He has risen!!!

I didn't get any pics on the actual Easter, but we had a wonderful weekend!

First, Daughter found her Christmas tree and wanted it up as an Easter tree...

Kisses with cousins at the park :)




Grampy was laying down, so Daughter joined him

Watching the choo choo!!!

At church on Sunday, Daughter raised her hand really high to get a wafer just like daddy and mommy at communion.  It was cute, even Pastor chuckled :)

She wants all the sacraments now!!!

Our little social butterfly!

After the Church service yesterday, Daughter decided to become the unofficial greeter.

Someone tried to give her a high five (which she's yet to master, being as it's a difficult thing to teach one handed as I am) so she ended up shaking the hand.  Then she approached at least a dozen other people and held out her hand until they shook it!  I had to tap a guy on the shoulder to let him know she was waiting to shake hands- he wasn't used to someone down there trying.  She's ordinarily rather shy!  It was so bizarre and adorable!

Today she's found my Harry Potter Uno cards....

Lutherans for Life Executive Director

I had the chance to meet the executive director for Lutherans for Life, Dr Lamb, this past Sunday.

He preached at our church, but since we were in WI, we didn't make it back in time for the service or Bible study (at which I heard that we were talked about!) but I did make it to the Right to Life Education "Night" that afternoon.  He's an enthusiastic and knowledgeable speaker.  He even spoke about Measure 1 on ND ballot this November.

After his presentation, I had a chance to speak with him to get his opinion on our frozen dozen snowflakes.  I've been curious about peoples opinions about us keeping them frozen so that we can grow our family before (possibly) putting the remainder up for adoption again once we're done growing our family.  I didn't phrase the question very well, and I was a bit flustered as I sometimes am in social situations, so it took him a while to understand what I was asking.  Once he finally did understand, he said he thought it was perfectly fine.

Great!  That's what I've always thought... but I wanted some other opinions.  Daughter was frozen for 14 years before she was transferred and given the chance to grow.  Her siblings have been frozen 16 years now!  That seems insane!

Our old pastor went to heaven

Our first Missouri Synod Pastor, Rev Klemet Preus, went to heaven.  Here's his obituary.

He was a great man.  We were able to make it down to the cities for the visitation.  I'm so glad.  It was nice to pay our respect and see people.  His wife smiled when she saw Daughter and got to hold her.  Both she and Pastor (and all of our GOC friends) were so excited about Daughter and EA.

Pastor Preus was the one who helped us navigate through the moral issues of infertility.  He thought adoption was a wonderful idea when we eventually decided on EA.  He's also the one who gave us guidance during our losses.  We will miss him. 

He's one of the main players in Daughter's life.  He's left this world, but as he said while he was in hospice, "I am going to LIVE!".  (not sure that's ver batim, but it is the gist of what he said).

Funerals for Christians are both happy and sad.  Happy for the deceased who now gets to party with Jesus!  Sad for the family and friends left behind-there will now be a gap in their lives until they, too, get to heaven. 

He is risen!

Woot woot!   God is awesome!

Yesterday was a wonderful day. 73 here!  I got a little sunburnt. 

At church with Grandmda and Papa

Our family at church (Doesn't Mat look studly in a suit?)

Blessing smiles...

Almost every time Pastor blesses Daughter, she gets a huge grin.  It's so adorable!

"The Lord bless you and keep you in your Baptismal grace"

I think she knows.  :)

She fell asleep right at the end of church on my lap and then Mat took her to carry her down the stairs from the balcony.  She stayed asleep so I took a picture...

Cutie pie

A couple recent pics... This first one is my handsome hubby and Daughter at church.  She's wearing an 18 month dress!  I'm pretty sure that it's supposed to be one of those really short dresses that little girls wear, but it fits her like a normal dress now :)

Daddy and daughter at church

I gave her pureed brocoli last night.  She's gummed at brocolli pieces before, but never eaten them.  She seemed to like it!

Our giggly happy baby :)

Last Thursday night Daughter did not sleep well at all.  So mama didn't sleep well.  She was up at least every two hours.  Yikes!

So, thanks to Mat, I learned that sometimes Daughter just needs to babble to herself for 20-25 minutes before falling back asleep.  He let her do that when I was napping on Friday and she seemed great!  She napped for 3 hours!

So I've started turning off our bedroom monitor and turning the living room one to volume 3.  If she starts fussing, I hear it, but this way I don't wake up when she babbles contentedly.

Last night and the night before were the third and fourth times ever she has slept through the night.  Woot!  Happy baby and happy mama!  I know it's not going to happen every night... but it's been awesome!

trying out mama's hair and cup

Sleeping at Bible study. 

Daughter is saved!

Daughter was baptized on Sunday.  God is great!  With the children who we had lost before birth (and therefore before they could be baptized) we wanted to do the baptism ASAP!  I wasn't up to going to church last week, so we set the baptism for 8/11.

Mat, Daughter, me, and the Godparents (Sister and her hubby, brother in law)

sign of the cross

Baptized!

Hymn 725 is Daughter's hymn.  They sang it for her :)

There was a pretty good turn out!  I didn't think that many people would be able to make it because it was so last minute.  We couldn't schedule the baptism until we knew when she would be born!  But Pastor was very helpful and agreed with us about Baptizing right away, so he (and his wife) made it pretty easy.  As Lutherans, we believe in Baptizing infants, and we didn't want to wait long!

And I'll leave you with an adorable picture of daughter practicing her karate moves.