Happy Easter

So this year for Easter we opted to go to church for the Easter Vigil on Saturday night and then spend Easter Sunday with family at our house.

Saturday night, we packed up and headed out, for church. No pics, we were lucky to get there on time, dealing with dinner and parking and finding a place to sit all with an 8 1/2 month old and 3 year old in tow.

The Easter Vigil is special to us because 4 years ago -B- and I took part in the Vigil as Candidates, we both completed our confirmations Easter 2005. We opted to brave the event knowing full well that it was going to be a long one, topping out around 2 hours of sitting and listening after 9 readings and so much more.

We entered the church to greet darkness and found our way to the "cry room", it was a full house and people were spilling out of the doors into the hallways, so as others, obviously battling the parking situation, arrived they filled in to the only open seats they could find in the cry room. We packed in like sardines and listened to Father Casey as he began, speaking of the death of Jesus on the cross. Then the Vigil started as the baptismal candle was lit and the lights rose, "In the Beginning..." Genesis 1:1.

At one point a family of four joined our row and with only two empty seats, we gave up -N-'s seat and let him sit on our laps, while one of their children sat in the row in front of them and the other in the row with them.

Coming fully prepared for the endeavor, I packed several activities for the boys, more so -N- and he gladly sat at my feet coloring, drawing and looking at his bible, all while sitting and standing in rhythm with the congregation and -A- sat happily playing with an Easter Egg. After two trips to the bathroom, one for each boy and nursing -A-, "God putting Abraham to a test..." Genesis 22:1-18, "...a parting of the red sea..." Exodus 14:15, "the returning of exiles..." Isaiah 54:5-14, standing and sitting a couple times, watching the catechumen become baptized, renewing our baptismal promises, and watching the candidates receive their first holy communion, the family in the row in front of us began to pack up with their little ones and hopes of the rising claustrophobia going away rushed over me.

With -A- falling asleep in -B-'s arms and -N- curling up on the floor and covering up with his blanket I feared we wouldn't make it much longer. Soon after the family in front of us left and the family to our right stayed put, we met our limit. -A- decided to fight sleep and -N- and myself for that matter became restless, one can only handle having their foot stepped on so many times. Father Casey came around and sprinkled holy water on the congregation and we began to pack up.

As we drove home, I realized that though we didn't make it the full two hours, we did quite well considering and soon we will sit through an entire Easter Vigil again, but for now this is just fine and we can always try again next year.

Bringing the story of Christ to life for -N- this year was important to me, so we talked about the death and resurrection of Jesus and read his bible stories on the respective days. He went to bed, Good Friday, understanding that Jesus died on a cross for us, and then Easter Sunday we read about how Jesus was resurrected "He is Risen!" Mark 16:1-7.

We then enjoyed a Ham dinner with my parents and discovered eggs left by the Easter Bunny, so -N- went on an egg hunt and looked through his loot as did -A-. I even managed to capture that pic of the boys together in their Easter Sunday clothes.

Here they are checking out the goods, and since it was too wet to hunt outdoors on Easter, here's a pic of -N- hunting the other day at a hunt with friends...Happy Easter and God Bless!

-A- even figured out there are yummy things hidden inside those eggs! (Baby Goldfish in his case)