He Is Risen!!

The Lord our God, my Savior, has beaten death and has risen from the grave! Hell has no victory! Rejoice in this day and proclaim it, today and every day: our God is ALIVE!!

Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia!
Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia!
Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!
Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia!

Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia!
Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia!
Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia!

Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia!

Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia!
Following our exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia!
Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia!
Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia!
Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia!

King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia!
Everlasting life is this, Alleluia!
Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia!
Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

Christ The Lord Is Risen Today
Lyrics: Charles Wesley
Music: Lyra Davidica

Enjoy this Easter Sunday, friends.

Spring Break

The kids are on spring break from school right now. I couldn't afford to take off work for this entire week, so they are mostly just hanging around the house.

Jacob has been over at his friend Jake's house quite a bit. Those boys are funny when they get together!! All the silliness and giggles come out of hiding and go full force. Jake is a good kid, and he has a clubhouse at his house, so they get to play in there.

Thomas goes to Boys and Girls Club daily. It's such a great thing for him to participate in! It's helped him keep his grades up; they teach the kids how to be part of a "family" by setting up chore lists and responsibilities; they get him involved with some fantastic activities - he's part of Botball, which is amazing! It teaches the beginnings of programming, which can plant the seed in young folks' minds and lead to huge futures.

Work is...how do I describe it? INSANE!!! IN. SANE. I'm sure it seems busier because of the lack of people we have working. But I know yesterday's numbers were pretty good for a Monday, especially since the first of the year. Plus the shifts are shorter (to save hours), so the days go by super fast. My Monday shift is still during the day, but my other shifts have me getting off work late in the evenings, so dinner has been sort of tough. Easy dinners are the plan, but even those happen later than I want dinner with the family to happen. I have been searching for dinners that can be made ahead of time, but also that don't use the oven. Any tried and trues? Send them my way!!

If you could spare a prayer for me too, I'd appreciate it. I've been on a medication for awhile and was having some unhappy side effects. My doctor is weaning me off that one and starting me on another one, but the weaning process is difficult. I'm dizzy and have vertigo much of the time...if I look from one thing to another, my eyes stop but the whole room keeps moving and takes awhile to stop moving. YUCK! I can deal with it at home where I can take it easy if I need to, but at work it's next to impossible to just stop and chill for awhile if my eyes go wonky. I've had sort of an icky feeling...not bad, really, just sort of...there. My healthy eating has sort of lagged too, which is NOT helping. So spare a prayer, friends.

So busy!!

I didn't mean to let the blog go to the wayside, but it happened and I apologize.

I said recently that my hours at work were getting cut due to budget cuts and belt-tightening. That happened last week and although my hours didn't get cut as much as I thought they would, my shifts got moved all around. I haven't quite found the perfect time to blog (hence my posting on a Sunday, which I don't like to do). I also had recertification due yesterday. I'm normally pretty good about having all my continuing education credits done by recert. time, but this year I was just way behind and had to spend some evenings working on those. Thankfully, I did get them done in time :)

We've spent a lot of time outdoors here too. The weather has been downright BEAUTIFUL lately, and we've taken advantage of it. Here in our village, we are alloowed to burn yard waste through midnight March 31st. We've been raking like crazy, and I have the blisters to prove it! We borrowed a fire pit from a friend and used it to contain the fire (which is another requirement of the village). Patrick also found an old tent we had (from before we had all the kids) and set that up in the backyard. Gina had an absolute blast playing in that, and it kept her occupied and away from the fire too.

Peek-a-boo!!

I also planted a few bulbs and seeds in the backyard. Three peony bushes, some morning glories and moonflowers. Mom had two trellises in the garage, which was perfect. We don't get a lot of sun, but enough where I planted that they should do alright. Here's hoping, and I will post pictures as soon as I have sprouts! I am hoping to have a little vegetable garden, but the budget is really tight right now. If we get our taxes back in a decent amount of time, that will be on of the first non-bill things we do. I would love to plant sweet corn, but I'm not sure we'll have room. Tomatoes, bell peppers, and cucumbers are on the "for sure" list. I can't wait for tomatoes!!

Do you garden? What are your favorite things to plant?