Happy Resurrection Day

What a glorious Easter day this has been.  I rose this morning happy that my kitty slept with me all night.  That is a wonderful sight!  Our morning was very relaxing for us and we had to be at church an hour earlier for breakfast.  It is amazing.  Usually Sunday mornings are hectic for us and Amanda and I fight.  This morning was easy breezy!
Church was nice this morning also!  I had my hubby there with me, along with his cousins and their kids.  They don't attend church and it's nice to have everyone with me.  I performed 3 songs with the hand bells and I believe that I even have videos to post.  Although, I want to see them first, since I didn't record them.  
After church Greg's cousins came over and the kids had an Easter egg hunt outside and then decorated a couple of cookies.  They have fun doing those things.  I do have pictures to show off, but I think I may wait until later to post them.  It takes so long with blogger and I am very tired.
I am going to do something that will wake me up a bit.  Don't know what that is.  I've had 3 cups of coffee and I am still ready to fall asleep.  I'm sure I'll catch my 2nd wind here soon and post my pictures. 

Holy Week 2010

Kids making Easter decorations.

Glad that Hemi is home!

He's so glad to be home!

Easter Egg Dying

What I was doing while they were coloring eggs...

And here's Feisty

And a bunny in the backyard

So Egg-citing!

Eggs.

All year long we eat them.  Deviled, scrambled, fried, poached, hard-boiled.  But once a year the eggs become part of a religious tradition to many Christians.  The egg itself is not something that we worship.  But the egg serves as a reminder of the time of renewal, rebirth and new life.  Coloring the eggs represents the new and beautiful colors of Spring.  What a glorious and wonderfully colorful way to decorate for Easter!  And for some reason, an Easter egg tastes so much better than just a regular boiled egg.

I have been standing over the kids taking pictures while they are decorating their eggs.  I am so glad that they are finally to the ages that I don't have to help them once things get going.  I get it set up and teach them where to start and off they go!

It is so neat to watch them use their imaginations and be creative.  I will never cease to marvel at the wonder of the beings that came forth from my womb.  It is amazing.  That makes me think back....

I can't imagine watching your son being brutally beaten.  How heartbreaking for a mother.  I wonder if Mary was every angry at God....just for a second.  Ok...honestly, I don't want to go there, it makes me want to cry to think of it.  

Something that I can bear to think of is my cat.  It is so nice to have him home!  We've given him his favorite blanket that I actually bought for him to lay on in the laundry room on top of a sleeping bag that needed to be washed.  It smelled of us and was on the floor when I brought him in, so I let him use it as a squishy comfy bed.  He sleeps in here most of the day. 

Every now and then he will crave some attention and limp out to my living room and sit either in here with us or in the bar where the kids school stuff is.  Then after bit he'll go back into his bed.  He finally went to the bathroom last night, at least the first to my knowledge since he's been home.  I wondered how he would fair so I went in and checked on him.  I also wanted to know what kind of bathroom he was doing to keep an eye on him.  

 I went into my bathroom, where the litter box is, and listened....and listened....and listened.  Not wanting to be rude and actually peek in on him (because my litter box has a lid) I quietly asked "Hemi, what are you doing in there?"  But I didn't get a response.

So I decided I was going to have to invade his privacy.  I peeked in the box and Hemi was just sitting in there.  I watched to see if he was just chillin' or stuck.  I thought "eh, who knows?  He is a male, maybe he just wants to hang out in the bathroom for a bit."  Then he came out, but (I won't go into detail) it was obvious that he had to go on himself because he could not hold himself up.  I cleaned him up along with everything else.  Then I decided that he was going to need my assistance the next time.

So today when I saw him heading in there, I went in after him.  I took off the lid and after he got himself into the box, I supported him.  And I was totally shocked that he let me.  Now that is some trust right there!  How many cats would let you assist them in the litterbox?!  Poor guy.  

So I will be helping my poor Hemi for a few days or so.  That is ok with me.  I would rather assist a cat in the litterbox than have him gone.  You just can't complain about some things.

Tomorrow for Easter my church is having an Easter breakfast.  The men of our church cook some of the food and serve the breakfast.  The kids and I will be going down for breakfast and afterward we will go to Sunday school.  I will leave my Sunday school class a little early to come back home and pick up Greg.  My assistant teacher will stay with the kids.  For the service I will be playing 3 songs with the hand bells.  I love doing that and the songs sounds so pretty sometimes.  

Greg's cousins are going to meet us there for breakfast in the morning.  I bring their little girl to AWANA.  We invite them to church on the special days when we are pretty sure that they will come.  So they are going tomorrow.  Which is good!  We wish that they would come every Sunday.  This will be the first time that they will have made it to one of my bell performances though.  

Well for the rest of this evening I am going to be doing laundry, cleaning up egg dye mess and getting things ready for tomorrow.  My father-in-law got some Easter baskets for the kids, I wasn't getting any this year, so I will put those out for them after they are in bed.  Then I will get up early in the morning to hid their eggs.  Now I am going to finish getting my pictures into this blog post.  Blogger sure has made that harder lately!

 

Good Friday

Jesus Died To Save You Because He Loves You!

Amen and thank you Lord Jesus for doing that.  Good Friday seems like it should be a sad day.  But in the Christian world, it is a celebrated and joyful day!  Even though our Christ, Lord Jesus, Son of God was tortured, beat, humiliated, spit upon, laughed at, stared at, and crucified, He did all of that, for each one of us.  He became the Lamb for the slaughter.  He is our Redeemer and the Bringer of Light.  Today I am thankful that He died upon that cross for me.  A sinner that doesn't deserve even a little of His love.  Yet He gives it to me, unconditionally, no strings attached.  What a joy that is!  To know my personal friend, Jesus, died for me.  And for everybody ever born.  EVER!  No matter who you are or what you have done.  He loves you and is waiting for you to turn to Him.  Admit your faults and love Him.  Tell Him, Lord Jesus, You are my Savior!  I love you!

He won't forget you, He won't forget me!  Before we even were, He knew us.  I can't wait for that joyful day in Heaven, when I meet The Lamb.  What a glorious reunion that will be!  Imagine the Love that I will feel!  That day would not be possible without this day that happened so many years ago.  

My Holy Week Devotion

For my Holy Week I am going to cut down my hours that I spend online and cut down the hours the kids watch tv or play video games.  The kids have already cut down really so that won't be hard at all.  So here's my commitment:

1.  I will only have 2 hours of online time each day this week, from Sunday to Sunday.  This is social online time.  If I need to do something for school, this does not count.  Likewise if I blog as I expect to have lots of time that I feel like writing or expressing myself.  

2.  I am going to spend more time pouring over my Bible this week.  The kids are also going to be doing more Bible school work than other subjects this week.

I am hoping to have a restful and inspiring week led by My Lord, Jesus Christ.  I will be checking in on my journey for Holy Week Devotion, so keep checking!  And why you are at it, why don't you try to do this yourself?