This Easter didn't start out so *Egg*stra special. No matter how much I tried to get ready the night before, we just couldn't make it to church on time. Dad decided it would be a good idea to make eggs and what goes better with eggs on Easter when we are all in our new Easter outfits, but Grape juice? So out comes the grape juice ,then onto the new yellow and white dress goes the grape juice. Now Mom is screaming at everyone what idiots they are and there goes the spirit right out the front door! Mom decided to take a breather by herself, after getting spot remover on the dress and throwing it in the new high tech washing machine on Stain cycle. She took a very long time getting ready, because she figured Easter Services were already ruined and she would never be able to take the sacrament at this point anyway. Dad tried to help as much as possible and so eventually we left and heard most of the two speakers talks.
Dinner at our friend's home was wonderful, as was the Egg hunt afterwards. The only down part is that my poor boys- Samuel, and sometimes Joseph- get left out or teased excessively, because the rest of the party are girls. Samuel takes this all in strides, as they haul him off in hand-cuffs and put baby powder all over him, but he is sensitive and sometimes snaps. Then he gets in trouble and he cries and it breaks my heart. The only thing I can do is pray for a family with boys to move in that loves us.
But the *Egg*stra special part was when we got home from Church. First of all we had been egged by one of the families that we egged. See previous post. And secondly our neighbor who works at the White house came over to give us tickets to the White House Egg roll. Monday he secured 2 more tickets for us, so that we all got to hop on the Metro (something we don't usually do- the kids loved it!) and went downtown together to the Egg roll. Just as we got in, The Jonas Brothers came out and performed 5 or 6 songs! It was very cool. We were only a couple of rows of people back from the stage. It was definitely an *Egg*stra special weekend!
SPT catch up The week before we were suppose to take a picture of "Your feet will take you where your heart is."
This is a picture of my feet taking me to see the statue of the Angel of Marye's Heights. Have you heard of him? He was a confederate soldier. At Marye's Heights the Union soldiers were ordered up the middle of a valley and then up a hill- all on open ground as they were mowed down in entire ranks by the Confederates on the top of the hill. Through the night the Confederate army heard the cries of the dying men. This went on for several days. Most of them were just pleading for water. This man, whose name now escapes me, went to his commander and asked to be allowed to cross over and give the dying men water. He was told no. He went higher up and higher up, each time getting told no. Finally, the last commander told him no, but as he went through the tent flap, the commander changed his mind and came after him, saying "how can I refuse such a request?" The man got as many canteens as he could, filled them up and then went over the wall and proceeded to give water to the dying men. All the while he was being shot at by the Union soldiers, who thought he was trying to loot the dying men. When he ran out, he went and got more and then did it again. He took several trips. Eventually the Union soldiers figured out what he was doing and stopped firing at him. This man made it through Fredricksburg, and 2 other battles in the area. He made it through Gettysburg where the Confederates lost so many men, but he was eventually killed in a smaller battle later on. One day, I would like to have the kind of courage and compassion that that man had. My feet aren't taking me there quite yet. But until they do, they will keep taking me to these feet, the people I love the most. I will try and practice a little compassion and courage with them first!
11 comments:
Oh, girl -- your Easter sounds like a re-run of mine last year. I was in tears by the time we pulled into the church parking lot and the ONLY thing that motivated me to even get out of the car was the fact I was leading the choir that day. Ugh. But I'm glad your day ended on a higher note. What fun to be able to do the White House gig! And awesome SPT-catch-up post! Happy Easter! Happy Spring!
Thank you soooo much for your honest post! I didn't post any of the dismal highlights of our Easter (which included having to give my children a massive lecture about how the Savior would want them to treat each other). I laughed as soon as I read the word grape juice. I knew just what was coming. Hope the new washer worked its magic!
I sometimes think Satan waits until Sunday morning to pull out all the tricks! Sorry about the grape juice and other irritants.
The White House Egg Roll sounds like such a fun thing to do. How nice y'all were able to go.
Enjoyed reading about the confederate soldier giving water. How brave.
Sorry your Easter morning was so lousy!
thanks for sharing that great story about the Confederate soldier--it really touched me.
I have to totally agree with Holly.. I think Satan does all he can to not get us to church. I am so sorry it was such a frustrating Easter for you. But you made it to church & got through it - Yeah for you!!
Thanks for sharing your true feelings & not pretending it was all hunky dorie.. I don't feel like the only one that has a hard time..
Great post. I love your prospective. The White House Egg Roll sounds really fun! Have a great week
Man... I'm sorry it got off to such a rocky start. But the egg roll was pretty cool to read about, and I'm a huge history buff- so the story about the confederate soldier is awesome too! I love Washington DC. Only been there twice, and both times took a wrong turn into scary parts of town, but still really liked it! What a cool post!
Our Easter wasn't very Eastery at our church all the talks were personal stories not on Easter. The first was a 19 year old Who" oh my heck, just thought it was awesome to be her" related to Easter ? We did do the uncle Tim hides the eggs thing that the grandkids enjoyed. Your at the white house egg thing sounds a great memory. Can I get a Samuel orignal for my wall some time. The current children's art work is over 15 years old and fading. Would love a new artist. Love Grandma
for samuel; You don't have let the girls abuse you just play. It's OK to say I don't want to be the bad guy, Don't put powder all over me. I need some alone time right now but I'll come back in a few minute. For Emma This is your special brother see that he is treated special especially by other girls. To samuel's mom and Dad- your job is to extract Samuel from negative play before he reaches his frustration level. A hand or word signal that he use to you to let you know he is getting frustrated and needs your help to regroup is helpful. Uncle Tim uses "I need some alone time right now." It took years for Tim to learn the skill of removing himself before he became frustrated and it took even more years for this set of parents to be aware that we need to allow, encourage and enable our child to walk away and self calm graciously. It is still taking the school and church organizes time to learn to let him be. Hope you learn faster than we did, You will have a happier boy and better social gatherings but you do have to keep one ear and eye open to the social inter-action of the children so you don't miss the sign that it is time to save that special boy. Mom
that is our school teacher, grandma advice for today.
What a great post! Sunday's are the hardest day for us. I have to be at the church early to play the piano and I am always running in five minutes or less before the begining - it's so terrible. Your trouble on easter morning is shared by many, I'm sure - hopefull not the grape juice part though! You outing to the statue sounds intriguing - where is it located? We lived in alexandria for several years, and I don't remember it. Take care and thanks so much for your lovely comment!
oh, grape juice. i wouldn't have handled it *that* well...
love your catch up spt, too. i had not heard this story before. thanks for sharing it!
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