New Beginnings

There's a reason Easter falls during springtime. The new covenant bursts to life as Jesus rises, the firstborn from the dead. And new life springs up in the grass and trees.

This year we added another new beginning!

We moved into our new house!

It took lots of help, but there was so much meaning to our church family showing up to help us out and then celebrating the Lord's Supper with them that night. That's the message of communion: 

Love one another!

Virgil installing light fixtures, Aunt Sue the super-cleaner, and that's Joe outside the window, painting doors. Not pictured, Steven, Uncle Joe, and Kailey.

Before they left we had that awfully cluttered living room you see in the corner there, not only...

Clean! But furniture moved in, too!
(No, he did not clean it, but he does love the dustpan for some reason.)

Eddie recognized the old furniture! He was a happy camper.
He was amazingly able to sense this is our home now!

As soon as the utilities were back on, we settled in! (Ok, not completely, of course, there are still boxes to unpack and the never ending list of projects---but, we're home!)

There's nothing quite like being a part of an old, in many ways broken-down house becoming "new". It's amazing the appreciation and new light shed on the glorious work called redemption: something worthless and un-lovely being made useful and lovely again. Specifically regarding all the hard work, perseverance, and sacrifice such an undertaking requires. But I think there's also more joy and satisfaction than would be possible from just giving up on the un-lovely thing starting over.

And for the (semi)finished photo you're all waiting for...

We had some visitors!

Honeymooners stopped in to see us (yeah, we're pretty special, folks).

Button down shirts and shorts was apparently the hip style for Saturday brunch!

There was celebration for that new beginning too, a fresh, new marriage. Stories of their driving down the California coast made me reminiscent of our first weeks after our wedding. It's an unrepeatable experience, everything new and exciting and romantic!

But back to our new beginnings, Easter, and all that!

Coming down the mountain from sunrise service Easter morning.

After the early service, we all have brunch back at church followed by the Easter program. I think my favorite part of the program was the youngest kids', just 3 years old, and they said bravely into the microphone in front of everyone: "Christ is risen!" "He is risen indeed!" Soon it'll be Eddie up there!

Here's a close up of his cuteness:

The only picture I got was the one with the obnoxious hot pink vynl sticker (thanks Uncle Steven!),

but those blue eyes and that bow tie? So precious!

Easter afternoon was restful and wonderful! We were back at Tom and Jody's, which feels like home after living there for so long! Delicious appetizers (except the traditional jello eggs I made, they may have tasted delicious, but they certainly didn't look appetizing, not one came out of the mold in one piece!), warm weather on the back porch with the kids playing in the yard, Eddie offering the dog his sippy cup (yuck!), an enthusiastic game of Dominion (I have to rub it in a bit, Jonathan was so sure of his victory, but in the final count I actually won! So satisfying!), a delicious dinner of ham (along with the question, how did we ever get from the Jewish feast of Passover to celebrating Easter and our Jewish Christ's resurrection with something as un-kosher as ham?!), and sharing some of our favorite and meaningful Easter songs as we enjoyed the meal. 

"And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also, he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Revelation 21:5