April 20, 2014

Happy Easter Day!

April 20, 2014

Days don't get much better than this one.  For the last several days, most of my friends on Facebook had been posting things about Easter coming up.  Yes, there have been bunnies and Easter eggs, but so many postings were reminders of what Christ did for all of us on the cross and that the fact that he was raised from the dead - Resurrected - is what Easter is all about.  I liked a quote that one friend posted from her son: Salvation comes by the blood of the Lamb, not the sweat of the sheep. - Jared Wilson.  It was Christ's blood shed on the cross that paid for our Salvation - not any works that we can do.  Many refer to this as Resurrection Sunday in place of Easter Sunday.  We are celebrating the Resurrection of our Lord.

Our Sunday school class was full and it was a great class.  Then church was full and the pastor delivered a very good sermon.  I heard bits and pieces of it.  I had forgotten to take the cable to attach my transmitter radio to the sound processor of my Cochlear Implant, so it was hard to hear, but with the scriptures and outline on the screens, I kept up pretty well.

After church I got the little grandchildren from the nursery and Children's church and then tried to get some photos.  I am trying to remember a quote I have heard my husband say, "It is like trying to herd cats."  The three youngest must have had some sugar filled snacks in their classes because they were hyper.  One of the little boys did not want to pose.  The other little boy loves to make crazy faces, and the youngest girl loves to copy whatever funny face he is making.  Oh, my!  

It took a bunch of tries, but I finally got a few good ones.  Of course, they are all memorable.  After taking those, our choir director's wife asked if I would take a photo of her and her husband.  They are good friends with us and our son's family and had been watching me try to get the grand children to cooperate for photos.  I said OK, if they wouldn't make silly faces.  So here is what I got on the first try.

But maybe it was the best pose of the day as they stood looking at the empty tomb!  It is because the tomb is empty that we celebrate.  They did turn and give me wonderful smiles after that.

My brother-in-law Jim was back in town after a month doing research in Florida for his next book.  He came to our house for lunch and after lunch while I worked loading the dishwasher, he got some excellent woodpecker photos in my backyard.  Mine is not nearly as good because I took mine through the window and he managed to get his outside.  So often if I am outside they won't come near their hole.  Here is my quick shot today of the male Golden-fronted Woodpecker.

For the Easter egg hunt with the grandchildren, their other grandmother always hosts a picnic in the late afternoon and today was no exception.  We had a great time.  I was to bring a dessert and I combined a couple of things I had seen online.  I had only a short time to make the cake, so it was pretty simple, but here it is.

There were extra bunnies on motorcycles or assorted other Hot Wheels, so that each child there got one.  The cake was yummy, too.

The older girls did face painting on adults and children.The picnic and egg hunt were delightful.  The big kids played football, the little ones played with bubbles, and then we all ate before the egg hunt.

All that hard work can be exhausting!

Last year when  we attended this picnic, I was deaf.  The party always includes some of the good friends of our daughter-in-law's mom.  These are often other grandparents who can't be with their grandchildren for the day and they get to enjoy watching a group of kids have a wonderful time.  One of the men had talked to me at length last year while I was deaf about my planned Cochlear Implant surgery (some of what he had said I could understand, but much I couldn't).  This year he was eager to find out how things had gone.  I did fairly well outside.  A few times it was so noisy that it got hard, but most of the time, it the large yard, I was only around a couple of people at a time.  Ron left shortly after the party started because he wasn't feeling well.  Our son brought him home (we are only a few minutes away).  Last year, I would have left with him, not feeling I could cope without him there.  This year, he didn't even tell me he was leaving - the grandchildren did, and that was OK.  I could manage.  He missed some fun.

I forgot to mention that today, the count of page views to my blog passed 25,000.  It has now been read in at least 73 countries around the world.  I pray that it is helping people as they read it.  It has been a joy to do it.  The one year mark is about 10 days away.  What a difference a year makes!