Easter Celebrations

Yesterday we had our first Easter event for this year. We attended a passion play at a large church about 90 minutes from our house. My parents had attended shows with us there in the past, but this was the first time Paul's parents joined us there. We attended a 2pm performance (they are putting on a total of eight performances of the show, which lasts 3 hours including the intermission) and then had dinner together at Friendly's (in part using a gift card we got for Christmas). I had studied the menu ahead of time and realized there wasn't anything on their menu that would fit in my calorie budget for dinner. I packed an egg salad sandwich and ate it as we drove to Friendly's. It's common for a passion play to bring me to tears because of the vivid display of what our Lord went through for us. This time I was brought to tears twice for different reasons. The first was a song in which they were acting out Jesus healing a variety of people including bringing Lazarus back to life. I know God *could* have healed Maurice of whatever ailment lead to his

death. I know God's ways are higher than ours, but my heart was overcome with sadness that for some reason unknown to me God chose to take Maurice home at an early age. The last song of the musical was a scene in Heaven and it showed a variety of people entering Heaven - people of all different ages, professions, etc. It was a beautiful representation, and even though I know Maurice is so much better off in Heaven, it was overwhelming for me emotionally because I miss him so much.

Usually the egg hunts start eight days before Easter. This year our church had theirs yesterday as did the church where the kids go to AWANA. I think two weekends of egg hunts is enough; I didn't want to expand that two three weekends of egg hunts. I'm glad our Easter celebrations started with one that is focused on the true meaning of Easter rather than eggs, bunnies, and candy. If the weather cooperates, these are the other Easter events on our calendar this year:

1. April 13 - an egg hunt in our town's park and then an Easter station event at the church where they play basketball (this one will also be focused on the true meaning of Easter not eggs)
2. April 14 - Easter dinner at the home of one of our pastors and an egg hunt at the church where Nadia goes to youth group
3. April 20 - four egg hunts (2 are 5 minutes from our house and the other 2 are 10 minutes away); I will be singing in our church's Saturday evening Easter worship service
4. April 21 - worship service at church and later in the day an Easter dinner with Paul's parents