Easter, Ironing, Makeup, and Memories...

My in-laws are here visiting with my neice and nephew. My neice turned 14 yesterday--I can hardly believe it, it seems like yesterday that she teeter-tottered down the aisle at our wedding. She is almost all grown up with make-up and everything. Blakley and Jadyn adore her. After all, who wouldn't love a cousin who wears cool jewelry and glittery makeup. So, Blakley and Jadyn have been very attentive to Karissa this week, especially when she is putting her makeup on and Karissa (who is a GREAT cousin)happily puts some on the girls as well. Unfortunately, this morning Daddy would not allow Blakley to have makeup on as he reminded her she is a little girl and little girls do not need makeup because they are already as beautiful as God created them to be. Blakley did not buy this, she stamped her foot down, put her hands on her hips and screamed "I AM NOT A LITTLE GIRL!!!" I'm afraid we will have many more mornings in her life that this same scene will play out before church!

Last night, my father-in-law had to iron his shirt for this morning. (Yes, he has to iron his own clothes!) I took out the iron and board and he got to work. As he was ironing I was French braiding Jadyn's hair so that it would be curly this morning. She turned around and took a long look at Papa Bill and just had this perplexed look on her face. Finally, she said,"Mommy, what is that, and what is Papa doing with it?" I totally started laughing....you see, around my house, if it has to be ironed, it goes to the cleaners, so Jadyn has never been around the iron before. It was so funny!

In previous posts I have shared how my Grandpa was the worship leader at my church growing up. My foundation of worship is strongly based on what he taught me all those years growing up. Easter was always a big deal growing up, as it should be. For some reason this morning all those Easters growing up flooded my memory. You see our worship time this morning had my Grandpa's voice all over it. It didn't cross my mind that we would be singing these particular songs, because at our church we sing a lot of songs that Drue, our worship leader, has written himself, so I was so caught off guard. The first song we started with, I hung on strong because we sang it with a different melody, but as soon as the chorus came up on the screen, I felt Justin look at me through the corner of his eye, and I completely lost control. Tears flowed like they haven't flowed since I sat as my Grandpa's funeral. We began with ..."Up from the grave He arose" we then continued to sing several songs that I grew up singing every Sunday. I could even see my sister playing the piano for him. I thought I had pulled it together when we finally started singing "In Christ Alone", although it is my absolute favorite song, it was not in my Grandpa's time. So, during that song, I pulled it together, unfortunately, we then went right into "Because He Lives" and it started all over again. I was silently hoping we would conclude with a song I didn't know, but we ended with "How Great Thou Art" which is appropriate, because that was Grandpa's favorite. Today's worship was a tribute to my Grandpa, I am so thankful for him and his love for Christ. I want my kids to know these hymns, I know that they aren't the "cool" worship songs that we sing today, but they are solid and the memories that come when I sing them are so special, I hope my kids will have memories like those.