Easter Festivities

This year, again like last year, we woke up to a cold Easter. But this Easter Sunday was especially cold since the HVAC is not working at the house and we have NO heat. But it's being worked on and hopefully will warm up soon. We are very thankful for our fire burning fireplace and 2 space heaters that kept us warm last night and Monday morning as we watched the snow flurries come down. Brrrrrrrr!

Yesterday was cold but glorious. We were again able to go to church to celebrate Jesus Christ's Resurrection. We sang some new and old songs, even some old hymns that we sang at Christ Methodist growing up. Remember, Crown Him with Many crowns? That's one of the ones we sang. It reminded me of all the Easter Sundays spent in that beautiful church. I'd just stare at the colorful stained glass windows that went from floor to ceiling. I remember the full orchestra on Easter mornings with the trumpets blaring. I remember getting chill bumps when they'd play and how it would stir my soul even as a child to worship our Savior. I loved filling up the church pew with all my family and looking for Mema and Harry in the choir. But I especially loved seeing Mema give her special hello sign to all the grand kids (a rub to the nose with a smile on her face). I miss those traditions and am trying to start new ones with my kids.

Our new traditions with the kids have included dying eggs the night before, surprising them with Easter baskets filled with candy Easter morning, and most importantly reading every day a little portion of the Bible stories that lead up to Jesus death and resurrection. We pair this up with Resurrection eggs that help even Hannah remember how many coins Judas received. Hannah's been our little comedian this year. When you ask her questions, her typical response has been, "Hannah!" For example, "Who received the 30 coins for betraying Jesus?" "Hannah!" Or "Who rode the donkey into Jerusalem?" "Hannah!" But she finally got one important question right, "Who died on the cross?" "Jesus!" she answered.

For the past few years, we have been privileged to join our friends at their house for an Easter egg hunt and Easter dinner. These are the same friends that we have vacationed with to Charleston and Annapolis. Stuart and Jenny Cooper are so kind to host it every year. We meet up with them and their kids and Stuart's twin brother Craig and his wife Laura and their children come. Plus two other families, the Bennett's and the Hodges' and their kids all joined us. For dinner, we had ham, green beans casserole, twice baked potatoes, rolls, and a yummy banana creme pie for dessert. The kids, all 13 of them, got along great. This is amazing especially when you realize that Andrew (7) is the oldest. We had an Easter egg hunt in the backyard, played games racing real eggs on a spoon with the families and enjoyed hanging out with the two new baby additions: Caleb and Charlotte. I love that we are starting to form some new traditions with the kids but will always treasure those holidays spent with family. Being away from you all makes us miss you lots and we are looking forward to seeing you when school ends.