Easter 2007

Hunting for Eggs.

More Eggs than you can shake a stick at! But look out for snakes!

Elainea and her cousin Andriana

Did anyone see the size of that snake?

Elainea and Megan

Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live.

Jackie Windspear

This was a magical Easter in so many ways. Our family has returned from China complete, we are looking forward to Elainea's baptism next week, Pam’s aunt will make a recovery from her recent critical illness, and we celebrate Fr. Pat's 80th birthday. I do not know how much I tell people about Fr. Pat, so I will explain a little to you. Fr. Pat is a monk up at the Monastery in Huntsville, Utah. If you are interested they have a website www.holytrinityabbey.org. He is even pictured on the page about the gift shop. He is our spiritual advisor and helps to keep us on the path of straight and narrow. We see him once a month for confession and was one of the inspirations for my conversion to the Catholic faith. I was spiritual dead before I met Joe, his family and this great man. Since I have re-established a relationship with God my life has meaning again. It helps to know that even our trial we had in China has a purpose behind it. We may not always understand it, but God has complete control and his grace is immense.I remember my first confession with Fr. Pat. It was absolutely incredible! I told him my deepest, darkest secrets and he just listened so intently. I could actually feel him listening to me! I thought after all I had told him he would condemn me, or at the very least be disappointed with me. Instead he knelt down and kissed my feet! What a humble and kind spirit. He made no judgement and instead showed me God's grace. We are so blessed to have Fr. Pat in our lives. He is a major source of support during our adoption journey. He was born on Easter and celebrates his first birthday that falls on Easter since his birth this year. We love him and wish him well on his special day.This Easter was spiritual and fun. It is hard to contemplate the suffering and resurrection of our Lord when you have two small children. It seems you are always attending to some one's need and time for reflection is sandwiched into the five minutes between when you lay your head down and you fall asleep exhausted.On Easter we dressed the kids in their beautiful new dresses and went to Mass. Then we came home to prepare for members of both sides of the family to come over for Easter dinner. It was great fun and we had the annual Easter egg hunt. Pam’s mom saves her change throughout the year and puts it into Easter eggs for the hunt. We hide either small toys or candy in the eggs and this year Joe’s sister Jane sponsored some eggs as well. The hunt was so much fun and Elainea caught on quick to the idea of gathering eggs into her basket.Of course the party did not conclude without a hitch. We have what is called a hibernaculum under our front walk. For those that do not know what this is (I only recently found out) it is a snake den where snakes come to hibernate from miles around in the winter. This means that we have a high density of snakes in our yard. Well Pam’s mom came over for Easter and about stepped on one in the garage. Well she has a snake phobia and came inside and collapsed in a chair. And being the loving daughters that they are, Pam’s sister snapped a picture to commemorate the moment. Needless to say the snake drama continued to unfold during the egg hunt! It added an element of thrill and surprise for the kids looking for eggs.We posted some pictures of the egg hunt for all to enjoy!