Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Easter. Show all posts

April 02, 2013

Here's What's Up

I've been A.W.O.L. lately.  Sorry about that.  It was a busy weekend and now I find I'm really feeling run down and tired.....which has me feeling "blah" and struggling to fight off those lies Satan likes to whisper in my ear.  I'm doing a so-so job at it and feeling a bit blue and sorry for myself today.

*Easter really bummed me out...as just about any holiday is tending to do these days.  Those are the times when it's impossible to ignore that our son and his family aren't here.  We send gifts to the kids and make a point of sending a message that we love them.  Tim has heard from him twice recently.  Megan hears from him now and then.  I haven't heard a thing.  It stinks, but I won't apologize for something I did not do.  I waffled about it a while ago and Tim said no.  I told him to go see the kids since the anger apparently doesn't extend to him.  He says he won't go unless I am welcome, too.  So now I feel guilty about that.

*Tim doesn't see the orthopedic guy for his hand until Thursday.  He hasn't slowed down on working with one hand in a cast....but when he's at home he wants Megan and I to do everything for him and gets mad if we don't.  Megan and I are running out of good humor.

*I haven't heard anything from the doctor about the x-rays of my knee, so I guess that means there isn't anything seriously wrong.  He said he'd call if there was and he's very good about that, not like some offices.  I think I'm still going to call later this week just to ask him to explain what I was looking at when I saw the big white spot on the bone with a white zig-zag running up from it.

*Megan stayed at a friend's house last night.  She is (according to her Facebook status) out putting in applications this morning.  I hope she has some luck.  Her big goal is to move out of here.  I'm not against that.  Maybe if she does we will still have a relationship.  Right now we're not so good.  She is back to sleeping most of the day and being up all night.  I rarely see her and when she is here and awake, she stays in her room avoiding us.  She gets loud and defensive if I try to say anything to her...doesn't even wait to see what's up.

Sigh.  This stuff with my kids is breaking my heart.  I wish I knew how it went so horribly wrong.

Anyway....

*Easter was a little different.  Our little fellowship had a service at 10:00 and several of us had decided to go out for dinner afterward.  Tim told Megan she had to go.  She did, though she complained about being tired and not feeling good the whole time and was worried about when we'd be done so she could go celebrate Easter with her un-boyfriend and his family.  We also invited my mom and her husband and miracle of miracles, they went!  I believe they enjoyed themselves, too.

*There was no ham in our Easter.  The dinner after church was at a huge Chinese buffet that just opened.  It was very good!  And this was my fortune....

Bahahahahaha!  Now that's a keeper!

*For supper that night I made chicken enchiladas.  Other than church it really didn't feel like Easter at all.  I guess, just like I've had to do with Christmas, I'll learn to adjust and accept that the traditions and family don't mean to others what they've always meant to me.

*The Civic Club met last night.  I shared a little about them last month.  We are looking at the fact that after 90+ years of service, it is time to disband the club.  It has outlived it's usefulness...and most of its members.  Things went better than I ever expected last night as far as taking care of business and I did something that someone should have done a long, long, loooong time ago.  I stood my ground with "Mary."

Mary is the woman that every church or club has.  She has been there forever so she "knows" everything.  She is bossy and wants things run her way.  I've been president for 2 years and I don't think I've done a thing without Mary calling (or having her hench-woman call) to tell me it needs done and how to do it.

Mary is manipulative, domineering, condescending, stubborn, expects to get her way, and will beat a dead horse into the ground during meetings.  The one thing she is very, very good at is claiming the limelight and getting her face and/or name in the newspaper.  Last night we had a motion on the table and I called for a vote.  Mary jumped in and wanted to discuss the disbanding.  What we were voting on was financial and would not move the disbanding forward in any way.  I told Mary we could discuss the disbanding after the vote.  She kept insisting we discuss it.  I kept telling her we would after the vote since it DID NOT AFFECT what we were voting on.  She kept insisting like I wasn't even talking.  I finally put on my big, loud, take-no-prisoners-voice, leaned across the table, pointed right at her and said, AFTER THE VOTE.  You could have heard a pin drop as everyone waited to see what Mary would do (she is not a popular lady except in her own mind because she belongs to virtually every organization in town).  She sat back and said...."Well, okay then."  And that was it.

I really don't condone yelling at 80-year-old women, but you know....sometimes they have it coming and need to be reminded that age doesn't mean you get to ride rough-shod over everyone.

*I made a  Sunshine cake for the meeting last night.  It was amazing!  Here's the recipe if you want it.

Cake
1 package of yellow cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil*
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
4 eggs
1 (11 ounce) can of mandarin oranges, undrained

 *For High altitude: Add 1/4 cup of flour and decrease oil to 2 Tbsp.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease the bottom of a 13x9 pan. Beat cake mix, (flour-if High Altitude), oil, walnuts, eggs and mandarin orange segments with juice on low speed for 30 seconds. Then mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool for about 1 hour before frosting cake. 

Frosting
1 (26 ounce) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 large package of vanilla instant pudding
1 (8 ounce) container of non-dairy whipped topping (my Mom uses Cool-whip)

Stir undrained pineapple and pudding mix together until completely mixed.  Fold in non-dairy whipped topping.  Frost cake.  Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Note:  Store leftovers in refrigerator.




March 30, 2013

We Wait

source
Holy Saturday.  The Bible is pretty quiet about what went on between the crucifixion and the resurrection.  It's a day when we are traditionally silent....like the whole world is holding its breath.

I've always imagined there is more to the story.  The Bible tells us that when Jesus died the sky grew dark, a great earthquake shook the land and opened the tombs, thus freeing the bodies of the holy ones who had gone before to walk the earth again. If that wasn't scary enough, the temple curtain....the curtain that closed off the Holy of Holies....the curtain no one but the high priest went behind (and him only once a year while tied to a rope so his body could be pulled out if he made a mistake in there)....THAT curtain was torn from top to bottom.

Can you imagine the terror and confusion that must have been going on?  Huge crowds running in the streets, screaming in fear.....what would be the reaction to meeting someone on the street you recognized and knew to be long dead?  Did people hide....trying to escape the wrath of God?  What did they think when the Holy of Holies was opened and exposed?  Did they cower in fear?  Did they run away?

I would think that the people were still talking about it the next day.  They would have been like us, comparing stories, wanting more details, wondering how to make sense of it, would it happen again, why did it happen, had God turned his back on them?  So many questions.  It would have been big news.  Everyone would have been talking about it.  And what about those people raised from the dead?  You couldn't just ignore them walking around.

We know the chief priests and Pharisees were afraid.  They asked Pilate to secure the tomb to make sure Jesus's body remained inside.  They still didn't believe him to be the Messiah, but they were afraid the disciples would steal his body and claim that he rose from the dead.  So, a seal was put on the stone covering the tomb and a guard was posted.

That is where Saturday ends.  The world seems poised on the edge of its seat, breath held.....what will come next?





*The regular Saturday sampling of links will return next week.

April 08, 2012

April 07, 2012

Saturday Share

It's like the whole world is paused, holding its collective breath, on this day before Easter.  This day when we wait to hear that the tomb is empty.  This day before we raise our voices, along with our soaring spirits, to announce,  HE IS RISEN!

Some things to look at while you wait:

Do you ever wonder if people know where you stand or if they wonder about you?  Angela at Free Spirit Haven has a wonderful post about this and her excellent Good Friday.

Hot, Holy and Humorous shares an awesome video called Dance Your Shoes Off.....a true celebration of what Easter means.

Heather shares about losing her daughter on the (in)courage website and the lesson she learned from her loss.

And today I share my favorite Easter hymn.  My favorite for the truth of it and also because I remember standing beside my dad at Sunrise Services, feeling the warmth of him (Dad was a big man), smelling his Old Spice aftershave, and listening to him booming out the words in his big, deep voice....and all was right in my world.


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