Savior of the World: My thoughts and experiences so far...

There are just 4 weeks left until we perform in Savior of the World! I know I've mentioned it on the blog before (We've been rehearsing for the last 10 weeks after all : ) But in case you missed it,  it's a musical drama based on scriptural accounts of the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  I am playing the part of Mary and Taber is Eli the shepherd and James the apostle.

We had a photographer come into our rehearsal last week and take some candid shots. We weren't in full costume or anything, (I think I'm just in my robe) but I wanted to share the pictures and some of my thoughts about the experience so far.

 When we first tried out for the play and saw the rehearsal schedule that required us to be there for 2 1/2  hours every Friday night and 4 hours every Saturday morning, I had some serious doubts.  I didn't know how we'd be able to make it work into our busy lives with work, church service, marathon training and taking care of our 3 little kiddos.  But we took a leap of faith and even though it has required sacrifice and long hours, this experience has been worth every minute of our time. 

The spirit I have felt in the rehearsals, the way it has brought to life my testimony of the Savior, the incredible friendships we have made with everyone in the play, all of it has been so amazing. 

I've been impressed with how well the girls have done at the rehearsals. They love playing with the other kids whose parents are in the play and have formed awesome new friendships. When Taber and I are on stage, other cast members help out in the nursery and it has been great to see everyone pull together to make sure the kids are taken care of and have a good time.

And then there's Cam, who is kind of like everyone's baby : ) 

He likes crawling through the rehearsals, helping with the piano music, and being fawned over by all the women and young women who are eager to hold him while I'm on stage.

And when the whole cast has to be on stage, the kids take over Cam duty. So many great helpers for our little guy : )

I know Taber and I have grown closer as we've put forth a team effort to get our family to the rehearsals, helped each other memorize lines, and discussed the moments in the play that have touched our hearts and inspired us to be better.

Putting ourselves in the the place of those who witnessed the miracles of Christ's birth and resurrection has taught me so much about the importance of faith and believing in things we don't always understand.  I can only imagine how Joseph must've felt when Mary told him she was with child before they were married,  yet he trusted in the Lord and chose to believe instead of doubt.

The shepherds were told that a tiny babe born in a stable would be the Savior of the World. It must've seemed strange to these people who were waiting for the messiah to come in mightiness and power, to find him as a helpless child in a manager. And yet they came and worshipped him. They believed in His divinity and went forth to tell and testify of Him.

For me, playing the part of Mary, I have felt so deeply the truth that He is the Son of God. Divinely conceived and brought to earth to be the Savior of the World.

The first time I imagined myself in Mary’s shoes, holding her newborn son, I thought of how I felt after each of my own children were born. How precious and pure they were, how much I adored them and how I would never allow anything to hurt or harm them. That’s when the magnitude of His sacrifice became so much deeper to me. Her perfect son, God’s perfect son, would suffer and die for us all. As I’ve pondered that, I am truly amazed at the debt that was paid so that my sins could be washed clean. Now when I sing songs like “I know that my Redeemer lives,”  I am struck at the reality of those words.  I know that He lives, that He is the son of God, and I’m grateful that this play has given me the opportunity to grow closer to Him.

We have 4 weeks to go before our performances and I honestly can't wait for people to come see this. I hope it touches their hearts as much as it has mine.

If you live in the New England area and want to see the play, the performances are at the church on 110 Concord Street in Nashua NH on April 6th at 7pm and April 7th at 2pm and 7pm. There is no charge for admission but you need to reserve your seats by emailing SaviorOfTheWorldNH@gmail.com.

Teya's 6th Birthday celebrations!

Teya is 6 years old!!

On her actual birthday we celebrated as a family by taking her to Chuck E Cheese

The kids had a blast as always. It's so fun to see them go crazy in there.

 We bought a little cake and sang happy birthday

Cutie BFF sisters

Teya was super duper excited about her new stamping kit we got her. This girl is the queen of crafts.

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On Saturday after play practice she had her friend party.

With the craziness of our schedule lately I didn't have as much time to plan or work on it as I would've liked, but I still think it came out pretty good.

The theme was Rainbows and Unicorns, with a little fashion thrown in because that's what the girly girl wanted.

We started with makeovers by my cute neighbor who is a beautician.

 She put feather extensions in their hair and cute makeup on their eyes.

 Once the girls were dolled up they were feelin' sassy and wanted to do a photo shoot.

Little fashionistas

 Rockin' the sunglasses from their goodie bags. 

We also dipped "unicorn horns" aka ice cream cones, in white chocolate and decorated them with frosting and sprinkles.

 Then we opened presents while we waited for the pizza to come. Teya got lots of great gifts including a stuffed unicorn which she was immediately smitten with.

Then it was time for cake

 My friend Darby made this scrumptious rainbow unicorn cake with the most delish buttercream frosting.

 The best part though were the rainbow layers inside. The girls were just giddy when we cut it open.

 We finished off with a rainbow pinata (because it's not a Rigg b-day party without a pinata!) 

Brinley was excited about the candy. (btw, if you're wondering why I filled it with such gross candy, I had to buy stuff that wouldn't tempt me, otherwise I would've eaten it all before the party ; )

It was a great weekend of celebrating our little Teya. Happy Birthday to my sweet girl! We are so blessed to have her in our family : )

3 reasons I can smile even on the gloomiest days

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Two

Three

Happy Wednesday Everyone!

Monday Snapshots

Not a lot of time for blogging these days but here are some snapshots from last week:

My friend Kendall and I do a kid swap once a week, which means one week I get four glorious hours of freedom to run errands KID FREE!!  and the next week I get to sample what my life would be like if I had 5 kids, including 1 year old twins.

This week was my turn to wrangle the 5 children. It always gets a little wild when Teya comes home from school and the babies wake up from their naps and everyone wants a snack and their diaper changed (or help going potty) at the same time.  We have fun though, and it is SO awesome having a little break twice a month.

 In other news, look what Cam did when he hijacked Brinley's yogurt and slapped his yogurty little hands all over my couch.  If you want to know what I do all day, here's a nice little sample : ) Cleaning up after destruct-o boy keeps me quite busy.

Remember how I said Teya's front teeth were all loosey goosey? Well sure enough,  they both popped out last week on the same day! One in the morning before she went to school and one right before she went to bed. Taber got some pretty funny video of it so I'll have to do a separate post on that when I have more time.

 We're still enjoying an incredibly mild winter. I think it's only snowed once and that melted within 24 hours.  Last week they played outside every day, a couple times they didn't even need jackets. 

 Yay for outside walks in a mild winter!

And Yay for marathon training in a mild winter! 

Taber and I ran our 20 miler on Saturday which means all our big runs are done! Then next three weeks we just taper and then it's off to DC for 26.2! Woot!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Last week Teya's school had a Daddy Daughter dance and she was so excited about every detail you would've thought it was the Prom : )

She had to find just the right dress with the perfect neckless to match. She wanted her hair curled just right and she agonized over which bow to wear. (She finally went with green after going back and forth between that and a turquoise one.)  I think she looked like a doll.

Taber got all spiffed up in a suit and wore a blue tie to match his little girl 

(He's growing out his beard for the play btw, it's coming in pretty nicely!)

Meanwhile, Brinley was feeling a little neglected. She kept trying to jump in all the pictures with her raggity hair and jelly stained shirt. (I don't even think she was wearing any pants! hence the cropped picture.) I made sure we did some extra fun things together while they were gone to make it up to her. It's hard being the little sister sometimes. 

Teya was on cloud nine being daddy's date. According to her, "Daddy took me to the daddy daughter dance and I wore my new dress and looked so pretty and they took our picture and I got a flower and I danced with Daddy and Mommy was jealous!" (for the record, I was not jealous, but I think it's cute that she thought I would be since she took my place on Taber's arm for the night ; )

Taber said the dance was great, lots of Dad's in suits, taking pictures and dancing with their girls. He said Teya danced and danced, bouncing all over the place like a little jumping bean. There were conga lines and lots of twirling and of course, several visits to the dessert table. 

I'm glad they had a fun night together and hope that all her dates in the future are of the same high caliber as her Daddy. : )

Valentines Day 2012

For Valentines Day I wanted to get an updated picture of the kids for Taber since the one on his desk is a year old and Cam has changed a little since then. : )

It took several attempts and a fair amount of bribing but I managed to get some decent shots with all 3 of them looking. This is the one I framed for Taber.  I know I'm biased but man my kids are cute! : )

This one was my second favorite. Cam's smile isn't as cute but I love Brinley's little tongue sticking out.

The girls were great models. Teya still thinks the head tilt is the ultimate picture pose so now she's got Brinley doing it too.

Cuteness to the maximus 

Love this one of Brinley. She has the sweetest face.

Teya's just darling too.

And Cam... Well Cam didn't really care for the photoshoot ; )

The girls and I snuck out to the garage in the morning and decorated Taber's car for work. I traced their hands and they wrote their names. He loved it so much he kept it on there for a few days because he said people were nicer to him on his commute : )

Later in the afternoon we got a special delivery from the flower shop. Taber sent roses for me and spring bouquets for the girls.

They were so excited to get their own flowers.  

 A+ to my man for making all three of his girls feel special ; )

And we tried to make him feel special too with his favorite treat, chocolate dipped strawberries.

After work Taber picked up take out from Olive Garden and we just had a nice low key evening in with the family.  It was a sweet day with all my little sweethearts. : )