Easter has broken through!

This past month, and really the entire season of Lent, caught me somewhat off guard this year. I made a half-hearted attempt at giving up fast food and failed miserably within a week. I think I expected, since I was in the second trimester, to have a bit more energy. Or to want to do more, to write more, to be creative. To cook. Something different than the way it has been. Of course, we were kept busy with all sorts of fun things like a family wedding and a trip to see Thomas the Train (which I plan to write about soon!). But I hope that nesting phase kicks in soon because our house is nowhere near where it should be if a new little one wants to join us in our humble abode. Thankfully all nausea and sickness is behind me, just lethargy remains. Every day I wonder why I am so tired. It might have something to do with not being able to sleep, you know, because of the little kickpuncher inside my belly.

Thankfully, just before Holy Week, I found my stride. Or at least, started walking again, getting back on the path to being somewhat productive and making our home more of a haven than something I'd like to run screaming from everyday. Signs of new life:

I actually got out the box of Easter decorations. (Not that we put them all up this year, but it was a start!) We put up the egg tree.

Both boys had baskets for our church's Easter Egg Hunt. (I did have to dump out stuffed animals from one of them, but at least they had a place to stash their finds.)

The entire family was together for one whole Saturday. We hunted eggs. We ALL took long naps.

On Palm Sunday, we started a tradition of doing a hacked version of Lenten Lights. We used the readings as a guide, but since they didn't hold the little ones' attention all that well, we alternated between the "official" readings and choosing relevant passages from The Jesus Storybook Bible, by far the best children's Bible I've ever read. Have I raved about it yet? I should.

By the grace of God I faithfully started and finished N.T. Wright's Holy Week devotional: The Scriptures, the Cross, and the Power of God. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the small but powerful chapters taken mostly from Matthew and John's account of Jesus' last week leading up to the crucifixion and I hope to share more thoughts with you on that soon. It was a first for me -- to read something so regularly.

I bought (free with CVS bucks) an egg-decorating kit, fully intending to use it before Sunday. Oh, well, maybe next year? I did buy some little goodies for their bags and didn't spend ANY money on candy this year, thanks to coupons and sales and some surprises that showed up at our door from a kind neighbor.

I was glad for the Maundy Thursday service, which I think got me back into a right way of thinking about and living out all that Holy Week entails. That, and the generosity of a friend who helped me clean my house that morning helped prepare me for the weekend festivities.

On Good Friday, I spent much of the day at home, but had an unexpected opportunity to peruse Marshall's and Home Goods in the evening--sans kids-- to spend a gift card and help add some small touches that make our home a bit more livable. (Hint: I will gladly accept gift cards to said places and any and all cash upon occasions which call for celebrations in the near future -- the day of mothers, my birthday, etc. I have bunk beds to buy and to outfit with linens! Rooms to redecorate! A new baby! Did you know they even have hedge clippers there, apparently seasonally?!)

Saturday was spent shopping in preparation for our Easter meal and for our friends' annual Lamb Roast. Yay for Greek food and good friends and beautiful weather and bubbles! And swings!

On Saturday evening, I actually ironed the boys' adorable seersucker Easter outfits (that I had purchased in March for a steal!) and put together baskets of goodies that I then hid around the house. I think this is the first year I really made a big deal about Easter baskets. No real "bunny" talk (they knew it was from us) but we did see an ACTUAL bunny hanging out in our yard over the weekend.

We were up early Easter morning. Gaines left around 7am to practice a song for the "sunrise" short service at 8am. Jacob got up and dressed on his own not long after, yelling "Christ is risen!" while somehow not waking up Ethan, who slept until it was almost time to go. J waited for his brother to get up before beginning to look for his basket, which I thought was sweet. (It also gave me a chance to get a shower and get ready!)

As soon as E woke up, they both found and opened their baskets! They were delighted! Lightning McQueen socks! Buckets! Sand toys! Candy! Money! ($.50 each) books and goodies galore!

I managed to get both boys dressed and out the door in time for the breakfast at 8:30. And I even remembered to ask someone to take our picture BEFORE church.

I had a moment of pure inspiration and thought to bring large t-shirts so the boys' could put them over their outfits to keep them clean during the breakfast. Genius, I thought! However, Jacob didn't want to wear anything BUT the t-shirt and Ethan wouldn't wear anything at all (bib or shirt) and so his was quickly stained with OJ. Sorry, no cute photos of just the two of them this year. Still, they managed to stay mostly decent and I even got Jacob to wear his little seersucker jacket to the 11am service. (Over just his plain white t-shirt instead of the peter pan collar button-up, but who really noticed?)

The rest of our Easter Sunday afternoon was spent lazily. We ate leftover biscuits from the church breakfast (thank you, kind cook!), added ham and jelly and called it lunch. Most of us napped. We played outside while I cooked a ham in the oven. I threw some sweet potatoes in the same pan, heated up some green beans, served Hawaiian rolls, and called it a meal. Very casual and laid-back for the biggest party of the year, but it was just what we all needed.

Of course, today brought overcast skies, thunder, most of our time spent indoors and a bit less productivity, but I figured we all needed a break after the hectic weekend. And so, the Easter season begins!

I think we all forget that Easter shouldn't just be celebrated one day, but an entire season in the church year. I'm hoping we can keep that joy of resurrection life (and some of the leftover ham) reoccurring in our home over the next several weeks before Pentecost. And I still just might dye those eggs.

The First Day of God's New Week

Everybody in the ancient world knew that resurrection didn't happen. More: they knew it couldn't happen. They spoke of it, in the classical world of Greece and Rome, as something one might imagine but which never actually occurred, and never could or would. The Jews, though, began to believe that it would. Not all of them, mind; the Sadducees resolutely stuck out against it. And they weren't all clear exactly what it would mean, what it would be like. But they believed, as we saw in [John] 11:24, that when the resurrection happened it would happen to all God's people all at once. (Perhaps, even, to all people everywhere, as in [John] 5:28-29.) Not--this is the point--to one person in the middle of time. That would be an odd, outlandish event, unimagined, unheard-of.

When Jesus raised Lazarus, Lasarus returned to the present life. He came back again. The echoes of the Lazarus story in the present one are there partly to tell us that it was the same kind of event, but mostly to tell us that it wasn't. Lazarus needed someone to untie him from his cloths, and the napkin round his head. Jesus left his behind altogether. Lazarus came back into a world where death threats still mattered ([John] 12:10). Jesus had gone on, through death and out into a new world, a new creation, a new life beyond, where death itself had been defeated and life, sheer life, life in all its fullness could begin at last.

Ask people around the world what they think is the biggest day of the year for Christians. Most will say 'Christmas'. That's what our society has achieved; a romantic mid-winter festival (though we don't actually know what time of the year Jesus was born) from which most of the things that really matter (the danger, the politics) are carefully excluded. The true answer--and I wish the churches would find a way of making this clear-- is Easter. This is the moment of new creation. If it hadn't been for Easter, nobody would ever have dreamed of celebrating Christmas. This is the first day of God's new week. The darkness has gone, and the sun is shining.

From John for Everyone: Chapters 11-21 by Tom Wright

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