Seder Meal

I wanted to post this blog earlier, but we have had a very eventful and a little bit stressful past week in a half.  My car had an almost blowout on I-10.  Then when we got home, Drew's truck would not start.  I needed three new tires, and he needed a new battery.  Then my timing-belt in my car went.  Yes, this was all in one week.  Luckily family was in town to help us, and things are now looking up :). 

We had a fun Easter with my parents, my sister Erin, and Drew's parents.  My mom hid eggs around my house, and even though we can consider ourselves adults (sometimes), we ran around like children searching for eggs.  Drew, bless his heart, I think really caught into the childhood spirit and decided to stand on our coffee table...  Well, it did collapse underneath of him.  He was okay, I was not and had my freakout moment (I am not proud of this).  We assesed the damage, and we were able to fix it.  I will let you know how in my future DIY blogpost.

Regardless of how eventful my week was, Easter is really about the Lord sacrificing himself for us, and his week 2000 years ago was a lot worse then mine.  The past two years Drew and I have participated in a Seder Meal that our church puts together.  I love going and it really helps us get a glimpse of how the last supper went and the story of Passover.  Passover celebrates the entire sequence of events that led to the Israelites' freedom from slavery.  Our Passover Seder combines Christian influences as well.

 Our Youth Group serves and sets up the tables.

Drew excited about the meal.

Starting the meal you have to clean the house, and remove any trace of chametz (leaven or yeast).  Father Tom takes the children around and they find the chametz and throw it out the door.  Some of the children were not comfortable throwing food away.  It was cute.

On each table there is plate that consists of Parsley which represents life, Matzoh tosh representing the bread that sustained the Israelites, Bitter Herb Maror reminding us of how bitter the Israelites lives were as slaves in Egypt, Charoset-Maror which is dipping bitter veges into sweet apples and nuts to remember that even the most bitter things in life can be sweetened by our hope in God.  There is also a bone reminding us of the lamb sacrificed for the Israelites and the sacrifice of Jesus, and an egg (hagigah) symbolizing mourning and reminding us of the hardness of hearts that will not accept God's love.  Throughout the dinner you have 4 glasses of wine that you have to drink each glass all at once.  I filled my wine glass up just a little tiny bit, and at one time substitued water for wine...  I had a hard time keeping up.  No wonder the Apostles were falling asleep.

At  the end they brought out our actual dinner.

 It was a lot of fun, and a great reminder of how lucky we all have it :).

On Easter this Slider Turtle came to visit us in our backyard.  We took him to a secluded pond where hopefully he had a Happy Easter as well!

Have a great week,

The Vital's

March Of Dimes

With Easter right around the corner, this time of year always makes me think of new beginnings!  The cold days are pretty much over (at least for those of us in the south), flowers are blooming, birds are singing, everything is fresh and brand new again.  It makes me think of how important life is and how fragile we all really are.

This time last year my family and I were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jonathon Daniel Irvin, my first nephew.  At 39 weeks, my sister, Lauren went to the doctor for one of her final check ups.  She received news that no one should ever have to hear... they could not find a heartbeat.  I can only imagine what was going through her head at that time.  My family drove to be with her and her husband Rin.  She delivered Jonathon on April 30, 2010.  His death was caused by a cord accident.

Lauren and Rin are both extremely strong people; they have thrown themselves into trying to help others realize how often this happens and to raise money for the research of the cause of stillbirths.  They joined a grieving group called SHARE Atlanta and their hope is that families will not have to suffer the loss of their babies in the future. 

The March of Dimes is one of the few organizations that supports research for stillbirth causes.  This year SHARE Atlanta is walking to raise money for the March of Dimes and the Date is Jonathon's first birthday in Heaven, April 30th 2011!  Drew and I are going to support Lauren and Rin in the walk.  I am a little late in trying to start to raise money, but my thought is what little I can do will help.  We are just happy we will be able to be together to walk in Jonathon's memory.

Please enjoy the pictures below of my nephew courtesy of Lauren and Rin, and if you feel you can donate a little bit of money please follow my link or my sister's link.  Thank you so much in advance.

Tina's March of Dimes Goal

Lauren's March of Dimes Goal

Thank you for your support!  I will share how the walk went in a future blog.  Happy Easter, and God Bless!

The Vital's

A Canoe Built for Two

Sunday we decided to explore the local lakes, so we loaded up our canoe, packed a picnic and headed to Grayton Beach.  

                                                     Drew brought his fishing pole.

 I of course wanted an excuse to wear my large white hat.  It was pretty windy out so needless to say we had to fish my hat out of the water.

If you ever make a trip down to 30A, you have to take the time to explore Western Lake.  It is private and beautiful you will occasionally see kayaks, yolo boards (I really want to try that one day), or canoes, but it stays pretty quiet.

I love exploring with Drew, because he is my own personal nature guide.  He knows the name of every fish, bird, plant, snake you name it.  Our trips always start out the same way.

Me- "Do you think a shark or an alligator will tip us over or take a bite out of our canoe?"

Drew-"Yes, Bub I think a shark and an alligator will tip the canoe over together, because they always hang out together.  Personally, I am hoping an alligator will tip us over so I can wrestle him, (in his best impersonation of Steve Irwin) Danger, Danger!"  

We came across Lilly Pads which Drew then informed me we were no longer in salt or brackish water, because Lilly Pads only grow in Fresh Water.

There are tons of little areas to have a picnic.  We chose a secluded sandy beach area, and set up our picnic.

On a side note: Ladies, if you are looking for a fruity beer, but you do not want the calories try Michelob Ultra Pomegranate Raspberry.  It was delicious and only had 95 calories.

We had a wonderful and relaxing day out on the water.  We were so blessed to have such a beautiful day.  Have a great week, and I will definatly try to send some Florida sunshine your way.