Easter

Well, this Easter was a lot different than the last five we've had in South Carolina. I've gotten in the habit of cooking a big meal and inviting lots of people over. I love to cook it all and then set a beautiful table and have a great time! You can see this in previous years archives. Since Easter was one week after coming home from the hospital with a new baby, I had to have a simpler Easter. Justin's mom was here, so we had a small celebration just the five of us.

On Saturday, Alina and I dyed eggs. She thought this was a lot of fun!

Alina was excited to find all the candy in her basket on Easter morning, she is still working on eating it.

Since Jana was here, Justin, Alina and I were able to go to church. It was nice to be able to worship on Easter morning. Here is Alina at church. We took roses to put on the cross.

Alina was very excited to eat the eggs she dyed.

She really liked the first one, but after that she only took a couple of bites.

Since Alina was still a little sick on Saturday from a virus, she wasn't able to go to the church egg hunt, so we did our own in the front yard.

All in all, we were able to reflect on the true reason for Easter, God's gift of his only Son sent to die in our place and raised back to life so that we could have life everlasting. It was very exciting to hear Alina say, He is Risen!

Nathanael is here!

On Friday, April 15th Nathanael Edward Liles finally made his appearance. He weighed 7lbs 9oz and was 20 inches long. He is healthy and happy! We are excited (and maybe sometimes a bit nervous) to begin our adventures as a family of four.


I am so thankful to the Lord for the wonderful husband I have and what a great father he is. I am also very thankful that He allowed us to be together when he was born. (Justin was in Colorado three days after the due date for a job interview). Thank you Justin for all you do for us!
My mom was able to be here with us. She was a great help with Alina and everything around the house. We enjoyed a week and a half of hanging out before Nathanael was born. We went to the zoo, strawberry picking, cleaned, shopped, etc. I am thankful for all her help, there is now way I could have anything done without her! Here's Nina with her first grandson.

My nurse, Ruth (above) and doula, Jennifer (below) helped me have an amazing experience. Clearly God ordained every step of the arrival of this little boy but they were there to support my decisions and encourage me even when I screamed for the epidural. Yes, I have to say it, because its something I really wanted, but wasn't sure I could do it, I didn't get the epidural! That isn't to say that I didn't beg for it at the end, at which point it was too late:) The Lord knew what I wanted and that on my own I wasn't strong enough, so once again He answered prayers and showed me that He is in control and that He will provide!

Alina is adjusting to life with a little brother. Sometimes she is excited and sometimes a bit jealous, but I think with time she will adjust. She does love to help and I try to find any little thing she can do to make her feel important.

Isn't my little man handsome?

And this picture is why we often call him little old man:)

Strawberry Picking and Torte

Today we went strawberry picking with Nina, Pauline and Jo-jo. We had fun picking out our own strawberries, and Alina loved eating them!

Yummy!

When we got home we made a "Romanian Strawberry Torte" using one of my mom's recipes. We made a cake for us and Pauline made one for her family.

The cool whip topping was a hit with both Alina and Jo-jo.

The finished products:)