Happy Easter!

I awoke this morning to this beautiful picture that Noah drew for me.

We went to the "sunrise" service this morning, making it 5 worship services in 4 days for Mr. Noah. Following this morning's worship, we went to the Easter breakfast sponsored by the youth and then of course, the Easter egg hunt!! There were 16 kids participating this year, which was GREAT! (One year each kid got to collect 71 eggs - egg overload! This year it was 26 - still more than enough!)


We also attempted to do some special cookies that a friend of mine told me about... I'm not sure what they're called - empty tomb cookies? You tell the Easter Passion story while mixing together the ingredients the night before and then put them in a preheated oven overnight, turning the oven off after you put the cookies in. They are supposed to be hollow when you bite into them in the morning, but ours didn't really have that effect. They're very light and airy, but no obvious empty space to remind us of the empty tomb. Oh well... it was worth a try.

This afternoon, we'll have Easter steaks (we opted out of ham this year...) and just relax. Hopefully Michael will get a nice, restful nap in as well. After the first hymn this morning, his voice was already a bit crackly, so hopefully he makes it through the 2nd service!

Noah and I head to Dubuque on Thursday for Great-grandpa Roy's 90th birthday, so we'll continue to be busy for at least one more week.

I pray that each of you has a blessed Easter. He is risen! He is risen indeed!! Alleluia!!!