Easter 2006

My family woke up to Easter baskets full of surprise in the morning. Books, of course, were the greatest hit. I gave One Grain of Rice by Demi to Pooh Bear. If you don't know that story, it's one my favorites- a lesson in math and compassion. How to Talk to your Dog and How to Talk to your Cat went to the two oldest boys. Wise One has thoroughly enjoyed Dragons. When we loaded up for church, the books came along too.

Our Easter processional was full of surprises as most things of the arts nature are. The dancers were already a bit on edge realizing from practice Saturday, that a live band is not as easy to follow as a CD. As much as the worship pastor hoped to stick to the original, music is a living and free form thing. So Kelly and I talked about cueing to the words and filling in improvisationally in between. During Easter services, I saw the girls I've been working with grin when an upcoming chorus was skipped over and followed by something completely different- they danced so confidently, noone watching was the wiser to the changes.

I know this may sound silly, but my favorite part of the whole thing, besides watching it all come together, was when the pastor suddenly switched up the processional from last to first during the second service, and I got to round up stray dancers. Instead of the planned leisurely sit with families to wait, Kelly and I dashed around sending the dancers to their starting positions. I even got to take off my shoes and sprint up to a dancer working the nursery welcome table in a far away building. I don't remember ever having a chance to run all through church before!

A poignant moment for me during the sermon occured when the pastor spoke of God being like the lifequards at Seal Beach. How they'd post warnings not to go beyond a certain point into treacherous water, patiently wait till the disobedient swimmers stopped struggling to save themselves from drowning, and then go after them for the rescue. Pastor Brad's words went something like this, "God waits till we are out of our own strength and fight to save ourselves, desperate for Him, then he'll come in for our rescue."

Did I mention my dear husband and Peace looked after my Sunday school class for me? And there were tons of visiting children...one of which couldn't stop talking about Mr. Buck.

After church, my family was invited to feast at a friend's home. What an incredible blessing. All we had to bring was a zillion candy filled Easter eggs and our hosts cooked a delicious middle eastern meal of cous cous salad, another fresh veggie salad with scrumptious red peppers, broccoli, and cauliflower, corn casserole, and lucious variety grilled meats. The men hid the eggs while my lovely friend, Sky and I finished dishes.

One tradition our families have kept together, has been the golden egg as part of our Easter egg hunt. One plastic egg, spray painted in shimmery gold, gets hidden among the 200 other eggs. Inside are dollar bills, so this is the most sought after egg. Peace, my oldest has found it the past two years, so it was definately not his turn again. However, Sky and I exchanged "Oh, no!" looks as we watched Peace lift the large green egg from the porch swing which he did not know secretly contained the golden egg. He handed it to the toddler, Eli announcing, "Eli, now you get the biggest egg." Peace looked stunned when Eli opened it up to reveal the golden treasure. Peace summoned an I-meant-to-do-that posture after the initial shock. Eli kept opening and closing his egg to show us his money.

Afterwards, all I wanted to do was take an Easter rest, so Sky and I laid around and chatted on the porch all afternoon into evening.

On the drive home, I called Mom on the cell phone and all the children shared their Easter stories with Greemaw. I love that lady.