Sorry for my silence around here lately.  

   We have been positively swamped, and as always during times and seasons of mayhem I find myself thinking for possibly the thousandth time that I should just call this whole thing quits.  But then of course the craziness eases up for a minute or two, I catch my breath, and some how find myself back here at the keyboard.

   It's raining today, and that's probably the other reason why I meandered back into the office for a spell.  Lately the weather has been more bi-polar than ever, swinging back and forth from sunshine to rain, warm to cold, quiet to hail, all in one day.  And so on days when the sun is out to stay, we try to spend a lot of that precious time outdoors.  Hence the lack of posting.

 
   Easter has come and gone, and I think each year something means a little bit more to me.  This year I am just overwhelmed at the thought that He bore our sins.  Not just that He bore the pain of the beating and the whipping and the scourging and the nails, although that is miraculous as well.  But the fact that He bore the weight of sin, and didn't break.  He didn't crumble.  He didn't collapse underneath its weight, choosing an easier way out, or giving up completely.  He bore it, and he won the final victory.  I just stand in awe of that, and I hope to claim a small sliver of that victory for my own battles.

 
   We celebrated with the usual long morning at church, starting with the sunrise service and then staying for the regular one as well.  I know I'm like a broken record on this, but it is so good to be part of such a wonderful church family. We feel so very blessed. After church we got together with Randy's family and my sister and her family for lunch, and stayed there the rest of the day.  It was a long day and we were all exhausted by the time we finally went home that night, but it was a wonderful, memorable Easter.

 
    I'm quite sure I'm the only person on Facebook that didn't manage to wrangle my family together for an Easter family picture, and I never even get one of the girls in their outfits before Charlotte had a massive diaper situation all over hers and had to change.  But oh well.  The dresses, eggs, candy and bunnies aren't really what Easter is all about anyways.



   The Easter egg hunt was a big hit as always, although I have yet to get my girls really into it.  Charlotte was still grumpy from her too-short nap, and Jocelyn has always been so apprehensive and tentative and timid of the whole process, it feels like more work than its worth at times.  I tell you, it's hide-n-seek combined with CANDY.  What's not to like??  If I hadn't given birth to her I would doubt she was mine sometimes.



  I took probably 30 pictures of this little crew and this was the only half-good one.  Some hilarious out-takes though, let me tell you.




  Not pictured, playing games, four-wheeling, target practice, Nutria-shooting, and consuming ungodly amounts of tri-tip and cheesecake.  Yes, this Easter was certainly one for the record books.  And I must say, perhaps my favorite part of it all was sitting around the dinner table and sharing some classic Graber stories.

   For those of you that may not know, I grew up in Iowa, and moved out here after marrying my husband.  So we live surrounded by his family, while being thousands of miles from almost all of mine.  But, in a stroke of luck, (or Divine providence, actually)  God would have it that I have a sister out here as well.  She too married someone from Oregon and so while far away from the rest of the Graber/Maust clan, we do have each other.  It was so special to be able to be with them this Easter as well, and that led to sharing some stories about our family around the table.  It would take far too long to re-tell them as there are just so many, and so many details.  Grabers love details.  And embellishing, as my father-in-law likes to remind me.  Well, in my opinion, this world would be quite the boring place without a little embellishment now and then.

   I'm not even sure which story is my favorite......  The pranks that my dad and my uncles all pulled while at Rosedale, the harrowing, near-death sledding tales, the century-old farmhouse that my aunt and uncle renovated that was infested with snakes.....the list goes on an on.  All rich with detail and humor and drama and a delight to tell and hear.  Which reminds me.....if you want to read some of them, my aunt wrote a book!  You can find it here on Amazon.  She has been submitting an article to the local newspaper for years called "The Mommy Diaries" and this book is mainly a collection of them.

   Obviously, I would recommend it first to anyone who knows my family.  I think you will find it highly amusing being able to put faces to the names and places mentioned.  But I would also recommend it to anyone who just likes a good story.  Because from cover to cover, it's full of them.  From parenting and pets to travel tales and more, the writing style is reminiscent of Patrick McManus and if you're not familiar with him well......you're sorely missing out and so now you've got TWO books to buy.

   Anyways, that's all for now, I hear one of my little ones waking up and signaling the end of that blessed break-time in the day.  Happy Tuesday, everyone!