Wonderfully Made

From the time Madison was born, we knew that she was wonderfully made and a blessing from God! Inside and out she continues to display this to us! However, at the time of her birth we noticed a minor difference between her ears. The top of her left ear was folded over. The doctor said that things like that happen in the womb and it should pop back over time. Of course, we didn't mind this about her, but her ear never popped back. For the past 6 1/2 years she and most others never even noticed, but we knew the day would come when another kid would notice and point out this difference to her. Well, it happened this week! A boy in Madison's class told her that it looked like the top of her ear was cut off by a doctor, and wanted to know what happened. She had no idea what he was talking about, so came home and asked us about it. Madison asked Brian, "Why are one of my ears up happy and the other one droops down sad?" Brian said, "God made you special and each of us different. One of my feet are bigger then the other. We just have to be thankful for how we were made and be thankful that all our parts work." Later when she arrived home, she walked over to me and asked, "Mommy, does this ear look like it droops down." I asked, "What do you think?" She said, "A little." I asked, "Does this bother you?" She said, "No, not really." I said, "Well, good. If it doesn't bother you, then you don't have to worry about it." So that night we discussed looking at what's on the inside of people and how if everyone was exactly the same how boring that would be. Thankfully, Madison already views others in this way, so other then learning something new about herself, this realization didn't seem to bother her too much!

It also helped that her memory verse from church last week was Psalm 139:14:

"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. "

Praise God for Madison!

Little Bruiser

Hudson has always been rough with himself, due to his daredevil ways! But this week he has earned himself a new nickname..."Bruiser"! I don't know if he's growing and a little clumsy or just careless, but I do know that he is one tough kid. Just look at him!

Here is the right side of his face. An old bruise, and a scar from a few weeks ago!

Today he ran into a door frame at school bruising his left side...just below a faded bruise on his head. Can't wait to see what that looks like tomorrow!

Poor Hudson.Maybe he really will be a football player one day!

Family

One of the fun things about all the traveling we have been doing is that we have been able to visit with family and friends that we haven't seen in a while. In the course of one week, we got to visit with my brother Keith and "sister" Katie. The kids enjoyed spending time with their Uncle Keith and Aunt Katie. Hope to see them again real soon!

Some things never change!

I also had to include this picture of Hudson with his silly smile and Katie's monkey!

We Love the Beach!

These pictures from St. George Island say it all!

Happy Easter

We had our annual visit to see the Easter Bunny. Later that night Madison asked us how it gets to every one's house to hide the eggs. So, we asked her what she thought. She began to ponder that and then said, "Its not like that man can hop from house to house in one night". So Brian said, "Yeah, he doesn't have a sled like Santa". So Madison quickly said, "I know, Santa and the Easter Bunny are friends, and I think Santa drives the Easter Bunny around on Easter!" Brian said, "Hmmm, I guess Santa's not real busy this time of year." Madison just said, "Yeah." So we left it at that!

The kids enjoyed getting their baskets and finding eggs!

Then we enjoyed an encouraging Easter message on hope at church. As soon as church ended Hudson ripped off his tie, so this is the only picture I got with him wearing it!

Earlier in the week the kids both had Easter parties and egg hunts at their schools. Below is a slide show of those pictures.