From Sea to Shining Sea: The Glory of Easter!

Christ is risen! The joy of Easter has arrived and the Easter season has just begun, making all things new again. Praise the Lord for all the beauty that surrounds us... spring is just a perfect reminder of Jesus' resurrection. The sunshine has returned to Seattle (hopefully, for good) and everything is teaming with new growth and life.

Our family celebrated Easter Sunday before the sun came up! Evelyn was hunting for eggs in our house by 6AM. She reminded me so much of her Uncle Jared (my younger brother) on Easter morning so many years ago. Jared was always up early for Easter and would rouse our younger brother Matt and me before we knew what hit us! He loved hunting for Easter eggs and was really tenacious and competitive during the family egg hunt and the neighborhood Easter egg hunt. In all honesty, I'm still impressed by the egg-hunting skills my brother honed!

Anyway, Evelyn did wake up early (just like her uncle used to) to find all the eggs in the house, but she didn't really have to be competitive since she was the only one on the hunt. Actually, she took her time, opening each egg as she went and dropping the contents in a bag that Joe carried around behind her. Very few eggs ended up in the basket she carried, most were emptied and then dropped back in the very same spot she had found them! It was very much the same approach she had to opening gifts at Christmas... she was slow and methodical then too. I just don't think she sees any need to rush things or operate another way! After some encouragement from us, (alright, I'll admit, we sounded like broken records) she would pick up an egg or two and put them in her basket. I guess this whole process will improve with age.

We went to a beautiful morning Mass at our church and Evelyn was so well-behaved. We were so very proud of her! Joe and I cooked a nice Sunday brunch together and spent much of the afternoon resting together as a family. In the early evening, we visited a friends house for an intimate and delicious Easter dinner and some more egg hunting for the children.

I'm including a few pictures of Cora in this post too. Cora was at our house on Good Friday, and since we didn't see her over the weekend, we had an early Easter photo shoot! Enjoy and Happy Easter to all of you!