Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter this year. We woke up early and had a breakfast potluck at church. We brought cinnamon rolls (which aren't made here in Brazil, so those were a hit). After Sunday school, we had a potluck with friends in town. I attempted to make a stromboli. Mine didn't turn out very pretty, so Anna made another one since there was extra dough. Hers turned out beautiful. The only problem was that since we were up until midnight the night before making it, I was a little tired. After I pulled mine out of the oven I put Anna's in and dosed off. I woke up and remembered her stromboli in the oven. When I took it out, it was like charcoal. Anna claims that I was jealous. :-) Thankfully, our friends brought more than enough good food, including a Japanese lady who brought homemade sushi! I know that was the first time I've ever eaten sushi on Easter! Maybe we should make it a new tradition.

After church at night, Emily colored eggs. She is to the age now where she can really enjoy it.

After that we did a video chat with my parents so that they could watch Emily and Lydia look for Easter eggs.

Emily found all (eight) of the eggs and then promptly put them all back. Once she found out there was chocolate inside, she gathered them back up pretty quickly!

The best part of our Easter was sharing the Easter story with some Curto friends that were in town. Below is a picture of a Curto girl with Emily. It was so fun to watch the girls play together even though they didn't share a common language. Let's pray that one day that will have a share common faith in Jesus!

~Kelli

Lydia is helmet-free!

Congratulations Lydia! She is officially helmet-free! She was such a trooper going through 15 months of helmet therapy without so much as a complaint. Even when the temperature reached over 100 degrees and her poor little head was drenched in sweat, she just took it all in stride.

I have to say that when I first heard that Lydia would need to wear a helmet, I was pretty disappointed. I didn't want all her baby pictures to have a helmet, but the more she wore it, the cuter it got, so much so, that I think I'll miss it now that she's done!

Although the helmet did have some disadvantages such as making it hotter for her, making her head stinky, and it wasn't the softest thing to cuddle with, there were also some nice things about it. It protected her head and she didn't get a single black and blue on her head the whole time! Now just a week after she finished wearing the helmet, she has a little bruise on her forehead. I don't think there was a week that went by that I didn't say, "Good thing she has a helmet!" However, the best thing about the helmet was that it made her head beautiful!

We celebrated her helmet graduation with a homemade cake, fireworks, and friends. Here are a few pictures from her party.

Lydia with her cake.

I had to show off the cake I made for her. This was my first time working with fondant and it was so easy!

Lydia's happy dance.

Although I'm not glad Lydia had craniosynostosis there has been a lot of good that has come from it. We were able to see my parents four times more than we would have, and my grandma was able to meet Lydia and see Emily again before she died. Mike was able to take classes on literacy development, and I've been able to help other parents who have babies who have the same condition as Lydia. I've even been contacted by parents of children with craniosynostosis who live in Germany, Brazil, and Pakistan! We praise the Lord for the advancements in medicine that enabled Lydia to be a beautiful and healthy little girl!

~Kelli