new beginnings

i concur with many of my fellow bloggers. i adore easter. for some reason this year, easter seemed to mean more to me than usual. don't get me wrong. i was raised in church and among believers, and know that the easter bunny has his place, but it most certainly is NOT in the Bible. but this year, jon and i have ALMOST found a new church. and this new church does church very well. not just on sunday or saturday, but all the time.

i went to good friday service on my way into work on friday. the service involved a congregational reading where the congregation read the words of the crowd that sentenced jesus to death. i have never felt more humbled...we're talking low, low to the ground...when i said, "crucify him! his blood is on me and my children's head!" it really brought home the idea that it was for me...and all my low-down dirty sins...that an innocent man died. as much as i wish i was mary magdalene or the woman who poured oil on christ's head...i was the crowd. the crowd that begged pilate to release a criminal instead of the innocent son of God. so easter meant more this year. 

also. i could not spend it with my parents in arkansas. my mom was not feeling up to hostessing. she is not "coming off" her radiation as well as one might think, and quite frankly is feeling pretty crummy. this hurts my heart. please pray that her body continues to heal; that her spirits will be positive as she "recovers." she goes again for chemo tomorrow. chemo weeks are not fabulous weeks for her, so pray that for all the suffering she must endure that that chemo is wiping out the remaining cancerous cells. i am ready for this season in my family to be over, but for all we are going through, i have to think that it is to pray harder for the cure...that we all might be done with this nightmare that affects so many.

ok. that all seemed heavy. on a lighter note:

jon, dennis and i celebrated easter on saturday. i've posted before about how much i adore saturday services. but in addition to service, we hid eggs for dennis this year:

 

And we made him hunt for them:

And Max looked on (this one is a little indulgent):

And in the last egg was a key:

And the key was for his easter gift:

And the gift looked a little like this on the outside:

there might not be a better feeling than the feeling of providing for your children. it's a little tangled up in "ohmygoodnessihopethisisn'tthemachinethattakeshislife," but it's still pretty powerful. 

now we just have to teach him to drive. scary? definitely.