Easter 2016

It's been a week since Easter.  We woke up to a beautiful snowfall that morning!

 The redbud was wrapped in white!  I thought it might be the end of the buds.

The willow was drooping heavily!

 

This was actually our first and only real snow for this winter.
We had had a dusting but it didn't count.

 

 I loved seeing all the photos on Facebook that everyone posted.
We were all excited to see this Easter snow!

We were reminded of the verse from Isaiah 1:18

"Though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be as white as snow."

Now THAT is an Easter verse!

On the way to church, I noticed this snowman.

A family had been busy!

This one is so funny!

The church playground was covered.  I knew we wouldn't be going out to play since the children would be wearing their sweet spring Easter outfits!

Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day  (1 Corinthians 15:3,4)

 

I used the Easter eggs to tell the story to the children.  They LOVED each having a turn opening up the eggs.

 He was in the grave 3 days.
1.....2.....3!
(cracks me up that the children each have a different finger held up)

 "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified.  He has risen!  He is not here!

"He appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.  After that, He appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time..."  1 Cor. 15:5,6

Imagine what that must have been like!  What if my doorbell rang and when I opened the door, my own dear parents would be standing there, alive!  Would I scream for joy or what??  How happy the disciples must have been!  My parents are very much alive now, in heaven, with Christ.  They have seen Him face to face!

"If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. "  vs. 13

"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."  John 3:16

Later that afternoon, the temperatures rose and everything began to melt.

The grandchildren's snowman met his own demise.

And I was so happy to see that my budding trees were no worse for the wear.

Birding

Every month on the first Saturday usually, I like to go with other bird watchers along the Sand Creek trail behind Bethel College to look and listen for birds.

The first bird we saw was a sharp-shinned hawk (I think) 

It is an accipiter, a genus of birds of prey.  

(I'm learning new words - I'm such a novice, 

but it is fun to try to learn these things!  

If I mess up on the name of the bird, well, I just screwed up, that's all.)

Looky!  A blue-headed runner!

Cardinal

Yellow rumped warbler

 We hear way more birds than we see.  And as the leaves fill out on the trees, we will see fewer.  This past month, Greg and the others heard 22 species of birds!

Some of the calls of the birds are distinct but I still can't figure out many of them!
I am trying to identify the various calls though!
I'm learning slowly from these professional birders!
The "teakettle" sound of the carolina wren,
            the trill of a junco,
                   the rattle of a king fisher.
It is amazing how these birders can tell what the bird is from their cries!

Cooper - it has a bigger head that sticks out further.

Often young children come along and they have a great time!

Spotting birds in the brush.

I enjoy birdwatching around my home too....
       along the path around the lake and in my own backyard.

The purple martins have begun arriving and we put out our martin house.

We've had to remove the sparrows nests regularly as they want to "rent" the space!

The other day I mentioned to Claire (age 3) that I was disappointed with the numbers of starlings and sparrows and wished we had more pretty birds, like the woodpeckers.  She went outside on the deck and began to call.

 "Woodpeckers!  Woodpeckers! 

 Come and eat the food at Nana's!"

This morning I had 2 arrive!   Perhaps they heard the call!

If you want to come birding with us, please come to the Kauffman Museum 

parking lot tomorrow, April 2, 7:30 am at the Kauffman Museum!

Easter at the farm

We celebrated the Graber Easter last week, on Palm Sunday.  It worked best for everyone.  It was a beautiful day!  Not much wind.

On the way out to the farm, we saw several field fires; control burns.
(Two days later, multiple fires broke out in Kansas with high winds - they are still burning, a week later, with over 400,000 acres burned)

Here you can see a firenado!

Moooo!

 

We hid eggs and the children went on the Easter egg hunt.

  These two were probably planning Arika's wedding.

Dinner time!

Ample food as always! 

I took family photos of everyone who was able to come.
Here are the siblings - minus Harley, who has passed away.

 Terry's family

Harley's daughter, Jennifer and her family

Our family.  Josh and Staci had gone back to Arkansas, leaving Emeri and Eli with us for the week. Mindy was not able to come, due to her new job.

Julie's family was not able to make it, but we took a picture of her!  By force!


Reuben's family -
Ashley and Chris could not come

 And last in line, Sid and his family
       (photobombed by Adam in the background)

We are so very blessed with family!  

On the way home, we stopped by the cemetery.