Easter Weekend

We spent a 4 day weekend in Arrowhead over Easter, a great start to Dan's Spring Break. On Friday and Monday we hung out with friends and former students, which was a huge blessing. Since we don't have our own "home" right now, people are home to me. So being with the people I spent 7 years with is just a peaceful, confortable feeling for me. Saturday I went to my friend Audrey's Baby shower. She has been the most amazing friend to me and a huge influence and joy to my kids, and it was fantastic to be at her first Baby shower! Dan's whole family was up on Saturday and we saw our little nephew, Michael, who is 6 weeks old! We also saw our other "cousins" (thrid cousins, I think, but we don't dilfferentiate), and the older kids played SO well together. The adults got to play games and have grown-up conversations because the kids entertained themselves. They also died and decorated eggs, did an egg hunt, and found their Easter Baskets. I am not into lots of candy for them, so they got their bathing suits for the summer, books, and little toys. Mckenna told us the Easter story, she is so grown up! She told us about Jesus dying on the cross to take away the punishment for our sins, and His resurrection from the dead, which grants eternal life in heaven to those who accept His sacrifice. She amazes us. When she had her Easter Dress on and her hair all done, I asked her if she felt beautiful. She said she felt pretty on the inside because she had been kind and obedient, and that it was more important to be pretty on the inside. I told her she was absolutely right, and that I thought she was awfully pretty on the outside too.

Dan and I went to our house. Yikes, I had many more emotions than I expected. It looks so good, especially compared to what it looked like when we moved in. And it was so familiar, so "mine," and yet no longer home. We walked hand and hand through each room, remembering fondly projects we did and memories we made there, and we took some pictures. And then we left, forever. It still looks like Escrow will close by this Friday. It's been a long road, but overall we were filled with gratitude to God that at a young age, with a small income, we bought this perfect-for-us house that served us so well. And, Lord-willing, we will own another home someday that we can make ours too. We miss our neighbors, we miss our trees, but it was okay to say goodbye.

At one point I stopped along the "Rim of the World" (the main highway the follows the edge of the mountain, so you can see forever) and took some pictures. It was always my favorite to see the entire valley filled up with clouds. I always had the most unreasonable, counter-intuitive feeling that if I stepped off the side of the mountain the clouds would hold me. Clearly I never tried, but I wanted to, I wanted it to work. On Monday the valley was filled with clouds, just like I remember, so I captured it. (Mountain people, I stopped at Red Rock Wall and took pictures like a flatlander. What has happened to me?!)

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend, a good change of pace, and great to see so many people. My nephew Harvest comes from New York tonight...so another adventure is just around the corner.