Easter Sunday

Our Easter Sunday was filled with kids, smiles, Jesus, family, and food.  It was a full fun day!  We left our house at 8:45 am and did not return until late that night, about 9:45 pm.

Our children know that there is no Easter bunny.  We do however give our children each an Easter bucket of surprises from Daddy and Mommy on Sunday morning.

We believe in Jesus Christ, and celebrate his life and his sacrifice for us at Easter time.  Our church did a nice job over the last three weeks presenting a short drama/play about Jesus and the week's events leading up to Jesus being nailed to the cross and then rising again on that glorious Easter morning.

All of the children at the church had an opportunity to gather eggs and candy before the service started.

Silas was more interested in playing on the playground equipment than gathering eggs.  Both of our girls found several eggs and shared several eggs with others who didn't get quite as many or arrived too late to participate.

After church we headed north to my cousin Josh's house for the Hastings Easter gathering.  We all enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs, and lots of delicious salads and, of course, a table full of desserts.

 

It has always been a tradition that any children at the Hastings Easter gathering get to hunt eggs and candy.  This year there were only four hunters, Jackson, Sarah, Phoebe, and Silas.  They each got a LOT of candy!

It was a little rainy when it was time for egg hunting, so we had an indoor egg hunt.

Camryn, Josh's daughter, did a great job of helping Silas hunt for his eggs and candy.

All egg hunters must always sit and look in each egg and inspect each piece of candy gathered after an egg hunt.  I remember doing this with my Hastings cousins and siblings when we were little too.  That was when we would make trades too, trading pieces of candy we didn't like for those we did.

After the egg hunt, some card games were played...

And some fishing was done in the nearby creek...

Eric caught some crappie and bass.  Silas really wanted to see and hold the fish, or "ish" as he calls them.  This was his first time to touch and hold a fish.  Eric got him to hold it by the lip at first, but Silas really wanted to just grab onto it with both hands and look it all over.  Eric let Silas throw it back too, although it was more of a toss and flop.

Lilo, the dog had done some swimming in the creek and was pretty wet, dirty, and stinky, but the kids all still loved her.

Another tradition of sorts at the Hastings Easter gathering is a large wiffle ball game.  (This use to be one thing that I think my Grandpa, Howard Hastings, looked forward to the most on Easter Sunday.  He loved baseball and his family.  Wiffle ball was a great combination of both!)  We divided into teams and enjoyed some friendly competition between brothers, cousins, spouses, siblings, and friends.

I took the picture below of... the ultimate group selfie.  My cousin Johannah likes to take some selfies, but this time she had a bunch of family that wanted to be in her selfie!

Before heading home we took a group picture... Top left to right: Charles and Wyonna Hastings, Jackson Hastings, Dale Hastings, Drew Hastings, Jan Hastings, Phoebe, Sarah, Gloria Hastings, Camryn Hastings, Stacee, Eric, and Silas - Bottom left to right: Beki and Josh Hastings, Sulley (the dog), Johannah Hastings, Sophie (Dale and Jan's exchange student), and Paul Hastings. - Not pictured because they had already gone home: Jerry and Julie Hempsmyer, Jessica Higgins, and Jordan Hastings.

HAPPY EASTER from all of us to YOU!

Patience And Eggs

Grandparents must come with an extra helping of patience.  At least this set does.  Around this house things that COULD be a potential huge mess with my kids, I avoid like crazy.  In fact those "things" sort of put dread in the pit of my stomach.  A few things on that potential huge mess list include but are not limited to: anything baked that needs icing and or sprinkles, a kid's drinking cup without a lid, any craft project that includes glue and or glitter, and for sure the dyeing of Easter eggs.  So THANK goodness my parents know this about me.  (We don't really ever speak of it.  They just know it and help me out in these little areas where I struggle.)  Maybe they just have a LOT more patience than me... maybe that is part of the aging process... you get more patience, wisdom, and gray hair with each passing year?  Whatever it is, THANK YOU Mom and Dad for stepping up, and in with your grandchildren even when there is potential for messes and disasters.  You bring the fun and ALWAYS get the smiles!  You have got this grandparent thing down.  We love you, and I appreciate YOU both.

Here we go... Dad and Mom brought the hard boiled eggs and the Color Cups egg dyeing kit this year. This handy dandy little kit even came with its own set of dye cups, so we didn't have to use mugs this year.  (I liked that.)  Each girl got eight eggs to dye.  They each shared one with Popee, so he could get in on the design fun.  (Silas took a nap during this fun activity.  Silas = a huge egg dyeing disaster.  I can picture eggs cracked, dye spilled and running over onto the carpet, girls crying, and Silas sitting in the middle of the kitchen counter smiling holding onto egg pieces with brightly colored hands and clothes.... DISASTER I tell you.  That boy may get to take a nap during potentially messy situations a LOT of times.)

Moving on.  There was a little wax crayon that the girls and Dad each used to draw designs on their eggs before dipping them into the dye.  It was supposed to make it so that no dye stuck in that area, but it did not work very well.  So they mostly just made their eggs solid colors and then Sarah got creative and started trying to make her last few eggs three or four different colors.

There were NO MESSES.  We had plenty of paper towels to catch drips, and everyone was very careful the whole entire time.  I maybe only said BE CAREFUL 152 times throughout the dyeing of all sixteen eggs.

A big THANKS AGAIN to two of the most patient grandparents I know.  There would have been no egg dyeing for the Hendrickson children in 2011, 2012, 2013, or 2014 without you!

I Am Number 72

You helped me again this year to make it into the ELITE 100!  I am number 72.

Last year I was able to raise $1727.50 for the National MS Society.   This put me into the Elite 100 Club.  This means I was one of the top 100 fundraisers in the Mid-America Chapter for 2013.  I could not have done this without the help of each one of you who gave your money generously to a cause that means so much to myself and my family.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In 2013 our team raised a total of $4093.00.  We all met and walked together to show our love and support for my Mom, Gloria Hastings.  Mom was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis about five years ago.  We have walked in the WALK MS for the past three years in Emporia.  This year our team will be walking in Wichita on Saturday, April 26th.  We would love to have you join us again this year.  By clicking the following link you will be taken to our "Go For Gloria" team page and can register online now to walk that day with us. 

 Link - "GO FOR GLORIA" team page

Please help me again this year to raise funds for all of those who battle Multiple Sclerosis everyday.  Click on the following link to make an easy online donation to the National MS Society on behalf of our team, "Go For Gloria" and my Mom, Gloria Hastings.  Thank you.

Link - National MS Society ~ "GO FOR GLORIA!" Make a donation.

Womack Haggard And Strait

We had tickets to the George Strait concert at the beginning of April.  I bought the tickets last fall.  I got in on a pre-sale and was able to purchase our tickets the day before they actually went on sale to the public.  Yay!  I have no idea how I got on this presale list, but thank goodness, otherwise we would have most likely been in the angry crowd of George Strait fans who were left in the dust at 10:02am the day they officially went on sale at 10:00am and sold out two minutes later.

Our seats were not anything to brag about by any means...and that was okay with both of us.  We just wanted to get in on George's Cowboy Rides Away Tour and hear the King of Country live.   So, there we were on the very back row of section 221.  This translates to the very back row of the whole Arena.  Of course, it was a sold out concert so there were lots of people on the very back row of the whole Arena....  (Look at us...all smiles.  Eric said the back row was best because he could stand the whole time if he wanted and no one would yell at him to sit down.  I said we could make out and not bother anyone behind us too, but we didn't.  But, we could have.  But, we didn't.  But, we should have.  But, we didn't.)

Opening for the evening was Lee Ann Womack.  She sang for about half an hour.  She was good, but we were mostly excited about the guys who were up next.  Her most popular song that she sung that evening was "I Hope You Dance."

Next up was Country Legend, Merle Haggard.  I cannot tell a lie... I was SO excited to see and hear Merle Haggard live!  Alas, he was diagnosed with Pneumonia a day or so before the concert and didn't have much of a singing voice.  He even joked that he had two notes that night... a low whisper and a squeak with some volume.  Poor Merle.

He tried to sing some of his greatest songs though.  "Mama Tried" and "Okie From Muskogee" were two of them.  He then fiddled a couple songs before leaving the stage with a standing ovation from his audience.

And, finally the King of Country, George Strait appeared.  Cheers, clapping, and screaming erupted all over the Arena.  King George played for for about two and a half hours!  He sang a lot of his hits and a few new songs.  Three of my most favorite songs of his that he sung that night were "Marina Del Ray",  "Amarillo By Morning", and "Run".

George's last song before leaving the stage was his song that he ALWAYS sings last... After he leaves the stage and everyone cheers him back on... "This Is Where The Cowboy Rides Away".  What an amazing ride Mr. Strait!  You are for sure, hands down, riding away with the title... The KING of COUNTRY music!

Spring Surprise

We woke up this morning to a beautiful outdoor surprise... a light dusting of snow covered the ground and the flowers on our trees and flowers in our yard.  Some of the flowers in our yard and our neighbor's yard have just begun to pop up through the ground showing their bright brilliant colors for the neighborhood to see and enjoy.

As I gazed out the window at the beauty I remembered how marvelous God has made this Earth and the things in and on it.  He created so many things for us to enjoy and find joy in everyday if we sit long enough, look hard enough, or just slow down for the moment.  The sun has already come out here and it is melting the snow away off of our trees, flowers, and the ground, but I saw it...the beauty He created this morning, and it gave me JOY!

He Never Sends Winter Without The Joy Of Spring

Springtime is a season of HOPE, and, JOY and CHEER,  There's beauty all around to see, and touch and hear.

So, no matter how downhearted and discouraged we may be, new hope is born when we behold leaves budding on a tree, or when we see a timid flower push through the frozen sod and open wide in glad surprise its petaled eyes to God.

For this is just God saying- "Lift up your eyes to me, and the bleakness of your spirit, like the budding springtime tree, will lose its wintry darkness and your heavy heart will sing" for God never sends THE WINTER without the JOY OF SPRING.    

 -Helen Steiner Rice