Photography Fridays ~ another Easter story

Sometimes I think I save Photography Fridays for my most profound photos, like they are sacred posts or something. I guess that's why I don't post every Friday?

Well, these may not look like profound photos, but sometimes it's the moment that's profound.

I'm posting these in reverse order of which I took them to help tell the story.

I know selective color can be lame, but you'll get why I just *had* to do it, right? =)

Last Sunday, I had the absolute privilege of teaching 3rd graders and a large group of K-5 on Easter (and it was a privilege being struck with a 24-hour stomach bug the day before, I was afraid I wouldn't make it in! The Lord heals, thank goodness.)

In our small third-grade classroom of about 10 kids, we were chatting about Easter traditions. One child asked how jelly beans have anything to do with Jesus. Miss Lesley & I took this opportunity to explain the Salvation Story in terms of colors. We then went on each attributing something Easter with Jesus's story. Easter eggs, colors. Easter eggs, filled & empty. Jelly beans. The Easter Bunny himself. And more.

(Warning: Proud Mama moment:)
My own Matthew said dying Easter eggs reminds him of Jesus as well. Fully expecting him to go into poetic conversation about colors, he says: When you die the empty Easter eggs, you have to push them under the liquid, but when you let them go, they rise up like Jesus did.

Wow.

Repeat, please?

Rise up like Jesus did.

*sniff.

John 2:19 ESV
Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Now I would have teared up at any student figuring this out, but surely it's a bit sweeter when it's your own.

Romans 8:11 ESV
If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Scripture Sundays ~ Mark 16, His Resurrection

The awesome, true ending to Friday's story... 

Why?
^{John 3:16} For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life.

The Resurrection

Mark 16:1-8

When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.³ And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back— it was very large. ⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed. ⁶ And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” ⁸ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

John 20:30-31

³⁰  Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹  but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Scripture Sundays ~ John 8:31-33

The word, action or idea of "free" has kept coming about during my last week. I have no idea where He's going with it in this time of my life, but I'm following!

You saw this one a few days ago:

Psalm 118:5
5Out of my distress I called on the LORD; the LORD answered me and set me free.

Here is another I found today:

John 8:31-33
³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

So the word first appeared in my thoughts as McKenna set herself 'free' without training wheels.
*Then a Bible verse popped up on my phone having to do with 'free' - one I didn't memorize or take note of before it disappeared. :(
*Posted a 'free' verse last Thursday.
*After this, I started the process to scrapbook McKenna's training wheels pictures and I found a paper with the word 'free' in the title. (Even if it isn't the perfect paper for the pic, I'm going to use it and make it work!)
*We're not talking 'free' like free of charge or freewill, we're talking free like a bird. So excited to see where this ends up leading me...

Wednesday Weigh-in ~ 1 week

Yay! What a week! I'll do the numbers last, but as of right now, the echo has been done and the halter is hooked up for a month. This is an event monitor; that means we're pretty much just sitting around waiting for something to happen. So while I don't want something to happen, we do. I'm so super happy that it's not recording day and night for a month because that sounded kind of creepy, to be honest. However, I feel just a bit of disappointment because I thought I would have someone to answer to, to help keep me disciplined, to help keep me accountable. I guess my work with self-control is yet unfinished...

So diet-wise, lowering-cholesterol-wise, I've realized that Cheerios and Oats are my friends. I've gone to about four meals a day. One includes Cheerios. Another includes 1/2 cup of Quaker oats, a very small selection of nuts (almonds or walnuts) with some real fruit-dried fruit bites. A big shout-out to Quaker. I posted a question that I couldn't find the answer to on their Facebook page and I got an actual reply - and answer! (Yes, uncooked oats have the same cholesterol-lowering benefits that cooked oats do. Just drink lots of extra water.) I haven't had a single "bad" carb in a week but my sweet husband went out and bought me, among many other healthy items, brown rice and whole wheat pasta, both of which he hates! It helps to have the family on board. My sweets intake is down to next-to-nothing as well. Self-control. Self-control. Self-control. lol!

Ohh, which to choose, which to choose...

Proverbs 25:28

A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Okay, so let's do the numbers.

2 is the amount of times I took my multi-vitamin. I always forget to take it since I accidentally bought one with caffeine in it and won't take it at night anymore.
3 is the amount of times I've exercised. That's my focus this week. Garage workout, here I come!
4 is the amount of times we ate out this week (bday parties galore - this isn't normal!) and also the amount of times I stayed within calorie & nutrition range for eat-out meals! Friday's and Chili's both have great healthy choices. Full nutrition information easily available!
5 is the amount of times I used my night cream. About 150% better than normal!
6 is the amount of times I took my calcium.
6 is also the amount of pounds I lost this week! Woohoo!
10 is the amount of total pounds I've lost so far. But I've been here before. It's getting to the next pound off that is so hard...
7 is the amount of days I stayed on my calorie task this week!
25 is about the amount of meals I've eaten this week.
50 is roughly the cups of water I drank this week.

So this week is about a better workout. Some strength to add to more cardio.
I'm still working on getting the house back. It's not that it's a major mess, but I feel like it's ahead of me and I want a happy home. uh, house. I just {gloriously} haven't had the time. Ooh! Except the closet! Husband rebuilt inside our closet and we both went thru all of our clothes, purged, reorganized and cleaned like crazy. I want to sleep in there now.

p.s. When I was typing in Thesaurus.com looking for a word I just couldn't think of, I accidentally typed in discipled. Cool. :)

John 15:4 - 5.  Remain in me, and I will remain in you.  No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.  Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.   I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit, apart from me you can do nothing.

Thanks all. Pray with me as I send a prayer with every oat that each one takes a bit of cholesterol awayyyy!