Bittersweet

This morning was very bittersweet for me. I learned before going to church that Mike had passed away at 2am this morning. I had asked for prayer yesterday for his wife, Ann. We know he is celebrating Easter with the Lord, but we grieve for his wife, kids, and grandkids who will miss him here on earth. Mike was very loved at church. I believe they've gone to this church for decades. Two of their children, a daughter-in-law, a son-in-law, and two grandchildren also go to this church. So many tears were shed today in regards to Mike's passing. As it is, I often find Easter Sunday to be rather emotional. It's a joyous occasion, but it follows such a sad event (the crucifixion of our Savior). Often songs like "Up from the grave he arose" have brought a few tears to my eyes, but today the combination of just finding out Mike had passed, extra hormones of pregnancy, and reflections on what Jesus went through all culminated in me doing a LOT of crying during the worship service. I wasn't the only one by any means. Tissues were needed in every pew I think. He was very loved by many, many people in the church.

After church we met Paul's family and had dinner with them and then spent a few hours at their house celebrating Easter and also Paul's brother's 44th birthday (which was also today). Ian took his nap at the restaurant (first in Paul's arms and then mine) which was perfect timing. They had a blast playing at Paul's parents' house. I'll post more pics tomorrow showing Ian enjoying the Elefun game and such. We had a really nice time. Paul's parents gave Ian 4 new little vehicles and some summer pjs (somehow I didn't get him any in size 2T or 24month), and Nadia got a new puzzle and some princess stamps. The drive from their house to Hershey is about one hour so it broke up our drive a bit.

I was very pleasantly surprised when I unlocked our room at RMH because I discovered we have a SUITE! I didn't know they had any here! I was told it's because we're next to the elevator. What an incredible blessing! There is a door I can close between the little room where Nadia is sleeping (in a twin size bed) and my queen size bed! The bathroom is large enough I could have put Ian's pack 'n play there, but he didn't wake me up much (except for waking up too early) so I left him in my room at least for tonight, but I could always move him. PTL! I am so, so grateful. This was one of the things that made last week so hard. If I get better sleep this week, it will be much easier to deal with feeding Ian 9 times a day and spending 8.5 hours a day in a doctor's office. We met Leah this evening (the girl who will be starting the feeding program tomorrow). She is 2 1/2 years old, and I saw her eating mashed potatoes this evening at the RMH. Hopefully the kids will have fun with her as they sure enjoyed playing with Dylan last week.

P.S. The blue jacket wasn't supposed to be part of Ian's Easter outfit, but the boy is obsessed with jackets lately. For a few weeks now he's been wearing a jacket all day long. The only time he's not wearing a jacket is when he's in the bathtub or when he's in his pjs. He screams if I try to take his jacket off, and there's no harm done, so I let him wear a jacket. Hopefully he'll outgrow this phase before it's say 90 degrees outside, ha ha! I have more pictures to share, but I left the camera in the bedroom, and I'm sitting in the bathroom typing this. This is where I hang out in between the time I put the kids to bed, and I go to bed. I don't have wi-fi access during the day so this is my chance! Now it's time to hit the hay, and hopefully I won't wake up at 4:15am as I have the last couple of days!