What Easter Means To Me

Maddie

What Easter means to me:

Some people are pining for Easter because they are excited for the Easter Bunny to come.  They want to have an egg hunt and celebrate all that good stuff.  I love those things, and they aren't bad at all, but the true meaning of Easter is Jesus rising from the dead.  Some people may not have heard the story of Easter in the Bible.  Jesus got crucified because he told the people that he was God's son.  They thought that he was lying and they knew lying was a sin so they killed him.  Jesus suddenly came back on the day of Easter.  No one believed it except the few that Jesus revealed himself to.

People eventually knew that he came back because of what the disciples told them.  Those who decided to put their trust in Jesus and what he taught called themselves Christians. That is the story of how Easter came to be.  It means a lot to me to have a special holiday every year to celebrate our God. 

Mom

Jesus died a terrible death for me and for you, sacrificed on the cross where all of the world's sin was placed upon him.  Because if His death we are all cleansed of our sin, and can now have a relationship with God. 

But the story doesn't end there. 
The tomb was empty on Easter morning.  Jesus rose from the dead and proved that he truly was the Son of God.  He spent some time on earth, showing himself to a few chosen people, then went to heaven.  He left behind his holy spirit, to guide us as we walk through life.

Easter is a great time of celebration.  He is Risen!

Hugs

Maddie

                      I want a hug.
But not just a normal hug. NO. I want one of those pick-me-up-off-my-feet-squeeze-me-tight-spin-me-around-hurts-my-tummy-but-still-makes-me-smile-leaves-me-breathless-gives-me-butterflies-makes-me-giggle-stupidly kind of hug.
                
                              

I was on Instagram the other day, and I found this picture.  It reminded me so much of myself!  I love hugs because I am a cuddly person.  I LOVE hugs!




Mom

Maddie's love language is definitely "physical touch" so this didn't surprise me a bit!
What is your love language?

Quality Time
Words of Affirmation
Physical Touch
Acts of Service
Gifts

The Golden Rule

Maddie
"Treat others the way you want to be treated."
The golden rule means a lot to me.  Mostly because Jesus followed the Golden Rule every day. For example Jesus gave love and grace and forgiveness to everyone he met. I am a Godly girl, and that means that I try to follow Jesus's ways just as much as he  did.  That also means that I follow the Golden Rule with my friends my family and anybody else.  The way I follow the Golden Rule with my family is whenever I say something rude I say I'm sorry and I won't do it again and hopefully they know I would them to say sorry to me sometimes.

Mom
This rule is so great, but not that easy to carry out.  Try this, put someone in your life in the "other's" blank:

Treat _______________ the way I want to be treated

Treat my husband the way I want to be treated.
Treat my children the way I want to be treated.
Treat my neighbor the way I want to be treated.

Do I want to be treated with kindness and respect?  Do I want to be treated with forgivness and grace?  How about patience, and be given the benefit of the doubt? Yes.  Well then, I better hand those out like a clown hands out balloon animals to a crowd of children--freely and with a smile.

What It Means To Be A Good Friend

What it means to be a good friend:

Maddie Mo
I have some really good friends in my life.  I have gone through ups and downs with each of them.  But we always get through our problems together and figure it out without lashing out.  My friends and I share things we don't share with our sisters or moms.  That's what makes our relationships special. 

An example of a good relationship is me and my best friend Ashley.  She has been my best friend for eight years.  We live right next to each other and are always hanging out with each other.  Our parents are good friends too. (Which is good!)  We are kind of like a married couple, we kind of have to get in fights and disagree on things to move on.  We have matured throughout all of our fights, and those fights help us find the problems to solve.  Some of our friends have tried to pull me and Ashley apart.  We always can tell when someone is trying to do that.  We have never let that happen.  And we never will. 

We also do a lot of fun things together.  Like soccer.  Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday we have soccer.  We are on the same team, so we see each other a lot.  That also helps our relationship.  There are times when we are really hyper together and we are laughing so hard we pee in our pants and don't even care.  That's the kind of friend I love having. 

Mom
Friendship is one of the most important things in my life (ranking just under God, my husband, and Diet Pepsi).  When I was growing up, I had a tough time with friends--not sure if I was "in" the crowd or not most of the time.  When I went away to college I was able to hand pick my friends (five in particular), and the five of us still meet at a great destination each year (Napa this past fall).

My friendship circle has grown over the years, including neighbors, MOPS pals, and special friends that have come into my life for different reasons.
Being a good friend means putting time into the relationship, loyalty, being vulnerable with the hard stuff, and listening with a compassionate and understanding ear.

I am very very blessed with my friendships.

Video Blog: A Birthday Year Goal

 

AMY: "Hey Everyone!  Thanks for checking in with Maddie and me today.  Last week we posted our first "video blog," and today we are sharing a second one."

 

MADDIE: "Thank ya'll for following our blog.  My mom had a very important question to ask me about my goals for this 2013. Comment below and tell uswhat you're goals are for this year!"