He is Risen!

in my family growing up we would always wake each other up on Easter morning by entering the person's room and shouting "He is Risen!" to which the person you were talking to was supposed to reply "He is Risen Indeed!" (and this response would come quickly or not so quickly depending on how awake the person was ;) haha)
this back and forth has been a common greeting on Easter Morning throughout church history and i absolutely love it and hope to carry on the tradition in our little family.
Christ has Risen and the grave could not hold him. our hope for salvation is so tied to the Resurrection and the reality that it happened! Praise God that he has accepted the payment for our sins and showed it by raising His son on Easter Morning!
just like the Christmas holiday, Easter is not about bunnys and eggs and new dresses or suits. as fun as those things are. the true reality of Easter is that our Savior who died on the cross for our sins was raised to life to show that his payment was acceptable to the Father. now that is GREAT news! :)
have a blessed Easter Sunday!
love from the Mixon House!

Good Friday?!?!

growing up in a christian context, Good Friday is not a strange term to me. it has been a part of my life every year for as long as i can remember. but you might ask, "then why the question marks?" well, just because something is common and familiar doesn't mean that it shouldn't be evaluated and thought through deeply.
so the last few years i have sought to think through Easter and the events surrounding it through the eyes of the unbeliever. and Good Friday is such a strange term for what actually happened that day 2,000 years ago. what is possibly good about the death of an innocent man? what is good about the beatings and mocking he endured? what is good about his journey to Golgotha carrying his own beam that he would be nailed to once he arrived on that hill? there isn't much good to see when you just look at the events of Good Friday! it all seems dark and grim and hopeless.

Luke 23:44-49

^"44 It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,⁴⁵ while the sun's light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. ⁴⁶ Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. ⁴⁷ Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!” ⁴⁸ And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. ⁴⁹ And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things."

BUT GOD...
i feel like that phrase should come next! whenever i see that phrase in scripture i hang on to my seat to see what God is going to do next! and what God does next here is just incredible!

Luke 24:1-12

"But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. ² And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, ³ but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. ⁵ And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, ⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” ⁸ And they remembered his words, ⁹ and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. ¹⁰ Now it was Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles, ¹¹ but these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter rose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves; and he went home marveling at what had happened."

God raised Jesus from the dead! now that just doesn't happen! but He did to show that the payment for the sin of the world was acceptable to God. and Jesus had to die on Good Friday so that he could be raised to life 3 days later! only in the light of Easter are the events of Good Friday truly GOOD! through our reliance and faith in Jesus Christ we can come near to God because Jesus took away our sins on that cross 2,000 years ago. now THAT is good news!
as you celebrate this Easter weekend, find hope in this Good Friday if you are a new creature in Christ Jesus. and if you are not, lay your life and desires down before the cross that you may truly know the hope that Easter morning brings!

Isaiah 53:4-6,11

 ^"4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
⁵ But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.

¹¹ Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities."

march in our home and malachi - 10th month

can you believe it?!?! 10 months! my heart skipped a beat when i just typed that. i cannot believe our little man is going to be 10 months old in just a few short days! wow time flies!

i know it's been a little while and i have been neglecting my little blog but seriously life has just been too much lately. march felt like it was here and gone in a blink of an eye. things have been busy to say the least. but that's how it is and we love it either way. not to mention the 70-80 degree (!!!) weather we have been having this march. un.b.e.l.i.e.v.a.b.l.e! so we have been spending more time outside! but on to the good stuff...

during malachi's 10th month -

- he has gotten the army crawl down!

i know i said last month that he was scooting around on his belly but this is well beyond scooting - he is full on crawling. mostly on his belly still but he will push up on his hands and knees a little bit. but when he really wants to get around he is all about his belly. and he is getting really fast too!

 - he is pulling himself up!

just this week actually he pulled himself up in his crib during nap time and then cried because he couldn't get back down. it was so pitiful but so cute ;) he is working on pulling himself up on other furniture as well, but the crib is the only successful attempt so far.

- he can go from belly to sitting.
this used to be a one-way thing. he would lunge forward from sitting to crawl on his belly but then he would be stuck on his belly till someone sat him back up. now he has figured out how to push himself back up to a sitting position.

- he experienced his first playground time!

 like i said, it's been crazy weather here and so warm. so we have been taking lots of walks and spending some much needed time at the park. malachi got pushed in the swing for the first time and really seemed to enjoy it and then went down the slide with daddy. it was fun! :) and actually, my parents sent him a swing for the tree in the back yard for his Easter present. so now we have a swing at home for him to enjoy!

- he is still eating like a big boy!

he eats so much but he is still low weight (nothing worrisome though!) so the doctor keeps telling me to feed him as much as he wants (lucky boy did not get his metabolism from me!) this month at his doctors appointment he weighed in at 19 pounds and 29 inches (25th percentile for weight and 75th for height)

he is now in 9-12 month clothes and pretty much all of his pants are 12 month or they are too short.

he now eats 3 solid meals a day and a bottle before every meal and at bedtime. on a sadder note, we are done nursing :( i wasn't quite ready but he clearly was, so we are done. it's just one of those things you can't force, so when it's done it's done. i am so thankful i was able to nurse him for 9 months though and i know that was a great start for him!

- he still naps like a champ!

and for that i am so thankful! he takes a morning and afternoon nap, and sleeps about 2 hours in each one. it is so nice to have some time to myself and time to get stuff done. malachi still doesn't really "get" (or doesn't want to get) independent playtime, so his waketime is not my most productive time of the day. but it's ok. we get some great playtime together :)

that is pretty much our march! it has been a great month and we are still so amazed at how gracious God is to give us this little boy to love and raise. we pray everyday that God will save him and that he will be a mighty man of God.

enjoy a few other pictures from our month!

love from the Mixon House!



we went "Nerd Bowling" with the youth group - malachi wasn't so keen on the glasses we wanted him to wear for the picture ;)