Happy Easter Monday, dear Smithellaneous family!
Last week was one of our craziest weeks ever with travel, family, Vernie’s funeral, a second funeral at our church, and prep for all the Easter things we had left undone due to being out of town. (Steve and I both worked 13 hours on Saturday getting ready.)
Having said that, I apologize that I have not gotten to many of your wonderful comments in the past week. I read them all, appreciate them all, and usually reply to them all, but sometimes I don’t always get everything done that I’d like to. Does anyone else ever feel that way?
In a future post, I will write about the funeral and the events surrounding it, but today I thought we could take a break and just enjoy pictures of the adult kids and the grandkids.
But before I do that, let me post a couple of photos showing off our new set. Steve designed the lightboxes and he and Don (from the church) built them. Gage freehanded all the photos, and he, Steve, and Don cut the photos out of plywood.
The boxes can be lit with any sort of color and are just stunning. So great to have talented guys around!
Okay. On to some fun family photos. (If you hover over the photos, some of them have captions.)
And to close, here is a video of Grayson. He had made up the cutest cheer and I wanted to record him saying it. He started out very quietly and timidly until Meagan piped up and gave him a pep talk. His enthusiasm on the last time through was so precious. What a kid!
You can watch it here. (I apologize: I don’t have any control over the videos that follow his video.)
What about you?
How was your Easter?
What did you do?
What what was the favorite thing you ate?
What are you thankful for on this Easter Monday?
I remember, a while ago, seeing pictures of the light boxes in progress. I couldn’t really picture what they were going to become, but now that they’re up they are really incredible! I love that Steve and Gage are so good at project-ing together.
Glad you all got to enjoy some time with family… hope things are slowing down a bit for you!
Kristina,
Yes, those light boxes STIL amaze me. Those are so far out of my wheelhouse, they are not even on the same planet. I am beyond impressed by what they accomplished. Thanks for your words of affirmation about the boxes; I’ll pass them along to the artists.
The light boxes are beautiful as are all your grandkids.
My Easter started by going to our 8:00 service. Normally I go to the 9:30 service but our Little Kids Director had asked for some extra volunteers in the Baby Room at 9:30 so I volunteered to help. Good thing as we normally have 4 workers. Sunday we had 7 babies and 6 workers. I then went to Sunday School at 11:00. After that I went to see my parents and came home to bake the potato casserole I had made. Four of the single ladies from my church got together for an early dinner. Each of us brought a couple dishes, mine were the potato casserole and deviled eggs. All three of the other ladies have lost their parents and of course mine are in a nursing facility.
Monday I was thankful for leftovers.
Phyllis,
I know you are such a blessing to your church in the way that you do so much volunteer work. Churches could not run without their volunteers: thank you for doing that.
What a great idea to get together for Easter with your single lady friends. Good food and friends–a recipe for a wonderful time.
What a wonderful Easter to have your sweet grandbabies and children together with you! The grands are all getting so big!
Those light boxes are amazing! Such talented men in your family!
We hosted Easter at our house for about 22 folks. It was fun and there was lots of yummy food. My older son, his wife, and my grandson came for a little while on Saturday because they don’t want the baby around lots of people yet (he was a premie). I missed having them all there but I understood.
My favorite food was probably the grape salad 🙂 if we’re not including desserts! I’m not a big “food” person although it seems like I did cook a lot this year.
I am thankful for Jesus, my family, and this life I live. Everyday I see something that reminds me of how blessed I am.
Suzanne,
Not sure if I’ve ever had a grape salad. I will have to Google it and find out what it is. Sounds intriguing.
Twenty-two is a LOT of people. Wow! I know that gathering is one of the many, many things you are thankful for.
Here’s the recipe for grape salad (several sites have the same one) – https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/trisha-yearwood/grape-salad-2828703. Some people use both red and green grapes but my preference is just red grapes.
It’s pretty yummy!
Suzanne,
Thanks so much for including your favorite recipe. Will give it a try!
The light boxes are stunning! The guys did amazing on them!
Our Easter was spent flying home from Reno, Nevada with a couple of friends. And since we had been gone 5 days, the fridge was pretty empty so we ate Taco Bell for supper when we got home. Quite a different holiday than what we are used to. The getaway was awesome though!
Lee Anne,
Taco Bell for Easter dinner sounds good to me. Always nice to have a change of pace, right? 🙂
Your family makes me smile. Those grandbabes just bless my heart and I know they do yours. Maybe this week you can take some time to relax and just enjoy doing nothing pressing for a little while. I know you all have been run ragged lately. We had a not so great day yesterday. My hubby, who fell off of a house a year and a half ago and crushed his heel when it hit a cement porch during the fall, has been having excruciating pain with his ankle. They had built his heel out of titanium and now the tissue around all that has collapsed and he will be having surgery.. again… and they are going to take out some of the hardware and use a cadaver bone to build his foot up inside. He will be down for a couple of months…again. The first time after surgery, he couldn’t walk for five months and it was tough. I am trying to get into caregiver mode again and eat my Wheaties so I can tackle whatever comes my way. Pray we can do all this again. Praying for you all and praying for some “normal” time for you all. Praying for you sweet mama too. Be blessed.
Kaye,
So glad our kids and grandbabies bring a smile.
What an awful accident for your (and you) to endure. Wow! I know it must feel so overwhelming to start that whole journey again together. It can seem insurmountable when looked at all at one time.
Whenever I face a situation that looms ahead of me I ask myself, “Can I get through today?” And I do.
And the next morning? Same question.
And on and on until I look back and see that all the days have strung themselves together and I am on the other side of that challenge. Praying for you now!
The lightboxes are awesome, especially in black and white. Great work Gage and Steve, very nice small detail of what appears to be Jesus on small donkey. I’m curious about the green lightbox, third from right. Guessing that it might be an outline of the Outer Banks Coastline.
Love Grayson’s video!! Once again Meagan was cheerleader Mom, God filled Mom. The face of Madison in the photo with Sarah and Gage so resembles Vernie!! Wow, DNA is pretty cool stuff!!
I celebrated Easter by ‘Praising Jesus’ our ‘Risen Lord and Savior’. Tulips are in full bloom at the Biltmore Estate. I enjoyed taking a few photos and sending to my family. I always love witnessing the transformation from winter to spring. Always totally amazed that a dry, dead bush can transform into a gorgeous display of pink flowers!! That’s OUR GOD in action!!!
Gloria,
Well, you were close! The third from the right is actually a lion and a lamb. 🙂 The lamb is lower in the picture with the lion’s head above it.
How fun that you get to visit the Biltmore. I’d like to get there again someday. And I’m right there with you on witnessing the transformation from winter to spring. Absolutely miraculous.
All these pictures are precious – the littlest Smith are getting so big! I especially enjoyed the picture of what looks to me like an “old fashioned” hand-pump water fountain. I haven’t seen one of those in years. And you certainly have a bunch a talented “men-folk” around – those light boxes are incredible! You and your family remain in my thoughts and prayers.
Sue Ellen,
Yes, that pump was at a park about 2 miles from Vernie’s house. The kids LOVED it.
Thank you for the prayers.
The light boxes are simply amazing! Very talented guys.
Loved all the pics.
Love, Deb
Thanks, Deb. We are definitely married to some talented fellas.
Oh, those pictures of the kids – especially, not sure which one, and those beautiful baby blue eyes. Loved the church pictures – great job guys. Enjoyed the video too – way to shout out your cheer. Your Lego soup sounds and looks interesting? Several years ago the second youngest granddaughter wanted to come over and make stone soup (one of my favorite kid’s stories). So I asked her if she had a recipe – Nope. I followed her instructions – she did have a clean stone. I asked her if she wanted to add different ingredients – well, we did salt and pepper, maybe a potato and cooked it for a while. Asked her if she wanted to taste it – she did – not very good, but didn’t want to add anything else. Such fun. Had my daughter and her family over for Easter dinner (son lives in Oregon). She had texted us wanting to know if we were going to have the egg hunt (chocolate wrapped eggs). Yes, we were. Oh, these grandkids are in their 20’s. Guess we just can’t get rid of that tradition. Actually one of my granddaughter’s has an 8 mo. old son, so she carried him around for his first hunt!
Sharyn,
I loved that stone soup story. I thought about it while I was “eating” Madi’s delicious Lego soup.
I know your granddaughter will always remember you cooking soup together. Even if it wasn’t delicious, it represented precious times together.
Thank you for sharing those pictures! Wow! What a gift! those boxes Gage and Steve made are beautiful. We had a quiet Easter spending our last day in Arizona before starting our trip back East. I spent part of the day looking through photos of past Easter’s with my sister and her family and missing them this year. We are thankful for having the ability to travel across this amazing country and witness the beauty of God’s creation. Take Care!
Ginny,
I love looking through old pictures; what a fun thing to do, reminiscing over past Easters with your family.
I love that you and Kenny get to travel so much. That would definitely be my dream. Hugs!
Beautiful photos, everyone is getting so big. The new lit up screens are amazing, such talent. I think they can be used throughout the year?
Lesly,
Yes, we can definitely use them all year, changing some out, and rearranging them according to the season.
Those boxes are beautiful! I’m in awe of the talented people that can create things like that.
Our Easter was good- church in the morning, ham supper in the late afternoon and church in the evening. We are having a Spring Revival at church so we have a special guest preacher all week and I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far. The question we are asked is, Are we happy in our current walk with God. It’s eye-opening. He spoke 3 times yesterday and each evening this week at 7.
Such precious pictures- and video- of your sweet grandkiddos!
Krista,
Church, ham, church. Sounds like a great day!
So glad you are enjoying your Spring Revival. Your guest preacher is definitely getting a workout preaching that many services in a week. Hope it continues to go well.
Our Easter was very quiet as my husband had been sick for 4 days. We have postponed our celebration until Sat. so we can have the youngest 2 grands for an egg hunt. One of the good things started during covid is that churches are online for services. We were able to watch 3 different services and that was great. I love the Easter hymns and I got to sing them at home. Best thing I ate was the ham that my husband felt well enough to cook and he actually ate some too. On this Easter Monday I am thankful for the brief snow we had, the daffodils that are beginning to bloom, and the knowledge that spring is indeed coming.
Patti,
I’m so sorry to hear he has been sick! At least you both have the easter egg hunt to look forward to with the grand.
Daffodils in the snow would be lovely. Enjoy the promise of spring.
It was an interesting Easter week for me. I’ve been closely in touch with our company’s representative in the Ukraine (who also pastors) since late February and it has been humbling to say the least to witness such faithfulness. They are in an area where little humanitarian aid can reach so necessities like food and medicines, gas masks, etc. are not readily nor easily found. So with that going on in my spirit, Maunday Thursday through Resurrection Sunday were more solemn and humbling than usual and time was spend pondering betrayal, Jesus’ willingness to give up His life, the silence of God…what does that mean … and the humbling gratefulness for His resurrection – gifts that I don’t deserve, but He gave anyway. Hit me in a way I’ve not had before. Quite extraordinary!
Guerrina,
What a thought-provoking comment. Thank you for taking the time to write down the inner workings that have been going on in your heart these past few days. Your words and insights were a challenge and blessing to me.
My Easter (well the whole week) has just been one that sucked . I have been sick with migraines. At least I did have one day where I did bad so I saw my mum. I have just been taking it esay watching my a tv series I like (lucky my migraine did not get worse with that).
Wishing you a great Easter.
Things I am grateful Easter Monday – maybe I just feel happy about being here and alive.
Katrina,
I’m so sorry you’ve been having migraines. I have heard those are absolutely miserable. Glad you were able to see your mum.
And I love that you said you feel happy about being here and being alive. A perfect thing to be grateful for.