After studying the Gospel of Matthew for some three years, we ended up at the Resurrection today! Talk about God's perfect timing. We also shared prayer requests, and I updated the group on C's relapse. We've been praying for a cure for her leukemia weekly, so we'll redouble our efforts in the wake of the news.
Second hour worship started with a wonderful choir performance:
Unfortunately, we didn't sing "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," which is a MUST in my book for Easter worship! I was extremely disappointed, but at least we did sing one hymn, "Nothing But the Blood of Jesus." It just doesn't contain that same experience of joy, though. First hour sang all the great hymns of Easter: "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," "He Arose," "Come Christians, Join to Sing," and "He Lives." If I didn't have to be in second service in order to go to church with our kids, I would SO be attending first service; they get to sing all the good stuff! I really wish that we could have the same "blended" services both hours, especially as it's mostly parents who attend second hour. Oh, well....
I enjoyed the few Easter decorations around Lake Murray; they were all that really proclaimed the day as Easter except for an opening talk by Pastor Stephen. We mostly sang the usual praise songs second hour, so it didn't really feel like an Easter celebration at all.
After church we drove home, unloaded the groceries, changed clothes, and headed up the mountain to my parents' little cabin on Mt. Laguna. My brother and his two kids were already there when we drove in, and my parents had dinner well under-way. After initial chatting, we adults hid eggs for the kids, finding some rather creative hiding places around the cabin. The kids enjoyed their Easter egg hunt very much, even if the land surrounding the cabin is rather wild.
After the egg hunt, the kids hid the eggs for the adults, and then they sat down to divvy up the eggs into all of the kids' baskets:
We had a lovely dinner: barbecued chicken, cole slaw, baked beans, beets and eggs (ick!), and garlic bread, with lemon yogurt pie, strawberry yogurt pie, and Easter cookies for dessert. Part of the celebration was also in honor of T's 13th birthday on Tuesday. He opened presents from his cousins (a cool surfing t-shirt) and from his grandparents (a huge art kit and some Hawaiian wall decorations for his bedroom). His cousins also bought trick candles that were supposed to reignite, but T was so thorough in his blowing that they stayed out.
The weather at the cabin was a lovely 65 degrees, much better than the 91 degrees in the church parking lot in La Mesa! So driving 45 minutes inland and 5500 feet upward in elevation to the mountains was a very good call for this Easter celebration.
Extra Easter photos can be seen at my 365 Extras blog.
He is risen!
The Lord is risen, indeed! Alleluia!
1 comment:
The egg hunt at the cabin sounds and looks really fun! How cool that you do an adult hunt too. I so wish we could've had ours outside, but we usually have to have it indoors so our kids are getting used to that.
He is risen! He is risen indeed!
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