Easter Morning

White lilacs are so beautiful and smell so heavenly.

It is Easter morning. This is one of my favorite holidays. It is so joyous, celebrating the Lord's resurrection from the dead. It is also a great time of year: spring, bursting with life and beauty. 

This morning, Jacob is sleeping because he is so sick. I am also sick but not as bad. I cooked some pasca, which is a traditional Romanian Easter bread (even though I usually make it for Christmas). I am working on a puzzle we got last week. It's a pretty cool painting of an eagle. 

I am sad that we aren't going to church this morning, and we won't be able to hang out with family this afternoon. But I know that Jesus still rose from the dead, no matter how bad we're feeling and no matter if we go to church or not. Also, the birds are still singing, so cheerfully. It's sunny and bright. And, even though he's sick, I get to spend the day with my best friend. 

So, I guess this will be an Easter to remember, or forget, depending on how you look at it. 

Baxter Gardens

I discovered a nearby garden that is private but open to the public during the month April, so last week we checked it out. We loved it. 

These flowers smelled so good. 

There was a lot of phlox, and it looked so pretty all spread out on the ground. 

The house on the property. 

The Asian style garden was a maize. 

I loved the azalea garden because I really love azaleas. 

I was trying to get Jacob to pose. 

Oh, yeah, I'm 25 now, too. I'm sure you wanted to know about that. 

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I Really Love Taking Pictures of Flowers and Nature

 

In the evening, the sun actually comes into our apartment, and I love it. 

The dogwoods are in bloom all over the place. 

These little guys guys are so tiny and intricate. 

I'm loving my garden. It's so fresh and green and alive. 

I love the phlox. 

Little weed flowers in my garden grass. 

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Finally Art Again

I am finally forcing myself back into art and quite enjoying it. Lately I've been doing a lot with my marker pens. I'm going to try to branch out more eventually, but right now I'm just glad I'm doing art again. 

Scary Minnie Mouse. I messed up her eyes, so she looks kind of evil. 

Lydia gave me a paint set for Christmas, and I drew the outlines for this butterfly a while ago. Then I was lazy for months, and only just painted it. It is a happy picture in my opinion. 

I got a little carried away. 

This is inspired by stain glass.

In case you're interested, the DongNu are an unreached people in China. I am helping to encourage people to pray for them and the spread of the Gospel in their area. 

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Ice and Flowers

 

My garden is looking so green.

But sometimes the windows still get frosty.

Baby Bump

She's growin'. 

The wonderful bathroom selfie. 

I LIKE My Husband

Yep. I really like him. 

It's great to love people. It's great to love your spouse, but do you like him or her? Do you get super happy when they walk in the door? Is that person your best friend for life?

I remember the first time hearing this concept of liking ones spouse. I always thought you should love your husband or wife, but it had never really dawned on me that someone could love their spouse but not like them too much. One guy was raving about his wife, and he said, "I like her. I love her, but I really like her." 

I've also heard the opposite. Jacob has told me about some of his coworkers who say they love their wives but don't like them. It's pretty sad. It's as if they've decided to stay married because they don't want to divorce, but instead of thriving in their marriage, they're just dealing with it. That actually leads me to a whole other topic: the importance of being a good wife. But anyway, I'll get to that later. 

Right now Jacob is working hard for our little family. I appreciate that about him: he really works hard. Right now I am also thinking about later this afternoon when I get a phone call from my best friend telling me he's done with work. I get really excited about that phone call because that means I can stop whatever I'm doing, jump in the old Camry, and go pick him up from the warehouse. You see, Jacob and I really like each other. We like to be together, hang out together, serve at church together, tease each other, play games with each other, pray together, sit and read our Bibles in the morning together. We're really good friends. 

And, just in case you're wondering, best friends don't always agree. We had arguments before we were even dating. Sometimes we just don't get each other. Sometimes I'm a real grumpy pants. But, the cool thing about being such good friends is that we don't give up on each other. We are learning a lot about patience, forgiveness, and grace. 

Obviously, I am no expert on the subject (I've only been married for 5 months, for crying out loud), but I'm already learning about the importance of really liking your spouse. If you've been married for a long time, maybe this is harder to do. I'm sure your love for that person has grown much deeper over the years, but when was the last time you thought about something you really like about him or her? Think about it, just one thing to start with.