Friday, April 29, 2011

Signs of Spring, Egg dyeing, and Easter egg hunt of epic proportions...

 *Deep breath* The smell of flowers in the air. The warm sunshine on my face. The beautiful bright green I'm starting to see everywhere... yes, it's spring!



The other day, my family continued our annual tradition of dyeing Easter eggs. In years past, there have been various fiascos surrounding this tradition, including one year in which not only the eggs got dyed, but the carpet as well! This year, the fiasco didn't involve the eggs, but it did happen while we were dyeing... Our plumbing decided to start moving backwards. Not cool! I'll spare you the dirty details and share with you this photo instead. I'd just like to take a moment to say that my father is amazing. He's not afraid to get his hands dirty, (very, very, very dirty in this case!) and he's pretty much just awesome! All in all, he handled this disastrous situation quite well I thought. 


                 


Enough with the not-so-nice part of that day. Back to egg dyeing. I must say, I'm pretty serious when it comes to my Easter eggs. I think I took at least twice as long as everyone else in my family. I study each one of my eggs carefully before submerging them in the brightly colored dye. I rarely just dip and dunk and see what happens. Oh no. There is almost always a carefully thought out strategy as to which color needs to be applied first, the proper way to hold each egg, and for how long the egg should spend in each bowl of color. I also have to say, I think I'm a little bit of an egg-dyeing "purist". As in, I think that the true talent is getting the egg to be beautiful without lots of extra help e.g. stencils, stickers, glitter etc. Now remember, I did say I'm just a little bit of a purist- I did break down and use foil on some of my eggs this year, but I think I'm always most proud when my egg is beautiful simply because of my mastery of the dye. I was rather pleased with how mine turned out this year, and lest you be tempted to think that they look like everyone else's eggs at Easter, just remember that there was thought, and design for each and every egg!




These are my brother, Ian's eggs. He went on and on about what a beast he was at egg-dyeing, and how his were the best. I have to politely disagree, but they are quite lovely!


And these are mine!!!! My striped eggs seriously made my day!



After the egg dyeing, my amazingly cool mother did something awesome...
She prepared an egg hunt for her 4 adult children! Awesome!!! (Ok, we're not all adults, but the youngest of us is 13 which I think is still way too old for egg hunts). You have no idea how exciting this was for me! There we were with our baskets, tense and ready to bound from the house at the sound of "Ready, set, GO!"
Oh the thrill of the hunt! Oh the joy of finding one of those brightly colored treasures peeking out from behind a fence post! Oh the excitement of hearing the rattle of little jelly beans just waiting to be eaten! (Can you tell, there's a part of me that's very definitely stuck in 1st grade?)
Oh my goodness! I'm so excited!
Don't be scared. That's my excited face, not my "I'm going to eat you" face.




Cute little Sagey



Of course, it wouldn't be a real egg hunt without us losing track of one of the eggs. As hard as we tried, we could not locate the final egg. You wouldn't think that neon would blend in very well but...


And then it rained. A lot.


I'd like to say we were hard core, and continued the search until the egg was found... but we didn't. We retreated to the house with our buckets over our heads and contented ourselves with chocolates and jelly beans. So somewhere out there, tucked away in just the right hiding place, there's a lime green Easter egg that didn't want to be found. 

Wherever you are little egg- be free!

~Jazzy

Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Son has risen!


We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.


He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth... For He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.



Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love.



Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!


It is finished.

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 



I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. 



For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 




Through the blood of Jesus... 

you were washed




If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old had gone, the new has come!




The Lamb will be our shepherd;




He will lead us to springs of living water. 









Death has been defeated! 

The Son has risen!





Love's redeeming work is done, 
fought the fight, the battle won!
Alleluia! 


The Son has risen!






Lives again our glorious King!
Where, oh death, is now thy sting? 
Once He died, our souls to save, 
Where thy victory, oh grave? 

Soar we now where Christ hath lead, 
following our exalted Head.
Made like Him, like Him we rise.
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies!
Alleluia!

The Son has risen!

Saturday, April 23, 2011

What is truth?

I was going through some old journals when I stumbled on this excerpt from 3 years ago. I thought I would share because it seems fitting as we are preparing for Easter tomorrow. 


"Jesus answered, '... for this reason I was born, and for this cause I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.' 

'What is truth?' Pilate asked." 

I wonder, when Pilate asked Jesus that question, was it sarcastic? I don't think so. I think he really wanted to know. I read these words and picture someone who, more than anything wanted to know what was true. I wonder, did he pause before asking? Did he turn and look hard into Jesus' eyes, searching for an answer in them before he voiced his question? What is truth? Was it strong, or did it come out more like a whisper? Did he query like a governor, or when he asked did it come out like the question of a boy? Did his defensive front fall away for an instant as he looked into the eyes of Christ? Was it an exasperated question, one asked after years of searching? Did he believe for a second that Jesus held the answer? Was there something in him that desperately cried out to believe that Jesus was the truth? What is truth? Was it a question that Pilate wrestled with often? Was it always on his mind? Did it nag him not to be sure? I wonder, was Pilate half-heartedly listening until Jesus mentioned truth? Did it spark that longing in him again to know? What is truth?

Do you, dear reader also wonder, "What is truth?" In our world of shifting standards, and wavering morals, it seems sometimes that nothing is absolute. But be encouraged. If you want to know the truth, it is not hiding. If you long for certainty, it is not obscure. Jesus said of Himself, 

               "I am the way, and the truth, and the life."

If you're looking for truth, I would encourage you to examine the claims of this carpenter from Nazareth. I promise you, He can back up everything He says. 

~Jasmine 



Friday, April 22, 2011

Good Friday

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ..." 





I hope on this Good Friday, that you will make some time to think about how very much Christ loves us, and just how much He gave in order to be with us. His sacrifice is for us is humbling and awe-inspiring.

~Jasmine

Thursday, April 14, 2011

A mom and her boy...

On Tuesday afternoon I had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot with my lovely friend Megan, and her adorable little boy, Caelan Neil. He's adorable. She's gorgeous. I love them both.

Here's a few shots from the day...

~Jasmine









Wednesday, April 13, 2011

"Would you consider dating a guy like me?"

I have a somewhat random, very weird, super short story. I'm happy to say this is not my story, but my sister's, and she was kind enough to let me share it with you.

This morning my sister Sage was killing time and doing some shopping. She's poking around the clearance section, hunting for the best deal when she notices a gentleman glancing at her from the men's... how should I say this... he was in the underwear section. By the way, when I say "gentleman" I am using it in the broadest sense possible. So here's this guy- hanging out in the underwear section, and kind of creeping. Sagey continues to do her shopping, and decides to make a stop at the dressing room. As she's walking out of the dressing room- there stands the underwear man! As he holds up his package of whitey- tighties he asks her, "Would you ever consider going out on a date with someone like me?' Did you catch that? The man is holding up a package of underwear as he asks a lady out on a date. These are strange times we live in. Needless to say, my sister does not have a Friday night date planned with that guy.

To men everywhere I would give you this piece of advice: don't ask a girl out while you're holding a package of whitey-tighties! (Or any package of underwear for that matter.) It's just weird. 

With a quizzical look, a roll of my eyes, and a shrug of my shoulders,

~jazzy

Obviously, not whitey-tighties, but this is probably the funniest pair of underwear I've ever seen. This picture is in honor of the underwear man from Target.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

I was going through my photo albums and came upon all these pictures of flowers. We don't have any coming up yet, but looking at these pictures makes me feel like spring is actually here.

"See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you?" Matthew 5:28-30

Isn't it rather epic how much He loves us?

~Jasmine