Happy Easter! Okay, so it's a day late. Nonetheless, Happy Easter!

The Higham's had a pretty full weekend of events , starting with Good Friday and wrapping up on Sunday with our Easter celebration. We wanted to take a few minutes to share some of the craziness that found it's way into the Higham House.         

After spending some time on Saturday visiting Chick-Fil-A (a blog that we're working on for later this week) and a little window shopping at some of our favorite stores, we settled in at home to tackle some last minute chores and an eventful time of egg dying.

​The weather was absolutely gorgeous. It came pretty close to 60˚, so Amy decided that we should dye our eggs outside. And it was a pretty good idea considering what unfolded.

The next thing we knew, Nate was tossing one of his eggs into the air. With each toss the egg went higher and a little more out of control. Then it happened. The egg came down on the roof and rolled down into the gutter. This gave Nate the perfect excuse to climb up on the roof. And his did.

But remember those air-soft guns? Well, now they were pointed towards the moving target who was running across the roof. Smart? Probably not. Stupid? Yep. Hilarious? ABSOLUTELY!! It was pretty funny, especially when he took a shot dead-center in his chest. Perfect shot!

Easter Sunday begins with church. As usual, Jay was up and out, leaving Amy and the kids to get ready and follow behind when they were ready. And as our custom, all 5 assembled for the family Easter picture. For kicks, I went and found a picture from Easter Sunday 2010. It's fun to see just how much they've grown in just 6 years!

And there were the Easter baskets. Simple, yet delicious. We've never been big on the overflowing Easter baskets. The kids get just enough to enjoy their favorite candies, along with some yummies that Amy whips up. (And those yummies ARE YUMMY!)

What would Easter be without an Easter egg hunt? Grandmom came through as usual with her amazing Easter box filled with eggs and goodies. So after church (and after Jay got home) Logan set up the egg hunt for Breya, Asher, and Aiden.

After the egg hunt, we piled into the van and headed out for our tradition of eating Easter dinner at a restaurant. Easter is the one holiday where we set aside some money and plan to eat out. This give everyone, especially Amy, a chance to relax and not have to worry about being in the kitchen. 

This year, we visited Primanti Bros., one of our favorite local eateries. Known for their amazing sandwiches, Primanti's is a Pittsburgh treasure, and we are more than happy to enjoy a Pittsburgh treasure!

The night wrapped up with a visit from some dear friends and some yummy desserts. It was great catching up while all the kids played. We even caught up on some back episodes of Fear the walking Dead.

​All in all, it was a great Easter. Every moment was a memory-maker moment. From working around the house to the chaotic moments of insanity to the  time when we were able to simply sit and laugh or watch a movie or enjoy the front porch swing, every moment sweet and wonderful.

- the higham family

It's been a couple of weeks since we last posted anything on a regular basis. Life and ministry have stepped in and created a couple really busy weeks for the Higham's. And in doing the blog, while we are committed to sharing our story of life in ministry with you, there are a few things that come with a greater priority. So of course life came first, followed by our ministry. That left us with a couple weeks where we just didn't have the time or the energy to post anything new.

But don't worry, we aren't going anywhere. The blog is here and will stay here. And we will be posting some of the craziness of our life soon!

In the meantime, we want to thank you all for your continued support, prayers, and encouraging words. We will begin posting new content in just a couple of days!

- the higham family

Making the trip to visit family is always a exciting. Amy and I have lived more than 4 hours away from our parents for 18 of our 20 years of marriage. We try to get home as much as possible. And our parents/grandparents try to visit us as much as they can. But it never seems like it's enough.

This past weekend, we loaded up the mini-van and made our way east, to Philadelphia, to spend some time with the Higham family, celebrate Jay's mom's birthday, and to make our first official college visit with Logan. And boy, what a trip it was!

It began a couple of days before our scheduled departure. Tires. The van needed tires, badly. We are thankful for a winter with a very light snowfall, as it would have been nearly impossible to navigate the hills and highways in Western PA. But making the 300+ mile trip to Philly required that we replace our balding tires with something a little more road worthy. So after a couple of months, we saved up enough money (a significant feat considering our current state of affairs, but that's another blog) to replace the bad tires. And thanks to a coupon and a special, buy 3 get 1 free deal, we were able to replace all four.

The tires were to be replaced on Thursday morning. Amy was going to make the drive into Washington, get the tires replaced, and all would be great. Or so we thought.

Thursday morning was anything but usually. In fact it was absolutely chaotic. Comical now that it's in the past, but frustrating and stressful when it all went down. The bottom line, Jay ended up making the trip into Washington (2 hours late) for the tires, only to learn that the wrong tires were order. Apparently when we were looking for tires, we mistakenly used the wrong sizes for our particulate van trim. We needed 16's not 17's, and the 16's we're in stock. In fact, it took the mechanic some time to find 16's. But the call came in later Thursday afternoon that they had found some 16's and they would be delivered on Friday before noon. Whoohoo!

Come Friday morning. Amy made the trip Friday morning to have the tires replaced. Unfortunately, the tire were not in the store. They were delivered to the wrong store. True story. The mechanic was on the phone trying to figure our how to get our tires to his store so we could still make our trip to Philly.

Meanwhile, Amy came home. It was about 12:00 p.m. We had hoped to be on the road by 1:00 p.m. We picked up the kids from school, loaded the van, and hoped that the tires would arrive. Then it was back to Washington and the mechanic. Thankfully, the tires were there! So all 7 of us sat in the little waiting room waiting, as the guys switched the tires.

Sunday kicked off with a new tradition. Last year, we stopped by a Starbucks before heading to church. The store has a great second floor sitting area where you can just hang out. And thanks to some Starbucks gift cards, we were able to get Starbucks for all of us.

One of the fun things we are learning to take advantage of is that our kids are growing up and able to enjoy times where we can sit around and talk. We love taking time to just sit and be with our kids. The later church time, and the convenience of having a Starbuck near the church we visited, makes for a great opportunity for us to spend some time with our kids.

After church, we made our way to my sisters house for the surprise birthday party for Jay's mom! The family all gathered, the siblings and cousins, Aunt's and Uncles, and some close family friends. It turned out to be a wonderful afternoon of catching up, laughing, and fun!

The weekend came to an end late Monday night as we rolled back into the garage, unloaded, and sent everyone to bed. Exhausted, yet full. All in all, it was another great weekend in Philadelphia!

​- the higham family

Hi we're Jay & Amy, and we've been married for 19 years and are super blessed to be busy raising our 5 kids; 4 boys and 1 girl! We juggle the adventures of life and ministry and share what we are learning as it relates to marriage, family, raising kids, serving in the church, and chasing after Jesus. Raising a family is hard work, especially in today's culture. But our hope is to encourage you and your family, as we live for the glory of God.