Easter 2013

We had a really great Easter this year. Lent had been so good for us this year. The sacrifices we chose to make helped us enter into the season, and, in addition to our daily Bible reading, we added on the book, The Sacred Heart for Lent: Daily Meditations by Fr. Thomas D. Williams. Each day had a scripture verse and reflection on a different aspect of the heart of Jesus, ending with a prayer to make our hearts more like His. It was SUCH a good book, and really helped us to get to know Jesus better and to draw us closer to His heart. I'd totally recommend it to anyone who is looking for some spiritual reading, wherever you are in your life of faith. The meditations are short, so it's not a big time commitment even for the busiest of people, but every meditation packs such a powerful punch. We'd read it together in the evenings, but I'd always try to meditate on that aspect of Jesus' character during my drive to work the next morning, and try to integrate that into my thoughts, prayers, and behavior throughout the day. Anyhow, check it out next Lent or tomorrow (definitely could be read anytime during the year). You'll love it.

We were excited for Holy Week, but then our poor little Julia started to get sick, sick, sick on Holy Thursday! She'd contracted some awful upper respiratory infection, spiking fevers of 103° F, going through copious amounts of tissue, and feeling tired and cranky and awful. Aaron's parents and sister were supposed to come visit on Good Friday/Holy Saturday, but canceled since Julia was feeling so bad. On Holy Thursday, Julia was scheduled to be one of the parishioners to have her feet washed at mass. We couldn't decide if we should take her or not, since she was just beginning to be feverish and had a runny nose, but she seemed to be feeling better after she had some acetaminophen so we went. She really seemed to enjoy having her feet washed, but then her fever started to return and she fell asleep in a sweaty hug on my lap for the rest of mass.

On Good Friday, we stayed home and took care of Julia, who was doing worse, and prayed the Stations of the Cross at home. There is quite a story about that, but I'll save it for another post.

Holy Saturday was yet another day spent in our cave of kleenex, thermometers, and children's fever reducer. Poor Julia! Julia also majorly lost her appetite during her illness, and, despite us trying to get her to eat and pushing fluids, she lost over a pound, which is quite a bit when you weigh less than 30 pounds to begin with!

Easter morning, though, Julia had finally turned the corner and was doing quite a bit better, praise God. We went to the 9:15 am mass, and were running a few minutes late. It was super crowded, and, though we ended up having to stay in the foyer for mass, we were lucky to find chairs, since lots of people ended up standing through mass. Of course, most of the people making church so crowded were people we'd never seen before - the biannual church goers, or Chreaster crowd (Christmas and Easter). I was really happy to see so many people, though, and am glad whenever anyone goes to church, even if it's just on major holidays - maybe God will speak to them on those few occasions they go to church, and it will be the start of a renewed faith and faithfulness.

I don't think the teenage guy sitting next to us was probably able to hear God's voice too clearly, though...since he had headphones in and was watching raunchy rap music videos on his phone during mass! I couldn't believe it! I'd heard of such things happening at mass, but it was the first time I'd seen it with my own eyes.

Easter Mass was beautiful. Our pastor went nuts with the Holy Water after we all renewed our baptismal vows. Our dear seminarian friend, Bryan, was serving masses at our parish, so it was neat getting to celebrate with him.

Easter was during the height of my morning sickness, and I felt awful after mass. I thought I was going to throw up, and I told Aaron that I desperately needed some food ASAP. So, even though I was reluctant to eat out on Easter, because I felt bad to think that the employees of a restaurant open on Easter had to work on Easter... we stopped at a restaurant on the way home to eat. I was just so sick, and I really hadn't been cooking during my morning sickness, so we didn't even really have anything at the house to eat. We got hot sandwiches and Julia's kid's meal came with soft serve, much to her delight.

I felt a lot better after eating, and we went home to put together an Egg Hunt for Julia! There was supposed to be one at church after mass, but since it had rained the night before and the ground was wet, it was postponed until the next week. Which, honestly, really worked out in our favor, because the Chreaster crowd wasn't there next week, which meant there were way less kids to participate, which meant Julia got a TON of eggs. I coached her to run to the back of the field and work her way forward, since the other little kids would start at the front and be competing for eggs. And she totally did it! The Knight of Columbus in charge of the egg hunt yelled, "On your mark, get set, go!" and all the other little kids ran straight for the eggs right at the edge of the lawn, but Julia flew to the back and started grabbing eggs like there was no tomorrow. That's my smart girl! I was so proud. Hahaha!

Anyhow, our home Easter egg hunt consisted of putting some small candies into eggs for Julia and hiding them in our front yard. And, by hiding, I basically mean we set them around the yard in plain sight. But, Julia had so much fun running around, putting them in her basket, and then eating the candy inside. It was so cute.

Isn't it amazing how big Julia has gotten? Here is a link to last Easter and the year before.

Julia and Daddy.

Three Easter ladies: Mommy, Julia, and little baby Francis Marie in my belly.

We then went over to my family's house to celebrate with them. My dad's birthday was also that day, so, instead of traditional Easter food, we had Mexican food, since it's my dad's favorite. There were a ton of people at our house, since my whole family was there, Bryan and Rebecca joined us, and Elizabeth and Sarah brought home about a dozen friends from school with them to celebrate Easter. So, it was quite a full, noisy house, but it was a lot of fun. We got to share our good news about the baby with Bryan. I ate a lot of Rebecca's delicious queso. We all enjoyed some good conversation. My sisters and I had pooled funds to buy our dad a small popcorn machine and popcorn kernels/coconut oil/popcorn buttery salt for his birthday, which he seemed excited about. Aaron, Julia, and I ended up leaving sooner than we might have normally, since Julia was still somewhat sick and needed a nap. It was a great day, though.

I will treasure this Easter always because we celebrated it with Francis Marie. She was alive and growing and we were so excited about her life as we celebrated Christ's resurrection. It was a really special time for our family. I'm so grateful to God that He gave us some joyful times during Francis Marie's time on earth that we can look back on with such fondness. And, most of all, I'm grateful for Easter, for the resurrection, for the gift of eternal life, for the promise of reunion with Francis Marie and all those we love, so we can have an never ending celebration of Christ's victory over death in heaven together. Praise God for Easter!