easter

chris & i had a nice easter weekend. on good friday, i had a great time decorating easter eggs with liz & some other girls. here's 3 eggs for our little family: a gt gold one for chris (his name didn't turn out that clear), a purple one for me, and a blue one for eva. while i was decorating these, chris was at home watching a ken burns special on the civil war. can't say i was sad to miss that! on sunday we enjoyed our church service and had a packed sunday school (our class has exploded to about 35 members). the pastor spoke about the true meaning of easter. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. ~1 Peter 1:3
in the evening, we had an easter potlock with some friends from church/chris' bible study who were in town. the food was delicious: barbeque chicken avocado burgers, pasta salad, fruit, and chips with blueberry nut crunch, peanut butter chocolate squares, and cheesecake for desert. after all that, we needed some exercise! we ended up walking to a nearby park and enjoying the beautiful spring weather.
last thing: i tried sugar-free peeps this year, and they are so much better than the regular ones! you can actually taste the marshmallow because the sugary-sweetness doesn't overpower it.

easter weekend

we had a busy easter weekend. on saturday, we met brooke & patrick in gaffney for lunch & outlet shopping. they live in rock hill, so it's a perfect midpoint for us. as soon as patrick finishes graduate school at winthrop, they're moving to iowa where he is starting a position as a band director. we're trying to see them as much as possible before they leave in june. we'll miss them and we hope they start blogging so we can keep in touch easily!
chris and i had a nice service at our church easter morning before leaving for alabama. we had learned on saturday that my grandmother (mom's mom) passed away early that morning. she's had some recent health problems and had been in the hospital, so this was not unexpected. we left greenville sunday afternoon to be with my family and attend the funeral on monday. it was held in the town where my mom grew up - brundidge, al. i hadn't been there since i was a small child, so we visited some places that were important to my mom. it reminds me of the town in to kill a mockingbird, which is my mom's favorite book.
house where my mom grew up (though it's been renovated...they never had a tin roof). salem baptist church - where my parents got married. the funeral was also held here.napa auto parts store that my grandfather owned - i never knew him since he passed away the year before i was born.

the juxtaposition of my grandmother's death and easter sunday reminded me that God is bigger than life or death and that He's in control of all things. "for i am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." ~romans 8:38-39

happy easter!

this year is our first easter together - and away from our families. we decided we wanted to spend this weekend here at our own church. also, my parents stay busy easter weekend due to preaching/piano playing commitments at each of their churches. it occurred to me in the middle of last week that if we wanted easter dinner we'd have to prepare it ourselves! fortunately our sunday school class decided to have a brunch. after chris & i filled up on pigs in a blanket, monkey bread, hash brown casserole, fresh fruit, sausage/egg casserole, biscuits, etc. we weren't even hungry for lunch! that was the perfect precursor to a restful afternoon nap.

one challenge i took from today's sermon is DO put all your eggs in one basket if that basket is God. i'm really going to miss our church and the friends we've made when we move. i trust that God has a purpose for us in greenville - church-wise, career-wise, otherwise... one of my professors has said that nothing truly worth doing in life comes without anxiety/struggles beforehand. i find that i rely more on God when i'm uncertain of and have little control over my circumstances - in other words during times of transition like the one we're beginning.

as far as seeing our families, we will be going to augusta next weekend for a visit - the first time since christmas!