The April Days...

This past April was filled with a lot of driving, loud music, and talking.
We spent Easter weekend in Austin, where we celebrated my Grandma's birthday (who proudly turned 69) and my own birthday. On Sunday we went out to lunch with some dear friends. The restaurant was one of a slew of trailer stands parked in a little nook in the busier part of Austin. The food was little bit pricey, but the environment and chips made it worth it.

Becca and Tita.
Dear Becca, she's gotten so big!

Emily and Jacob (note Emily's cheesy pose).

Sweet 16...oh, and those yummy beet cupcakes.

Eva and I had a little photo shoot on the living room floor.

Dominic and "Gendpa"

Dom was quite concerned that there wouldn't be enough chips for him.

The familia.

Behind us was a shake stand. They sold shakes that had real cake blended in.

The Ragamuffin. 

Reminds me of this pin

A delicious Thai dinner in Bryan, TX.

We spent the day with our friends the Loyd's, cleaning, organizing, and reading books from their massive library. We went over  to Mr. Loyd's brother's house, for a Thai dinner and dessert.

Lovely arrangement for my surprise party.

The girls "threw me for a loop", and pulled off a surprise party the week after my birthday. They took me to a local cupcake shop where a few of my friends were waiting. Yes, I was surprised.

We had a crawfish boil one fine Saturday, with a few families.

Us and our Cajun friend's put together a little crawfish boil at our house. Though I'm not a big fan of fishy foods, I do enjoy socially eating crawfish. I stuffed myself silly. But as each batch came out I just felt so inclined to keep eating.

Us Marques, Webb, and Johnson girls had a sister slumber party. Though that was in May. :)

The first weekend in May, the Johnson girls and us (including Nicole) had set a date a month ago, to get together for the weekend. We had a great time talking, going to a Mexican market, going for a walk, watching one of our favorite movie, and talking some more!

Elena's pavlova lemon meringue. 

Elena has had some failed attempts at making pavlova, so she decided to try again but call it something else. It...kinda worked.

Dear Eva, on the day of the crawfish boil

Nicole had completely surprised us by coming down for the day and  thus attending our crawfish boil. Amusingly enough, her hubby, and most likely all her kids, are highly allergic to shellfish. No kisses that day.

Hymn of the Month~April

Stricken, smitten, and afflicted, see Him dying on the tree.
'Tis the Christ by man rejected; yes, my soul, 'tis He, 'tis He.
'Tis the long expected Prophet, David's Son, yet David's Lord;
By His Son, God now has spoken; 'tis the true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning, was there ever grief like His?
Friends thro' fear His cause disowning, foes insulting His distress;
Many hands were raised to wound Him, none would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly nor suppose the evil great
Here may view its nature rightly, here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the sacrifice appointed, see who bears the awful load;
'Tis the Word, the Lord's Anointed, Son of Man and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation, here the refuge of the lost;
Christ's the Rock of our salvation, His the name of which we boast.
Lamb of God, for sinners wounded, sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded who on Him their hope have built!

Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted was written by Thomas Kelly, an author of over 760 hymns. Thomas Kelly was born on July 13, 1769 in Ireland and died on May 14, 1855. Planning to be a lawyer, he attended Trinity College and got his BA in 1789. After his conversion to Christ, he changed plans and became in Anglican priest in 1792.

This hymn was written based on Isaiah 53:4 which says, "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted."

In Christ,

Micaela

A Shout Out to My Best Friend

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to my friend April. We recently went to visit her and her family up in Grand Praire, TX. And of course, despite my best efforts, we managed to forget all of Mia's babies. So she sent those back to us. While I was there, she lent me her Snoogle pillow for the night. Loved it!!! Then she sent me one! I just got it in the mail and I can't wait to try it out. I suspect I will have to wrestle Chris for it. He was eyeing it earlier. Anyways, THANK YOU again. Hugs and kisses from Austin!