Daniel Leaves the State!

Daniel had his first trip out of state for Easter weekend. We went to visit Aunt Debbie and her family in Cary, NC. He slept the entire way on our almost four hour journey.


Greg and I are the proud Godparents of Julia, so on Saturday we spent some time making her baptismal candle in Debbie's kitchen.


Our visit was filled with family fun, including a Saturday afternoon get-together with Nana B, Granny Gayle, Grandpa Charles, Greg's Aunt Irene & Uncle Bill, Greg's cousins Dan and Rick, along with Rick's wife Amy and daughter Katie, and all but Jonathan & Sean of the Marusak crew . . . Scott, Debbie, Kate, Travis (and his friend Bo), Trenton, and Julia.


Trenton, Julia, Sarah and Emily enjoyed countless games of Clue throughout the weekend. The girls also enjoyed entertaining the crowd on Uncle Scott's piano.




Nana B loved having both Daniel and Katie with her, in addition to the rest of her great-grandchildren. We hadn't all been together since her birthday party last summer.






Daniel was most excited to see Dan, since they have the same name. He had his picture taken with Dan for his Book of Daniels.






Saturday afternoon, Amy made a set of Resurrection Eggs with Sarah, Emily and Julia. She shared the Easter story and explained each of the symbols for the eggs, along with Bible readings for each egg. The girls loved the project. Everyone took turns reading from the Bible, and we were thrilled to hear one of the readings at Mass!

After our visit with all of the family, we went to the Easter Vigil Mass where Debbie joined the Catholic church, and Trenton and Julia were baptized. Daniel stayed with Katie and Megan while were we at the two and a half hour Mass. The Vigil Mass is an amazing service, full of so many important rituals in the Catholic church. I love the celebration of the Sacraments, and the joy of welcoming others into my faith. The night was amazing.



On Sunday the Easter Bunny dropped off all sorts of goodies at Aunt Debbie's house. I had left a note for the Easter Bunny to let him know where Sarah, Emily and Daniel would be, explaining that the best place to leave a basket would be Aunt Debbie's house.

Later that afternoon, we had a delicious dinner prepared by Nana B and Debbie. Ham, pork, sweet potatoes, lima beans (Trenton's favorite), mac & cheese, carrots, peas, potato salad, and countless other goodies were on the menu, followed by scrumptious Blue Moon cake. Yum. After a few final cuddles, we headed back home, tired, but filled with love.