Happy Easter!

We had a good Easter! The church service was nice, but not really anything special or different than usual. They did have a hand bell group do a couple of songs and that was nice. It reminded me of my church back home. We always have a hand bell group on Easter, too. I got to thinking about the Easter service back home and missing it. Every Easter they do the flowering of the cross, where every member of the congregation goes up and places a flower in a wire mesh cross. When it is finished, it is absolutely beautiful. Which, of course, is the point...how something as ugly as a crucifixion is turned into something so beautiful as the Lord giving his son for us. Easter always gets me thinking about my great grandmother, Gran. She loved Easter and lilies. She was such a wonderful person and I miss her sometimes. It's hard to imagine that I can miss someone who passed when I was only 11 years old, but I do. It's as though I can still feel her love after all these years.

After church, we went to go see about buying a snow machine. One of my coworkers offered to sell me his for a really great price. So, Avery and I went over to help him dig the machine out of the snow and see about taking it for a ride. We shoveled the snow out from all around it. Put a little heater under the hood for awhile to thaw it out. It took awhile, but he finally got it started and the track spinning and got it pulled out on the driveway. He hopped on it to take it for a quick test spin. As we stood watching, the snow machine rammed straight into his neighbors truck. SMACK! Oh, man....turns out the right hand steering arm was still frozen and he couldn't turn. Busted up the front of the snow machine and his neighbors truck. I felt soooooooooo bad. It's such a bummer. For him and for us...I was really looking forward to buying that snow machine. Everything happens for a reason, right? Maybe this is not the snow machine we are meant to own. I'm just thankful no one got hurt, but I feel so bad about it.

After that, we went to Easter dinner at another of my coworkers houses. It was a nice little gathering and pretty typical of any big holiday dinner. The food and company were great. I've always felt very welcome here. People are very caring and gracious about making sure that you feel welcome. We actually had several invitations to Easter dinners by people who wanted to make sure we were not left out of the festivities. I made a cherry pie that I was going to take to the Easter dinner and when I got home from church, Taboo had eaten it. Geez...he's really a pain these days. More of a pain than he's worth lately.

Easter came so early this year. It is as early as it can get really. Easter always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. This is to ensure that the day is celebrated around the same time it would have been in 30AD. It will not fall on March 23rd again until 2160.

Now, I am going to work on grading some papers. Grades are due tomorrow and I only have one assignment left to grade. Parent Teacher conferences are this week and then we get Friday off. All the first year teachers are coming in for the Camai dance festival and our last culture class. I'll write more on that later.

Mom has finally got internet and is reading the blog, so here are some Avery pics for her....

Avery and his friend hangin in his room. We've rearranged it now, so it looked a bit different. His friend is the neighbor kid. He's a good kid. His family is from Thailand, they moved here a couple years ago.

Here's Avery sleeping on Taboo's bed. He loves to fall asleep with the dogs on the weekends.
The puppy is so big already. She's already bigger than Mikey. I bet she weighs 25 pounds already. She'll be pretty big by the time summer comes around.
Awww...aren't they cute!?!

62 days until we're home...You know what I'm really looking forward to? Gardening...working the soil, caring for plants, having fresh herbs, eating tomatoes off the vine, picking strawberries in the morning

In other news...
Avery starts freestyle wrestling tomorrow which is good cause he'll be able to burn off some of his energy during the week. It's not good for Bailey though cause she'll be stuck in the cage more. When she doesnt get her energy burned off, she's a little terror.

I start as the environmental science merit badge counselor for Avery's Boy Scout troop on Wednesday. The badge is very involved, requiring 11 different projects to be completed and it's a required badge to move up to an Eagle scout. I'm looking forward to helping out he Boy Scout's and just having something to do.

Sunlight...
We had 12hours34minutes of sunlight today. It's really hard to get to bed early when the sun is still up at 9:3opm, but I love it! We are still gaining 5minutes40seconds each day. To give you some perspective...VW, Ohio had 12hours20minutes of daylight and is gaining 2minutes43seconds tomorrow.

Weather...
It's been clear, sunny, and cold lately. Temps are hovering around zero each day.

Latest read...
The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd. I loved her book Secret Life of the Bees and this book was written equally as well, but was about something teetotally different. This book explores our self realization, life fulfillment, and the ways in which we search for meaning in our lives. It also delves into the thoughts of a woman, how we handle crisis, and the ways in which sexuality are linked to mentality. I enjoyed this book very much.

Well, that's all for now. Enjoy this day of new beginnings!