I love Easter. Christmas might be my favorite holiday, but the season of Easter in the Church is extremely special to me. I love that it's the season when my dad and husband entered the Church. I love the deep reflection. The music is unlike any other. It's the time I hold back tears in Mass. I love the reminder of exactly what happened in order that we might have salvation. I need to feel the feelings of the Holy Triduum. I need the constant reminder that He suffered, and that we will, too. I love the joy of Easter, but I need the Lent and Holy Week leading up to it. And, as I've mentioned maybe 100 times, I also need to let go. I think God needed me to this week as well. I had activities planned to help the kids see the meaning in it all. I was excited about preparing an Easter lunch for family (even though I get so worked up about everything being perfect). While I knew that we probably wouldn't be at all of the Masses with the little ones, I needed to be present at some.
Wednesday of Holy Week (after Friday of John Paul's stomach bug and after me touting the benefits of charcoal all over social media - I still think it works), I had to take Genevieve to Amarillo for a well-check. Little did I know at home with the sweet babysitter (more like a third grandma), three of the four kids were throwing up. No time for charcoal this time around, and what bug remains inactive for five days?? I'm thinking they caught another one.
So, we got Wednesday behind us (more like the babysitter and Jeremy did - bless them), and Thursday was a great day (we never took the pills because well, we were dumb). Then came 1:30 Friday morning. It started with me waking up to an uneasy stomach and hearing cries from Sophie 10 minutes later. She got sick. Then me. Then Peter. And, Jeremy.
Saturday hit with the other part of the stomach bug for the girls, and really, it continued until Monday.
All of that to say, no Masses were attended, no family came and few activities happened. God had a plan that wasn't mine. But, it was still blessed. It was still Easter. And, God's mercy was still so very much alive. Just not how I had envisioned it. We're always up for a quiet holiday, but sometimes the unexpected hits with a little disappointment. We're on a roll this year - a stomach bug Christmas and a stomach bug Easter. But, we still managed to get in some great time together and do a few things to honor this extra special season.
We made bunnies...
Carter and Peter made our Pascal candle from our Mass Box kit - my favorite activity yet!
The kids received a butterfly garden for Easter and were thrilled.
We mad hot cross buns a few days late.
We lit our Paschal candle Easter morning.
And someone was just happy to be cool.
Just incase he needed anything, he had it all in his backpack.
We made an Easter lunch anyway...just avoided the rich stuff.
And, it snowed, so we had an egg hunt inside.
When I wasn't taking photos of it all, I was holding this one all day.
And, we ended Easter with this...
Hopefully, we'll be able to get these little ones in their Easter bonnets for Divine Mercy Sunday!
As always, it was a blessing in disguise, and it really was a wonderful Easter. I hope yours was, too!
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