Good Friday

Today is April 14th, and we have not yet finished our taxes. Last weekend we bought TurboTax, and Wednesday we opened it and made quite a bit of headway. Seems we'll likely owe a little but we're okay with that...it's a manageable amount! We've never used TurboTax before. Probably because John was a pastor and our taxes were so complicated. Last year we got a CPA to do our taxes and get us set up with John's self-employment stuff. We felt brave enough to do it on our own this year and I gotta tell you that TurboTax is awesome. So simple to use and we saved about $200 by doing them ourselves. Since we owe, we're going to mail our stuff on Monday!

For the last 8 years, the Easter bunny has visited our house on the evening of Good Friday. That's tonight! It's a little different, but it allows our kids to play with their stuff and stuff their faces all day Saturday, and on Sunday we can keep the focus on Jesus. So, the Easter bunny gave me his list and recruited me to help him gather some stuff for the kids this morning. I think they'll have a few surprises in the morning.

I was listening to the radio this morning. We have a Christian station that I really like (and, no, it's not K-LOVE) and they were talking about Good Friday. I've always felt it was a sort of somber day...and in some sense it is. I know that Easter Sunday is the pinnacle day of this week, but I really think that today is also celebratory. Jesus' death is what gives us life. And He rose from the grave to give us hope. So tonight at dinner we're going to celebrate life and what Jesus did on the cross to ensure that for us.

I hope and pray that you have a blessed Easter weekend. We tell our kids all the time that Jesus loves them the most and He loves them the best. I hope you get a glimpse of His extravagant love for you today.