Easter 2012

Happy Easter! We enjoyed a wonderful time at church and with family as we celebrated our Risen Lord.  At 4 1/2 Priya seems to have grasped why we celebrate this special day.  I wish I had gotten a video of her explaining Jesus' death and resurrection.  It was so precious!  She explained how He died on the cross to take the consequence (yes, she used that word) for our sin.  She told us that 3 days later He rose again and how He ascended into heaven (yes, she used those words too).  She explained that Mary went into the "tunnel" and found that Jesus wasn't there and she was so happy that He was alive.  

Priya and I also made "Resurrection Rolls" together this year:

"A great Easter recipe to do with the kids! Rolls with marshmallows wrapped inside, which become hollow as they bake, it represents the tomb of Jesus on Easter morning, when you break them open they are empty inside!"

I had heard about them from a friend last year and decided to try it out since Priya was old enough to participate and understand their meaning.  I think this is a tradition we will continue to do for years to come.

We enjoyed Easter dinner at my parents' home and Ashish's family joined us as well.

 

The kids got to do a little Easter egg hunt which, of course, was fun to watch.

I really love to watch my kids play together and enjoy each other's company (especially when they are behaving well and keeping the noise to a sanity-saving level).  Below is a glimpse of some fun moments between them.

We love walking around campus together.  Josiah gets faster on his feet as the days go by.

Priya's relationship with her Daddy is a very special one.  She is definitely a daddy's girl.  You're a great daddy, Ashish!

Catching up

I can't believe it's been almost 2 months since I last posted!  It's time to get caught up!

Life continues on at a steady pace at the Christian household.  Ashish is pressing on with his studies and working for Campus Safety.  Priya continues to enjoy preschool and has been growing at a rapid pace.  She is really into puzzles and loves to practice writing and identifying letters.  She is very eager to learn to read.  Josiah is almost 17 months and is growing at a rapid pace.  He is talking up a storm and is communicating in both English and Gujarati.  He is nuts about going outside, balls, cars and Elmo.  I am nearing the end of my 12th academic year at Simpson.  How time flies!

Ami, Ashish's dad and I recently helped to put on an Indian church service for the World Serve missions team training at SU.  It was awesome to see Ami shine as she shared about life in India and to see Ashish's dad's passion for worship as he and Ami led the students in some Gujarati worship songs.  When we came home Priya was excited to see me dressed in a sari and asked to wear one as well.

Later that day we enjoyed an Indian meal together as a family.  Priya helped Ami to prepare it.

In mid-March we spent a day in Sacramento.  We took the kids to Funderland (a children's amusement park) but quickly got rained out so the kids were only able to get a few rides in.

After the rain chased us away from Funderland we went to check out IKEA.  The kids loved it!  Priya especially loved seeing all the staged rooms and had a blast exploring them.  Below she found a girl's room that was her absolute favorite.

She has decided that she likes posing for photos now. 

Grammy and Papa Penner returned to Redding and the kids have been soaking up quality time with them.

We had a surprise dinner for Ami's birthday at the end of March.

 

 

And bringing up the rear of this post is a fun outing with Papa Penner.

Josiah made his first attempt at riding a bike.

And the kids had a blast on the slide.

It'll be fun when Josiah is old enough to ride a bike and to really keep up with his big sister!