Easter Wrap-Up 2013

Happy April Fools! We're not observing today, because I FREAKING HATE APRIL FOOL'S DAY.

Thank you.

Instead, I shall tell you about our Easter.

It was lovely, thanks for asking.

Saturday we dyed eggs using the fancy schmancy shaving cream method. It was fun. And messy.
And you can't eat the eggs if you use this method. Hmm.







On Saturday night, it became apparent that I had no idea where the Easter baskets were. (Seriously, I need to unpack the friggin' basement.)

Derek was dispatched. He is BRILLIANT and came home with beach buckets, shovel included. The kids LOVED them.

We had an egg/basket hunt. The Bunny hid 82 eggs. They were ALL found (save a few stragglers still rolling in) in approximately 5 minutes. Then the baskets were found equally fast.









Those silver and gold eggs are a hot commodity. Much arguing.

(Spencer isn't in any of these pictures!!! I love him! I do! I just was perched on the couch, and he was a blur of egg-finding-stealth.)

It was a quick morning.

No one got new Easter garb, except Meem, because let's face it, boys don't give a crap, I don't need any new clothes (despite how badly I'd LIKE new clothes) and Miriam's dress was a gift.



Goodness she is cute.

The boys had a rough time at church coming from oh so much fun at home, too much sugar, lack of napping and general being-children-ness.

Church was rough.

But then we came home and a delicious meal of roast, potatoes, carrots, rolls, jello and fruit tart. Yes. It was delicious, even if I made it, I'm allowed to declare it thus. It was good.

Diet? What diet?



And then by then we were all fried, over-stuffed and kind of rolled our way to bed.

Today, my very favorite post-holiday-hang-over is in full swing.

OUCH.

One religious note regarding Easter:

I am the primary music leader at church which means I teach the music to the kids ages 3-11. And yesterday was a very cool day for music, because I picked a bunch of different primary songs with various subject matter and then had the kids connect each one in some way to the Savior. It was fun and the kids were incredibly insightful. Even the tiniest among them could understand how everything points to Christ. It was pretty cool. I loved it.

I love Easter. I love that my kids are getting old enough to actually grasp WHY we celebrate it. I'm thankful for Jesus and his atonement.

And I'm very thankful that March is done and perhaps, spring will find us here in April. Please? Maybe?

Christmas Music

Gratutious cute baby picture! She's an ELF! I die. 

This Christmas is a weird one. We're in transition, not out of the house yet, not into the one in New Hampshire, but trying to get everything ready. It's hard.

It's hard on the kids, it's hard on me. It's hard on Derek to be 2400 miles away.

It doesn't feel much like Christmas.

I keep thinking of all things we're NOT doing this year, no tree, no 12 days of Service, no Giving Tree, no carolling (Henry is sad about that...), and almost no baking... I know. I know!

There's a lot we're NOT doing. It's just hard.

It seems the only thing I can manage is music.

I can do Christmas music.

And for that I am thankful. When we're driving around in that old beat up 1987 Crown Victoria (because we're in between cars at the moment...), we crank the Christmas tunes.

When we're cleaning and trying to survive the day at home, thank you Spotify!

Christmas music is uplifting us, teaching us, reminding us of the reason we get to celebrate at this sacred time of year.

I am thankful for the power of music, for notes strung together, for lyrics poetically written and for these songs that are memories, that remind me of home.

The songs my children are learning, the lessons, they teach, I am grateful for.

There are some seriously awesomely bad Christmas songs floating around, but the good far outweigh the bad, for that I am grateful.

I'm thankful that in this time of transititon, of confusion and of well, not to be dramatic, but trial, that the birth of our Savior is on my mind instead, swirling around the confusion of a move across the country. I'm thankful that music can keep Him in the season, even when I'm going 93 different directions.

Music. It's a good thing.

You are Not Alone

I am hesitant to write this because it isn't my story.

But, I am haunted and sad and I feel like I MUST. So I will.

A roommate and friend from college lost her 15 month old baby this weekend in an accident. Just an every day bonk on the head. And then he was gone.

I can't grasp the pain, sorrow and all the other things she, her husband and family must be feeling.

And I can't even TRY. The reality that she is feeling it is so hard to think about and to bare that I cry just if it flits passed my consciousness.

But in all this, the Savior is with them. It's evident in the way she is handling it. I am amazed. I am in awe.  And I'm so thankful for a Father in Heaven who is ever mindful of His children.

I've never been one to blame God for bad things. No, I don't believe that's how it works. He sends us to earth, a place where choices can be made, where science and biology exist. Basically, where CRAP happens. Yes, sometimes I believe He intervenes and sometimes, (most times) He lets it all play out. He loves us as perfectly as God can. He is the perfect parent. He lets us struggle and learn and grow and complain to Him.

And so, we accept the sorrow with the joy.

My friend has demonstrated this so perfectly that I can't help but look on in utter amazement. She and her husband are grieving, deeply. But they are not alone. And they know it.

And this weekend has literally changed me. I can't be the same person I ever was before. Earth life is so fleeting, so quick. And I find that I am terribly aware of it now. I can't care about the stupid little frustrations like I did before Saturday. They are NOT important.

What is important is that we love, we live, we care for those we can with the best in us. And when we  fail (of course we fail) we can pray and try again. God is just that merciful, there is always always redemption. And He carries us when the earthly life we volunteered for becomes too much. Too painful. He reminds us, that we are not alone. Through comfort and peace we feel, through the service of other people, and sometimes through the literal support of angels.

I am so grateful for that knowledge, that in this beautiful, terrible, blessed life, no matter what trials come, we are not alone. The Savior who has borne our griefs and knows us better than we know ourselves stands at the ready to buoy us up. He has been there, He has done that. He knows.

He knows.

Say a prayer for my friend and her family today if you get a chance. Send up a prayer that they'll be carried and comforted in this time of unspeakable challenge and trial.

Thanks friend. Thank you.