Blessings, Bliss, and Bailey: It's Looking Like Spring!

But it still feels like winter!!!
Yes, Spring comes late here in Iowa - while all of my Atlanta friends are posting to Facebook their evening dinners on the porch, we are still watching TV by the fire in the evening :) Only a few more weeks I hope...

We are happy to report that Bailey has recovered from most of last month's head injuries and now we are onto new things :) hehe

Yes, for those of you who missed it - I turned 32 this month... blah blah blah... No, I had a blast! Spent a night out with some good girlfriends here in Iowa followed by a delicious dinner prepared by Chef Christian :) He also gave me gift certificate for a spa day and I bought a new fridge... Yeah, we are getting old... New fridges for gifts...

We have had a wonderful time this season celebrating Lent. People often ask me what I "gave up"... Well, this year, Christian and I decided to do something different. We decided not to just do "one thing" - but to just focus more on the day to day. I guess you could say we spent our last 40 days being more "intentional". We have focused on thinking more about God and what he would like from us. We have spent a lot of time in our devotionals and listening to Fr. Barron on his website (love him) Also, we have really gotten into watching the Bible series on TV! It is so well done and the producers have done an excellent job in keeping true to history. Yes, we followed the traditional rules of meatless Fridays and so on... but I think we benefitted most from giving our faith a "reset".
I tell Christian all the time that I feel like it is so hard to walk the narrow path with God. It is hard to do the right thing, say the right thing, and speak the right thing! It is so much easier to do what is easy, fun, glamorous, or even popular. We live in a "popular" world, and for us, sometimes, you can feel yourself getting sucked in. My best friend and I often have spiritually filled conversations and she once said that it is so easy these days to become a "casual atheist". We say we believe - and we talk like we do, but when things don't go our way, we change the rules - or better yet, change God's rules. That is being casual. I guess, I don't want to be casual. I have had multiple opportunities to be casual with my faith in the past couple of years, but I chose to be more deliberate. I can say that it was not the easy path - but I can see the blessings in making the right choice :)
I am by no means a martyr or some sort of saint! I make mistakes everyday - but, those times when I stop and actually THINK before I act, and make a prayerful decision, I always win.
The good news is that Easter is not over! We still have 50 MORE DAYS of this wonderful season, so if you messed up during Lent, there is still time :)

One of the things that we have really come to like about Iowa is the family centered community. There are lots of things to do with your kids and as a family. The other weekend, we went to a parade downtown in honor of St. Joseph. It is really an Italian festival, but many other groups have replicated it. Here in Iowa it is the Czechs and the Polish. Everyone dresses in red and it's kind of fun. Anyway, the parade was a riot - Bailey loved all of the floats and people dressed in crazy costumes.

This past weekend, Christian and I had our first non-family company Heather and Ryan - Christian has been friends with Ryan since like 10th grade. His wife Heather and I have become very good friends and we were both in their wedding a few years ago. They are pregnant with their first child - a GIRL - and we are so excited for them! It is hard keeping friendships alive with all of this distance between us, but with people like them, it's easy :)

Bailey LOVED the Easter bunny and we are now positive that she has a sweet tooth! The candy is out of control in this house! During mass on Easter, she was like bouncing off the walls! When we left, Christian looks to me and says,
"Why do we have the worst behaved kid in church today????"
I replied, "Bailey was probably the only kid in mass today that ate 10 Reece Eggs, 1 Milky Way, a bag of skittles, and a cinnamon roll for breakfast!!!"

Ha! We all laughed at that one...

Happy Easter!
xoxo