We love the sunshine state!

During my Spring Break week, we decided to take a trip to sunny Florida to see James' family. We love traveling to FL. because we both love the warm weather and the sun- just as long as we don't get too much sun :-) Plus I love visiting my in-laws and just spending time with them especially since we don't get to see them very often - maybe twice a year. I am very blessed to be a part of an amazing family!

I would like to introduce you to my nephew Michael and my niece Hannah.

 



We visited them the second day we were in FL at their house in Gainesville. They are aspiring photographers! Right now, they are not very expensive, and will probably work for candy, but in a few years their work may become very  famous and you will wish you bought their work! Here are a few amazing pictures that they took: 

This is their mom Lydia

This is their piano



This is their sister Charis



I am not sure whose cup that is?!

This is their baby sister who they will get to meet in August

This is grandmother

While in FL we also helped my mother-in-law throw James' dad a surprise party. It was our job to get him out of the house for at least an hour and a half. It is so hard to come up with things to get him out especially for that long! So, we came up with an idea! We told him that we wanted to take him out for lunch for his birthday on Saturday with just James and I (his real birthday was on a Sunday). He agreed to it! We really did want to get to spend some one on one time with him and it was good time to talk and catch up! Then, James' mom said that she needed a few things from the store to help us distract him longer. After getting all of the supplies, we headed back to the house. He didn't know a thing until we pulled into his neighborhood and he saw all of the cars! He then said, "Oh! I see what's going on here." Inside waiting for him were many friends and Daniel and Lydia came up from Gainesville to surprise him! It was so much fun!

We also took out James' youngest sister Grace for some ice cream at Brewster's ( I love that place!) to celebrate her high school graduation. She doesn't graduate until the end of May but we can't attend her graduation because it is the same day my preschool kids are graduating :-(   It was so great to get to spend some one on one time with her too!

 My work was so gracious and let me take the Monday after Easter off so I could celebrate it with my in-laws! It was such a beautiful day! We spent most of the time outside after eating a wonderful meal that my mother-in-law made! Then, we had an amazing cake designed by Anna who is an amazing artist and aspiring cake decorator! Here are a few pics from the day!

Anna's amazing cake depicting the story of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection!

Anna, Lydia, and Grace

Hannah and I with Onyx. She is scared of dogs, but she loved Onyx!

Charis in the infamous Kendall swing

Michael being silly!

Most of the family gathered for Easter! We were missing James'
older brother and his family and James' sister Catherine and wish they could be there!

Beautiful Anna!

Anna and Charis on the Kendall swing

Also, while in FL we helped James' brother Aaron create his rap video :-) He is a great musician and wrote a rap of his resume! It is really good! He has been having a hard time finding a job, as is everyone in this economy. So, he decided to get creative and market himself in a unique way!  If your place of business or church is hiring, let us know! He would be a great addition! I will put up the video once it's complete! But in the meantime, here's a little video of how much Michael and Hannah enjoyed the song:

We were able to take a day to travel down to Orland to meet up with our good friends the Root's! For those of you who don't know, our friend Adam was in a bad motorcross accident last May. He had been in a coma for a long time but has been coming out of it! God has done amazing things in Adam's life and has used his accident to reach and touch so many people! His wife Amy has been such an amazing wife to him through all of this! She has been such a prayer warrior and a great example of what a godly wife looks like. If you haven't read their blog, you should! Their story will touch your heart! You can read more about their story at:  www.adamrootfamily.blogspot.com

It was such a blessing that they were even in FL the same week we were! Adam had been in a facility up in Boston for the past several months, but was able to transfer to an amazing facility in Orlando. This facility is located in an amazing community that seems like Pleasantville! You can walk to all kinds of restaurant, shops, grocery stores, bakeries, the YMCA - everything you need! There's even a church they can walk to! We had the honor of taking Adam, Amy, and their daughter Mackenzie out for their first dinner together since the accident. Adam even picked out the restaurant! We ended up going to a cute little family-owned pizza place that had the best pizza I've ever had! Afterwards, we took them to get some ice cream! We had so much fun together and a great time of fellowship! Adam's life is a testimony of the amazing power of God! You will have to read their blog to see their journey from the beginning to now and see how much God has worked in them! 



Amy and I



I apologize for such a long post! I hope you enjoyed getting to know some special people in our lives! It was a great week not only being able to be with family who we rarely get to see and sweet friends who we also rarely get to see but also was a great week to reflect on the purpose of Easter. Easter is not about bunny's and eggs but about Christ and the cross. It was a punishment that Christ paid for us - for our sins - so that we may live eternally with Him. If you believe what Christ did for you, I would encourage to take your focus to the cross every day, not just on Easter, and to reflect on what Christ did for you. God is a gracious, loving, and merciful and what He did on the cross testifies to that!  If you don't know Him personally and never accepted what He did for you on that day, I would encourage you to seek out why He would do that for you and why you haven't accepted that.