Resurrection Hope

"Then bursting forth in glorious day

Up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory, 

Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;

For I am His and He is mine

Bought with the precious blood of Christ."

Here in the love and power of Christ, we stand.

Zoë - Life

Anastasia - Resurrection

Truly an Easter child. Holding her Lamby.

Happy Easter!

We celebrated Easter this year along with my grandparents, mom, brother, aunts and uncles and cousins in The Dalles. We witnessed a community production of "The Last Days of Jesus," a Passion Play that stretched from Thursday evening through Sunday morning, re-inacting the Last Supper through the Resurrection. We are so blessed to be able to celebrate our Risen Savior with our extended family! 

Ready for the Resurrection 

(Passion Play sunrise service)

With the cousins :)

After seeing the re-inactment of the Resurrection, we all went to my grandparents' church service and enjoyed some special Easter activities - animal petting zoo and an Easter egg hunt (of course). We then went home for a delicious meal, and off to the park for our own Easter egg hunt. 

Pure delight!

Searching for eggs with Anna

Our sweet cousins Wesley and Joshua

 found the golden bunny and "let" Zoë find it. :)

After-egg-hunt eggs-haustion. LOL!

(In truth, I'm not a fan of Easter egg hunts. I feel like it becomes such a big deal for kids and adults that it overshadows the true reason for our celebration. But I discovered "Resurrection Eggs" which sound really cheesy but really are a powerful way to "baptize"the secular symbol of the Easter egg. Each of 12 eggs contain a symbolic object to help tell the story of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection, correlating with scripture readings and devotional conversation. Very cool. And great for kids, even as young as Zoë! She LOVED opening them up and discovering all the treasures inside. I had a great time reading through the selected scripture passages and talking about it with my cousins on Holy Saturday.)

2nd Easter egg hunt at the park

With Wesley

Gorgeous magnolia tree by my grandparents' home

With Uncle Judah and Lola

What a beautiful reminder of new life!

Happy Easter from our home to yours!

 May we truly live in this "new life" offered to us by Christ, 

and walk in Resurrection Hope every moment of every day.

Winter Adventure

One thing I miss the most is snow. Of all the places I have lived, Portland is the first place I have gone through an entire winter without snow. It's just crazy! I have to admit, I have enjoyed not needing to shovel or scrape feet of snow off our van in the mornings, but I really, really have missed watching falling snowflakes, tromping in deep powder, and seeing the sparkly snow at night.

Since I couldn't make it through a year without any snow, we went looking for some! We took Zoë and a couple of our friends, Jeremy and Amy, four pairs of snowshoes and a little blue sled to the Trillium Lake trailhead on Mt. Hood. It was a beautiful day - the perfect temperature, and the snow was a delightful powder.

Zoë enjoyed tromping around in her snow gear (and I couldn't help but giggle at how cute she looked all bundled up!), and had a good time being pulled on the sled...until she got tired of that and wanted to pull it herself. Then be carried. Then go back into the sled. Then be done.

We never made it to Trillium Lake - Zoë was ready to turn around and we had run out of food for bribery. But, we had a great time, nonetheless!

22 months going on 23 years

Zoë LOVES all things "grown-up." She loves carrying around mommy's purse, she loves putting on lipgloss and painting her nails (even though mommy never does), she loves talking on the phone and reading to herself in the rocking chair. She wants to drive our van, push her stroller, feed her baby doll Madeline, cook in the kitchen, wash the dishes, push the shopping cart, carry everything possible at once, and climb up the stairs all by herself. 

Oh, and she LOVES all things "techie." iPods, iPads, computers, cellphones, keyboards. All of it. (They are the main source of tantrums as well. :s) Every time we go to the chiropractors office, she asks the office ladies to sit in the office chair and type on the keyboard (and they let her!). We call her "Little Miss Secretary."

Who is this big girl, and where is my baby?? :) It is a little crazy to see how close we are getting to the 2 year mark. Wow. The time really does go by quickly, and I need to remind myself to cherish every moment - even the tough ones.

Love you, Zozo!

Love-Love-Love: 21 months

This Valentine's Day I am especially mindful of how important it is not just to show love to one another, but to also tell our loved ones how much we love them - every day. We never know what tomorrow will bring.

Though it seems impossible, I find myself growing to love Zoë more and more each day. She steals my heart with her smile, her kisses, her giggles, her hugs, and she is continuously teaching me how to love with the love of God: with patience, kindness, gentleness, humility, sacrifice; with encouragement, trust and hope and perserverance. Love that never fails; love that never ends.

Happy Valentine's Day to our dear family and friends! 

You are loved!

Our little sweetheart!

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." 

Ephesians 3:17-19

Family Fun Part II

Our little Poppen family was treated to a lovely vacation in Texas! We flew down in early January and spent a week enjoying the company of Zac's parents, aunts and uncles and cousins. Mommy and Daddy had an absolutely wonderful time taking a break from "normal life" and letting Didi and the Aunties play with Zoë. :) It was also so fun to watch her at this age interacting with everyone from little Rebecca (whom Zoë calls "Gaca!) to Gruncle Herm (whom Zoë calls "Bapa!").

Cousin besties - giving a sweet kiss to Rebecca

A picnic with Didi

(Special thanks to Didi for some of these pics ;)

Zoë LOVED playing with Papa's iPad.

 (And he seemed to enjoy it too!)

Showing off her new hat that Papa made to Didi and Gloria. 

She fits right in with the hipster crowd!

Reading with Gruncle

Snuggles with Cousin Brooke and Auntie Judy

 ("Ju-Ju", as Zoë likes to call her)

Cousin bath time! What a riot!

Gloria's big bear was the house favorite. All the kids wanted to play on him, 

and didn't really want to share (especially someone by the name of "Zoë")

We had to tell Zoë that there was no way we could fit Big Bear in our tiny apartment. :)

With Rebecca at 11 months and Zoë at 20, they made pretty good little playmates! 

A little rough on the sharing part, but that is to be expected ;)

Meal times with Rebecca were the best! Zoë actually ate her vegetables because 

she saw Rebecca eating them. Of course when I tried giving her the exact same thing 

at home (canned green beans), she refused. 

At the Chinese Lantern Exhibit. SO cool!

Some R&R time - this momma sure needed it!

Riding in the golf cart was another of Zoë's highlights. 

She was so proud that she got to sit on her own between mommy and daddy. :)

Family picture! Just missing Uncle Daniel

 Thank you Texan & Iowan family for such a wonderful time! Is was hard to come home. Fortunately, Zoë did AMAZINGLY well on the 4-hour flight and gave us hope for trips in the future. 

I give credit to Zoë's special Snack Attack Pack (check it out! Zac found a simple tackle box and we filled it to the brim with all sorts of goodies ;). And the iPad. And several trips to the bathroom to wash our hands. Oh the joys of having a toddler! 

20 months: Family Fun Part I

Twenty months feels awfully close to twenty-four; how is it possible Zozo is coming up on 2 years? Currently, Zoë is growing taller and leaner, stronger and faster. She loves running around with her arms out behind her (the "V" run as we call it), wants to climb on EVERYTHING, and wants to do everything on her own. She loves dancing to hiphop, washing her hands or washing dishes, loves saying "no," rearranging the fridge, loves saying "no,"and enjoys labeling to whom each item belongs. 

We have enjoyed a season of spending time with family - first my side of the family in Corbett, Oregon, for Christmas, and now with Zac's side of the family in Irving/Dallas, Texas. Here are some pictures of Zoë having fun with her Farner cousins, aunts and uncles, great aunts and uncles, grandma and great grandparents.

Washing hands with Auntie Nancy

Game time

Chillaxing with Anna and Joshua

Playing with the big kids!

Helping Judah tune his guitar :)

All the grandkids and great-grandkids 

Dancing with Uncle Corby

Singing carols - upsidedown :)

Presents!

Zoë is at such a fun age and it is delightful to watch her play with cousins and interact with her relatives. Tune in next week for Family Fun Part II for more with our Iowan and Texan relatives!

Ringing in the New Year - Toddler Style

Ring out the Old, bring in the New! This past year has been full of change and growth for all of us, but especially for this little one - she is constantly surprising us with new words, abilities and her cute-quirky personality. We celebrated the New Year toddler style today at the Portland Children's Museum with a noisemaker craft, dancin' and our very own countdown (at 11:00 a.m. :). It's most fun I've had on New Years in a long time!

Zoë LOVED dancing with all the other kiddos :)

Check out her moves!

 Happy New Year from our family to yours! 

May this coming year be full of adventure, joy, and beauty.

Now for mommy and daddy's New Year celebration tonight...sushi, a little sparkling cider, and watching the ball drop (according to EST - so that I can go to bed. Haha! :)