"Hoppy" Easter (2015)!

Chase's Spring School Picture (5 3/4 years old)

The excitement of opening Easter baskets

New Drumsticks!

Grammie Pam Breeden colored eggs with the kids last week.
This egg has a dove sticker on it that says "Hope."

Gabriel playing with an array of toys on Easter morning 

HAPPY RESURRECTION SUNDAY!  Have you seen the series “The Bible?” If not, I highly recommend it as it depicts the real life events that occurred from the beginning of time all the way to Jesus overcoming death.  That last part (Jesus overcoming death) is what Easter is all about even though I admit I still enjoy incorporating the Easter Bunny, coloring eggs, candy, and egg hunts in with the holiday.  Of course when you have children who are hypersensitive (extremely picky) eaters like mine, it’s kind of hard to load them up with candy they’ll actually eat.  Therefore, the Easter Bunny brought Chase and Gabriel just a few select edible treats and items such as bubbles, yo-yos, mini beach balls, etc.  Chase even got new drumsticks that he’s testing out right now as I type. 

All in all, we had a beautiful Easter morning.  Gabriel woke me up before sunrise, and Chase woke up shortly afterwards excited to tear into his Easter basket.  Since Gabriel’s nose has been running like a faucet for the past few days, we decided to stay home today rather than brave the Easter crowd at church and share our germs.  Truthfully, Tim and I are enjoying a morning at home after being on the go so much lately.  Work has been busy and a little on the challenging side for me for the past week.  Tim’s work is just as busy as mine as he’s transitioned to running a different machine the past week.  Aside from work, we’ve been running the kids around during the week between soccer practice on Mondays and several speech therapy appointments for Gabe.

Tim decided to take on the challenge of coaching Chase’s spring soccer team with the Isle of Wight County community soccer league for 6/7 year-olds.  Chase got to choose the team name and colors: the “Sharks” in teal and black.  The spring soccer season is very short only consisting of 5 games and we already had our first game yesterday (which we lost).  Tim has his hands full with soccer practice with eleven 6/7 year-olds every Monday. Chase is the youngest on the team still being 5.  Tim says herding cattle is easier than getting 11 kids that age to stay focused long enough for an hour of practice, but I think he’s enjoying it so far and that many lessons learned will be gained from this first season. 

Gabe’s speech therapy appointments have been time consuming with me having to leave work early 2-3 times a week for him to have 45-minute therapy sessions at a time, but I think we’re seeing small signs of improvement.  It will take time, patience, practice, and perseverance for Gabe to catch up with his speech, but I’m thankful we’ve at least started the process.  The therapists we’ve seen to date (the one through Early Intervention as well as the one with the public school system) both seem to believe Gabe could have weak muscle/tongue movement in his mouth that is hindering him from forming consonant sounds (the medical term for this is “dysarthia”).  They also believe he could have Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS), which there is no official cure for other than intensive intervention with therapy and practice at home.  Thankfully, we’ve ruled out hearing as being an attributing factor with a trip to the audiologist last week.  This whole experience has taught me to be thankful for speech—if you have children who never needed extra help for speech, don’t take it for granted!

Furthermore, we’ve registered Gabe to begin preschool (K3) in the fall and I truly believe being around other kids and getting in a routine will also improve his speech as children naturally try to mimic other kids.  We still have lots of other milestones to reach in the meantime.  Potty training hasn’t even been on his radar; so far, even mentioning the idea to him results in a temper tantrum and power struggle, so I don’t want to totally turn him against it if he’s simply just not ready.  Believe me, I’ve read the books, watched the videos, and heard oodles of advice on how to potty train a child, but I’m still a firm believer that a child has to be ready and somewhat interested and willing; otherwise, it’s just not going to work and it will result in frustration for everyone.  I remember Chase mastered potty training shortly after his third birthday while I was home on maternity leave with Gabe….just goes to show all children develop at different paces and what worked for one child may not work for another!

We have lots of exciting things to look forward to this month, including a field trip with Chase’s class to the circus, the boys’ birthdays (Chase turns 6 on the 22^nd and Gabe turns 3 on the 21^st), soccer games, and warmer weather.  The warmer temperatures will carry us into the Smithfield Swim Club pool opening next month (hard to already think about swimming).  Chase and Gabe are also enrolled for summer camp at FOEC starting in June.  Needless to say, we have lots of fun things lined up to keep us busy for the remainder of spring and into the summer months.  However, today, I’m glad to slow down and reflect on all that our Savior endured on the cross for our sins.  What an awesome God we serve!  We witness so many daily blessings we often take for granted—I assure you God still performs miracles (I’ve witnessed them firsthand in my own life).  The miracles in our lives may not be as obvious as Jesus Christ’s resurrection from the dead, but they’re still a display of His boundless mercy and love for us and an ever present reminder for us to keep that spark of hope alive! 

1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead...(NIV)