, she wasn’t disappointed that she only got 1 measly butterfly eraser.
She was much more interested in “slide!” Her favorite playground activity.
She’s also an excellent climber now and determined to climb structures designed for kids 5-12. (Jason is spotting her.)
She’s fearless, my girl.
1 Comment | Art, Art: God's creation, Faith, Family, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: Ali, easter, egg hunt, neighborhood, park, playground, precious, slide | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
04/12/2012
I had every intention of getting a photo of the three of us all dressed up for church on Easter…but it just didn’t happen. After church, we had lunch at Cheesecake factory with both sets of parents plus Jason’s brother Dan, our sister-in-law Ginger and Precious’ cousin Eliza.
These two couldn’t be more different but I hope they grow up to be great friends. This photo just cracks me up:
After we all had afternoon naps, it was time for a quick photo shoot of our beautiful baby girl. (Jason and I had already changed into our comfy clothes.)
These two have a special relationship. Jason can make her giggle and laugh more than anyone else. She says “Dada” 30x a day—that’s 30x more than any other word. He adores her. And she adores him. It’s almost like she knows she came THISCLOSE to growing up without a daddy, but he fought hard for her—we both did—and Father God did a big miracle for our family in allowing us to stay together.
3 Comments | Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Jason, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: 2012, cousin, easter, Eliza, Family, Jason, precious | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt
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