Easter 2015

We have had a fabulous Easter Day.  We started the morning off at church. The music was incredible and I may or may not have cried....twice.

After the service, we came home for brunch.  When we got to the house, Haley "officially" asked Ella Kate to be her flower girl.

I think she was excited!

Our first Easter as a family of 5 has been just about perfect. Church together, yummy brunch, 2+ hour naps all around, it just doesn't get much better in my book.

I am so grateful for this day and what it represents.  As I reflect over the last few months and our family growing in such an incredible way through adoption, I have experienced Easter and the Lord's unfailing love for me in a completely different way. A guy named Jason said it this way and I could not say it any better, "Caring for the marginalized, oppressed and orphaned is not only one of the clearest expressions of the heart of God but also one of the most tangible demonstrations of the gospel this world will ever see.  If the gospel is ultimately the story of those who were empty in sin and orphaned from God, being adopted into His family by the work of Jesus, then our care for and adoption of the vulnerable is a beautiful continuation of the redemption story of God and a vivid demonstration of the love of Jesus extended through us.  Again, our care of orphans is rooted in God's care of us through Jesus-it begins not with the orphan "out there" who needs a family but with the orphan in us that has been given one in Jesus."  In the same way as Emma WAS an orphan, she is an orphan no more.  She is wholly OURS! We are all orphans in need of a Father. Once we accept His gift, we become orphans no more and are wholly His! That's the gospel. That's Easter. That's the Lord's beautiful grace.