It seems like everything has greened up really early this year. The dogwoods, red buds and forsythia are in full bloom now. Last Sunday I reported that we broke a heat record. We at least tied the record Monday. It has been warm since then but not unseasonably hot. Mowing season has begun.
SOCCER MADNESS. Soccer season is getting started for us. Nate is old enough to play this year. I took him to his first practice Tuesday evening and he was so EXCITED! The bad thing is that each kid has practice on different evenings so we’ll be burning up the road to Springfield a lot. Their games start the Saturday after Easter.
KEEP MOVING FORWARD. Friday night we all went to see Disney’s newest flick, Meet the Robinsons. We hear the 3-D version is awesome but Springfield doesn’t have that capability. It was a clean script and fun to watch. I don’t think Nate enjoyed all of it though. He kept asking Vicki, “When is your movie going to be over?”
MOVIE MADNESS. I will take this space here to tell you that we discovered Netflix several months ago. Before this it was a rare thing for us to rent movies. The general rule between Vicki and I was that we had to rent something we both liked. To add to this problem for me was that Vicki didn’t usually like to rent something she had already seen. Netflix has solved this dilemma for us. Now we alternate our movies in the queue. The beauty of it for me is that I can find movies I’d like to see that most video stores don’t carry (e.g. the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still). I am currently in the middle of a multi-month James Bond marathon (Vicki usually enjoys the first hour of the film and sleeps through the rest).
THE POWER OF CHRIST IN ME is the title of the Easter musical our choir performed Saturday night and Sunday morning. They did a great job! We had two of our church members give their testimonies during the service which was really powerful.
HUNTING EGGS. Of course Easter brings Easter egg hunts and our children have enjoyed the fun. Sunday afternoon we had a hunt for the younger kids at church. Ben and Nate both made a pretty good haul this year. Jenna went to the hunt for the older kids that night. As an added twist to the fun they hunt their eggs by flashlight. This is done in Ross Swann’s pasture next to the church. He says he finds eggs throughout the year. Between all this we attended a cookout for all three volleyball teams and their families at Ed and Connie Coleman’s home. It was all a lot of fun but made for a full afternoon.
PASSOVER? Yes, we actually held a Seder meal at church last night with about 40 people there. It is really interesting if you have never done this before. The word seder means order and there is an order to the whole experience. The best way to describe it is to think of a long, interactive, responsive reading. During this we partook of traditional elements such as bitter herbs (horseradish), charoset, parsley dipped in salt water, a roasted egg, unleavened bread. The seder meal is the basis for the Christian ordinance of communion or eucharist. Our meal lasted about two hours and also included a feast with baked chicken, salad, spinach casserole, honey carrots and chocolate cake. And I can say that the recipes were kosher (but the cookware and utensils, while clean, may not have been kosher, at least not Vicki’s).
It was a really neat experience for me as it adds a lot of depth to the symbolism of communion and adds to my understanding of scripture concerning The Last Supper. If anyone is interested in reading the liturgy we used just let me know and I see if I can get a PDF copy to you.
THE TRICKSTER TRICKED. Not only was Sunday “Palm Sunday” on the Christian calendar, but it was April Fool’s Day as well. This is the day most of us try to beware of some elaborate scheme coming from the mind of Kenny Swann. This year the prize goes to Aunt Mar. After a long track record of being had by her nephew Aunt Mar was able to turn the tables this year.
Sunday afternoon Aunt Mar called Kenny and asked if they had a white cat. It just so happens they have a white stray that has taken up residence with them. Kenny, who is not a cat lover, isn’t too crazy about this. On learning that they do have a white cat, Aunt Mar tells him she saw it up on their roof. After hanging up Kenny is complaining about going outside to check on this cat because he knows Aunt Mar will worry about it--that’s when Lori reminds him what day it is.
A bit later Aunt Mar called me, thrilled that she had tricked Kenny. I told her that part of her life is complete now. She laughed as she agreed with me.
Joe
