Easter Sunday

Happy Easter! We hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Here is a peek at our day today.

Our church services were a little different than what we usually get on an Easter Sunday. We had regional conference. It was broadcast from Salt Lake and we got to watch it in our own building. It was very special. The conference included 61 stakes from 8 different states. It was like a mini general conference. Among those who spoke to us were Elder Oaks and our prophet, President Monson. 

Grant went down for his nap shortly after we got home from church. When he woke (that is to say, when I rudely woke him), the festivities began. Instead of putting out baskets we did a treasure hunt. We talked to the kids about how living with Heavenly Father again is the biggest treasure we could hope for, and how he has given us clues or directions to help us find our way home to Him. Then we made clues that led them to different places in the house where their gifts were placed. For example, the clue 'pray always' led them to the foot of Gracie's bed where we usually have our family prayers. Their dyed eggs were hidden all along the way. The kids carried their basket around and filled it as they found their treasures. It was really a lot of fun. I think we'll do this again next year.

Cori and the kids coming home from the walk I sent them on so I could get everything set up

the clue 'exercise faith' led to surprises on the tread mill

The final clue 'feast on the word' led to our Easter feast. And, yeah, if it looks to you like we should have invited at least 10 people over to help us eat all that stuff, you're right.

Grace: post-feast 

Grant being his usual jovial self

In other Easter news, we had a couple of miracles this last week that are worth mentioning. 

I went to the temple on Tuesday. This, in and of itself, is not particularly miraculous. But the way the whole day came together felt like a miracle to me. Sarah, my friend in Rockford, watched the kids for me. After dropping them off I made it to the Chicago temple without a single wrong turn. I had never been there before and negotiated the northern suburbs of the windy city all on my lonesome. Those of you who really know me can appreciate how unbelievable this is. I made it just in time for the session I needed to get into. Being there by myself lead to special contemplation and inspiration. I even made it back in time to return a fraction of the favor done for me by my friend. Sarah had to run to a doctor's appointment and I watched her little guy until her husband came home. The day was my Easter miracle.

Grace had a miracle of her own. Last weekend, we transplanted some of our seedlings into our patio garden. The garden has holes to grow certain things upside down. It is supposed to be really great for tomatoes. We put our cucumbers and peas in two of the four holes. The hanging plants were a little too tempting for Gracie and she plucked out a cucumber seedling. Her response to Cori's reprimands was that if we put it back into the hole and prayed for it that Jesus would help it grow back. What else could he do? Cori poked the seedling back in with its comrads and he and Grace said a prayer. The plant looked pretty darn dead for the better part of the week. Cori thought he would turn this into a different kind of lesson for Grace: there are some things that can't be put all the way right- so it is better not to do them at all... etc. etc. But then, the shriveled stem produced a new leaf. Pictured in the upper left of the picture above. The plant had NO ROOTS when Cori stuck it back in there. Our Heavenly Father is so kind to give her this special and simple answer to her prayer.