TLC and Little Leighton
(aka LL aka Biscuit) had a super busy week. Pre-school. Several Easter Egg Hunts. Ballet. LL
now has ear infections. Both sweet wittle ears. Poor Biscuit. TLC took her to
the doctor this morning (I'm a'thinkin' TLC should consider
having two cots at her pediatrician’s office dadgummit!) and they now have the requisite
(gluten-free) antibiotic LL simply needs to heal.
Please enjoy a few pictures of LL’s Easter
Experience…so far! I need some giggles and smiles, if you don't mind humoring me. The first one is at our country casa last weekend. TLC and LL came for a night to help me celebrate my birthday. We had a "Pre-Easter" practice egg hunt. It was raining and cold...so The Easter Bunny had to come inside and hide LL's eggs. LL is hugging "Esther." The bunny she received in her basket. The second picture was taken by TLC before LL met her best friend at a fun place called Play Street Museum. Play Street had a delightful Celebration that involved real, live bunnies! See the third picture. The fourth picture is LL before she and TLC headed out to her FOURTH Egg Hunt! (Am I clever or what? Fourth and Fourth? Ha.) Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of her Egg Hunt at pre-school. TLC was a "Teachers' Assistant" that day and, therefore, couldn't take pictures.
Thank Y'all very much for your patience. Like I give you a choice.
It’s beautiful weather
today in North Central Texas. Tomorrow is supposed to be a rainy Easter Sunday.
This means, of course, we’re torn. We’d love it to be the perfect day: Sunny. Warm, but
not too hot. Breezy—not windy. No tornadoes, PLEASE. Most of Texas is still in a severe drought
condition—so rain—in any amount—is something we realize we must appreciate. Guess
we’ll just have to wake up and see what transpires manana, right?
As a tot, yes, I loved
Easter Egg Hunts. (Even though, way back then in the Dark Ages, most of our
eggs were real/hard-boiled/dyed. Once I and my younger siblings reached five-ish, we were the "dyers" of the Easter eggs. (I suppose the idea was that we got better at dying our own eggs as we aged. I recall some pretty ugly-lookin' eggs. Sigh.) My siblings and I knew
we were destined for egg salad sandwiches for several days after Easter. We
didn’t have a lot of chocolate or special treats. Not at our house—on Easter
Sunday morn. We did look forward to other Egg Hunts—where there might just be
some chocolates! Or jellybeans. Stickers. Or money!
As a
toddler/pre-schooler/elementary child, TLC loved Easter. (Mostly because her
Mama made sure she had THE GOOD STUFF from the Easter
Bunny!) She does like to continue to remind me, year after year, that all she
ever wanted—each Easter—was a “pre-packaged” basket. The kind you could buy at
any and every grocery store in the US of A. Those baskets that had lots of Easter
“grass,” a stuffed Bunny or Chick, and tons o’ candy. No. Unfortunately for
TLC, her Mama would never buy one of those for her. Clearly, TLC’s still
traumatized by my meanness. (It’ll sure be innerstin’ to see if LL gets one of
those fabulous-and-sometimes-pretty-darn-expensive-store-bought baskets in the next
few years… I’m bettin’ LL doesn’t get one, either. Unless her Grammy buys her one. Wink. Wink.)
Over my many years on this Earth, Easter
has always been a tough time for me. I truly believe I was understanding the
meaning of Easter by the time I was seven or eight years old. I'd ask my Nana a lot of questions about this Church season. She was a devout Episcopalian who took the weeks before Easter quite seriously. Ash Wednesday. Lent.
Maundy Thursday. Good Friday. These became difficult for me to process even at
a young age. Harder as I got to be a teenager—college student—young adult—wife
and Mom. It’s mostly such a sad, sad time. In my humble opinion. True—the music and joy on Easter
Sunday was/is a glorious expression of Jesus' victory. Still…knowing what He suffered for
me/us—it's overwhelmingly rough. I’ve always cried a lot during this time.
Buckets of tears. I find I can’t really watch movies about Jesus' crucifixion.
I cannot watch the torture He endured. It hurts my heart and soul too deeply. I
sincerely believe I’ve never felt deserving of Jesus’ pain and sacrifice. Even
today, I often feel guilty that I’m not the kind of Christian I so desperately want
to be.
I hope each and every one of you has a MAGNIFICENT Easter
Sunday—Wherever in the World you are! I pray you feel inspired. Faithful.
Renewed. Restored. Grateful and Peaceful. BRAVE and proud to be a follower of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Happy HAPPY HAPPY Easter, Dear Friends…
