Easter week

Geoff and I love Easter. Despite the fact that I felt pretty lousy all week it still turned out perfectly. We are working at making Easter the biggest week of the year, an ongoing effort. Our food during the week is food from Jesus' region: fish with honey, lentil soup, dates and cucumbers, etc. Every day we read the events that happened on that day two millenia ago. This year we added in theatrical drama since our girls get so into it. We acted out the events of each day and learned a little bit more about the details of the story simply in figuring out how and why it was done. Thursday we went to the nearby olive grove for our reading/acting. Tennie, who acted as Jesus, wondered if there were ants all over the trees Jesus prayed by, too? Adele wondered how in the world Peter and John were able to sleep against those lumpy trees! That night we had a Passover dinner with a leg of lamb as the main course. (And it was bought just as it sounds...Geoff gave an anatomy lesson during its preparation.) The girls love Geoff's retelling of the original Passover story. We ended the dinner talking about why it is called "The Last Supper" and the meaning of the sacrament. I love spending so much time in one week talking about these events. There was a great sense of unity and love and reverance all week.

Easter Sunday was eventful and wonderful! The girls all slept in one bed and woke up at 5:45AM anticipating the Easter bunny's goods. Our ward didn't have a special program or musical numbers which I thought was a waste of a great occasion! The primary had a candy hunt, and the girls are beginning to belong and have friends for the first time after all these months! Have I mentioned that Geoff was recently called to be the president of the Young Men's organization (leading classes and activities for boys 12-18 years old)? He has been trying to increase the meager attendance by visiting boys who aren't coming for one reason or another. One young man and his mom came to church on Easter Sunday and are excited to be back at church! He is growing a lot through this opportunity to serve here. We had two guests for Easter dinner. A man from the Philipines who just arrived a month or so ago, leaving his wife and two small children behind. Somehow he won a lottery of free visas to France and is taking the opportunity to make more of a life for his family. He is trained and educated and working as a deck hand on a yaght mopping the deck. He thinks he'll have to work and save until October before he can afford to bring his wife and children here. He is such a nice guy. And a woman from England named Alison that has become a friend at church. We had a great evening. They joined in on our theatrical interpretation of the resurrection, and had the priviledge of watching the bunny dances mentioned in a previous post.

I'm so grateful for Jesus' atonement and resurrection. I'm grateful that I have felt forgiveness when I have sought it, and comfort when I've really felt alone. I'm continually grateful for the grace made possible through His sacrifice that helps me be much more than I could be on my own. Lastly, I'm thankful for the knowledge that He wants me to be free from sin and sorrow and pain (physical, emotional, mental, etc.) not just at some future time but today and every day.