Eggcelent

Thursday was my last day at my most recent job. Although I have mixed feelings about this, I will not delve any deeper into it at the moment. Instead I will show this picture of some beautiful flowers my husband had waiting for me that afternoon. . .

Isn't he sweet? To top it off, Tim had bought all the "ingredients" necessary to dye Easter eggs!! I love doing them every year and had almost forgotten about them this year in the rush of so many different things going on, so of course I was very excited and eager to make them. Thanks, Tim! 

The beginning

Hard at work

One of our cartons of finished eggs

In other news.... many people have been asking us about what our little one's name is going to be. Well, what better way to tell everyone than to put her name on Easter eggs?!?!

Yes, this is the same picture, I just like how it is brighter.

Our little girl's name is going to be: Lierre (Lee-air) Elizabeth Bloch.  Lierre is/was my middle name before I got married. It means "Ivy" in French which is my mom's name. Elizabeth is Tim's mom's name and has been passed down many generations in their family... it's also nice that it is my grandmother's name as well.  We definitely think we are going to try to go by the full "Lierre," but if we ever do shorten it or people insist on a nickname (which they sometimes do), she will be "Leah" (Lee-uh), not Lee. It's a big name for a little girl, but I think she will handle it well. She's bound to be awesome. 

I am 21 weeks today and she is measuring in at the length of a carrot and her eyelashes/eyelids are almost fully formed. I think some early nesting is kicking in because all I do when I sit around is think about how I want to organize and things I can get rid of and things that I need. This doesn't mean that I actually do anything about it, but at least I'm starting to think and feel the urge to get things ready.

Oh, in other exciting news, I'm pretty sure I have been feeling her move for the last 3-4 days. It's pretty cool. I can't wait until I feel it more consistently and especially until Tim can feel her, too!

In other eggcelent news, the reason for this holy week, the reason for Easter, the whole beautiful redeeming part of being a Christian: 

There's a song that I like that talks about how much God loves us. "I love you more than the sun and the stars that I taught how to shine/ You are mine and you shine for me, too/ I love you/ Yesterday, and today, and tomorrow I'll say it again and again/ I love you more." 

Now.... I know almost each and everyone of you just skimmed over those words (who isn't guilty of doing that, especially for stuff like lyrics?). However, I urge you to read that again. God who spent all of this time creating everything beautiful in this world.... taking time to decide where each star should go, each spring flower and beautiful blooming tree, the warm sunshine..... he did all of that and yet it all pales in comparison with how much He loves us. He loves us more than all of that and to save us from ourselves, our imperfections, our relentless tendency to mess up again and again and again.... to give us hope in times of trial or sickness, to give us redemption plain and simple, He gave us Jesus. Jesus lived a life that was every bit as normal as everyone else's at the time--except he did it all perfectly. This is not to say he was never tempted or that he never felt pain--he felt it all just as sharply as the next person. But he was perfect. And instead of leaving us to fail, to drown in hopelessness, to be alone in the world, he resigned himself to selflessly and lovingly take on our flaws, our sins, our brokeness and leave it all on the cross. Because of this selfless act of Jesus, we all have the chance to claim him and to then claim eternal life. Not just life forever....but life after death, life after death in paradise. He loves us so much. I love the JOY and the fresh start that comes with Easter.

That's it for this week..... I have a special egg saved just for you readers.

Thanks for reading, thanks for your kind supportive words!!!