This Year's Easter Stories

All my kids need is a good old fashioned egg hunt outside to be happy. A barbecue with Dan's coworkers in the sun of Saturday afternoon made everyone happy. One our favorite twins-in-training showed up with his mom while his twin brother was home with a fever. We had to giggle a little over his emotional boycott of the event.  I'm sure he was thinking "where's my brother and when am I going to see him." J did his best to distract him.

 This morning we celebrated with a low-key brunch with the five missionaries for our church serving in our area. They are the best of the best, and they shared their stories: where they came from, what they did prior to serving a mission, and what they enjoy about their mission in Virginia.  One was a collegiate swimmer. One has only been a member of our church for a few years. One talked about wanting to pattern his family interactions after a young family he had met in another area. One talked about her job at a small-town university prior to her mission. After listening to them talk about missionary life, J, in his nine-year-old innocent wisdom, shared aloud that maybe we go on missions and learn as much as or more than we teach. Yes, that's so true. The learning is a by-product of the service to God and others, I reminded him.

Everything comes full circle, and today I realized it was happening in a sartorial sense. In December after I purchased A a plaid Christmas jumper (that lacked flounce and yardage necessary for spinning and might have been akin to a school uniform) I noticed that A avoided wearing it at all costs. I confessed to my mom that I was wrong in my practical choice and I would get girly dresses from that point on. Four weeks ago after having the conversation with my mom this beautiful white dress showed up in the mail. I know my Grandma Irene was smiling down on us today while watching A twirl, curtsy, and skip in her beautiful Easter dress. My Grandma Irene loved buying beautiful dresses for us at Easter and Christmas, and her daughter Stephanie (my mother) carries on this tradition now. 

 The boys continue to care very little about Easter clothes, but I look forward to renewing their Sunday outfits since they wear them weekly. I laid nearly everything out after making inventory of the pieces. As we climbed into the car I noticed they both had on white athletic socks in place of their black dress socks. Argh. It wasn't worth ruining the morning happiness but I may have groaned aloud. Loudly.

 In church I taught the sharing time lessons about sheep. With the younger children I focused on how Christ is the Good Shepherd and we are his sheep, but with the older kids I taught them about how some people refer to Christ as the "Lamb of God" and what that means. Older children (eight and up) are still so innocent but seem to be ready for more challenging symbols and analogies. I was reminded today of how much time they can spend simply asking sincere questions of us as adults. I'm so grateful that inquiry and questioning are such important parts of gospel learning. "Ask and she shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you" the apostle James wrote.

This afternoon we had sandwiches, oranges, more candy (I'm sure), and an indoor Easter egg hunt to find the jelly bean-filled eggs. I think that thrilled them as much as any other thing we could have done and it was over in ten minutes. I lamented that we hadn't spent more time on Easter Sunday activities while we were at home. Surely next year I'll plan ahead. (Right? I've gotta believe if I'm going to feel better about dropping the ball.)

Tonight I finished my goal to read the Book of Mormon in one month. It is the best book, truly written by God's prophets in the Americas, and this was my favorite month of scripture study ever. Finishing on Easter was so appropriate--Christ is the center of every teaching in the book. When I think that people have spent millions of dollars on a broadway musical that mocks it, I am perplexed. I could never be ashamed or embarrassed because I know what's inside and why everyone needs its message. And I really wonder how many people have actually read enough to make fun of it. I can't wait to pick it up again tomorrow and focus on just one section rather than trying to read seventeen pages for understanding.