Easter seemed like a blur this year. We have been so busy that we were not ready. But ready or not, Holy Week came.

We went to the Maundy Thursday service at church, which I love! We meet with a local African American church (Mount Level Missionary Baptist Church) at Blacknall and celebrate the last supper and the entering into a new covenant. It feels so good, so right to invite other believers who you do not normally worship with to join in that celebration.  It makes the "church" feel tighter, more cohesive. I love it. They brought their gospel choir, which I have been looking forward to since last year, and they brought down the house. It was awesome!

We thought we were going to Virginia this weekend, so we didn't make it to the Tennenbrae (Good Friday) service on Friday night, but we heard that it was AMAZING. I am sad to have missed it, and it is on our list of commitments for next year.

Saturday, as Miles' blog commemorates, we took Halleigh to a Easter party.  It was really fun, all except the Easter Bunny part where she freaked out in shear terror.  Saturday night was awful... Halleigh would NOT go to sleep. Crying, snotty, sweating, shaking, standing up in her bed screaming until we went and got her. It was HORRIBLE. The only thing different was that she had been scared by the Easter Bunny that day.  We think that she was having nightmares about the Easter Bunny. It may be a few years until we take her to see another mascoty character, which unfortunately means you too, Rameses. I don't think Miles would be able to handle Halleigh crying at the sight of his beloved Rameses.  (Note: Saturday night was not all bad, as the nightmare drama was unfolding, Evan, Kelly, Dave and Elizabeth we all over  playing Settlers of Catan, and that part of the night was fun.)

Sunday I got up VERY early and went with my friend Mary to the sunrise service that we also do with Mount Level, at their church. It was early, but worth it. I wish I could start everyday focused on Christ’s triumph! The sunrise service was followed by breakfast, and it was fun to chat with people from Mount Level and get to know them a little.

When I got home we got Halleigh all decked out in her Easter attire and took her to our normal church service. After that we rushed home to pick up our contributions to the Weinard's Easter Brunch and Egg Hunt. After the trial run the day before Halleigh really did get into looking and pick up eggs. She was even putting them in her basket without needing to open them and inspect the contents.

At 4:00pm we had to leave that party, run home and change, drop Halleigh off at Miles' parents’ house and rush to Raleigh to see Carolina cream Arkansas. It was an uneventful game, never really a question as to the outcome, but as all Carolina games are, it was GREAT to be there and really fun!

So there is our weekend in review. busy busy busy

I really like this time of year as well.  Fresh and clean, it feels like a new start... a new start and the garden is first and foremost on our list. We have got to get tomato cages early this year, we waited too long last year and couldn't find any and it made tomato farming incredibly difficult.

Here is a massive collage of Easter day. Enjoy!  (The reason she has two dresses is that the first is her nice Easter dress that we didn't want to get destroyed when we played outside at the Easter hunt, so we had to change. There will be more pictures of her in her Easter dress in the next couple days.)

p.s. If you click on the pictures a window will open up and you can see the pictures bigger and better, especially the first collage at the top.