Alleluia!

Happy Easter!!

I pray that you all had a wonderful Easter are entering into this joyous Easter Season. Thank you for understanding that time was needed to enter into Holy Week. We truly had a blessed Triduum here in our Parish. So many people attended the services, it was almost overwhelming. Definitely more than we anticipated given that we are using a temporary space until our church buildings have been built.

It was so powerful to me to see so many people there, the ones I see every week and people that were joining us for the first time. Just to see how large and diverse the body of Christ really is. There was one moment in particular that touched me profoundly. At the Veneration of the Cross, Father had asked us to take some time before we came forward to venerate the cross to reflect on our relationship with Christ and how we would best honor Him in our gesture of veneration. There was a young woman a few pews ahead of us who went forward. She knelt and then gently kissed the foot of the cross; when she rose and walked back to her pew there were tears streaming down her face. I don't know her or her story but when I looked at her I thought of the Magdalene standing before our crucified Lord weeping, knowing that he had taken upon himself her sins and a feeling of unworthiness yet humbly grateful.

I sent Holy Saturday doing last minute preparations to our home and getting certain foods ready for Easter Dinner. We went to the Vigil Mass at 8pm (which was wonderful! The baby started really kicking a lot during the Consecration and at the recessional hymn--"Jesus Christ is Risen Today!") and then we attended a Resurrection Party at some friends house. We stayed for a little bit, but then headed home to get some rest.

On Easter Sunday, we hosted our annual Easter Dinner for friends. We had 10 people this year; we ask friends who are in the area that don't have family nearby to share the day with. We do a big spread and I put out the fancy china, crystal and linens. It is such a joy to clean the house just so and get dressed up for a fancy meal.

The menu this year consisted of:
-Spinach-Artichoke Dip with Pumpernickel Bread
-Deviled Eggs
-Asparagus with Lemon Viniagrette
-Garlic Smashed Country Potatoes
-Roasted Veggies (Zucchini, Squash, Onions, Mushrooms, and Red Bell Peppers)
-London Broil with an Au Jus sauce
-Homemade Rolls
-"Lamb Butter"
-A Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake (homemade by a friend and decorated to look like the empty tomb)
-Vanilla Pound Cake with strawberries and fresh whipped cream

Everything was wonderful, although I think I could have done the potatoes better...but I'm my worst critic. The pride and joy of the meal was the "lamb butter."

I had purchased a plastic mold in the shape of a lamb which I used to make a butter mold and then decorate. Turned out great!



We had a wonderful time visiting with everyone and sharing stories. It was the 7 year anniversary for my friend Lindsey, who came into the Church in 2001. So special to be able to spend the day with her. I was one of her sponsors:)

Yesterday our office was closed, so I spent the day catching up on sleep and finishing household chores. We have our weekly Holy Hour on Monday evenings, so I went to that. There was no one else in the chapel with me, so I prayed my rosary out loud. The baby had been very active, but stilled during our prayer time.

This morning we went in to the doctors for our 20 week ultrasound. DH and I had decided that we did want to find out the babe's gender, so we were both very anticipatory. We were with the technician for quite some time (over an hour) and she took lots of pictures and measurements. She said nothing was a red-flag to her and the measurements looked good, but we'll talk in depth with the doctor at the next visit over the ultrasound.

The babe was very sleepy during the whole thing, lots of yawning and stretching and not a lot of kicks. This is common for the babe; I normally start getting the kicks in the afternoon into the evening. The morning is quiet time. Definitely takes after Dad on that one...

Anyways, so the Tech. tried to get an angle where she would be able to tell the babe's gender, but was having a hard time with the way the babe was positioned and sleeping. So we did all the measurements and then took a break to fill out the paperwork. Afterwards, we tried again. At that point, the tech. felt confident (90% sure) that .....











We are very excited to now be able to actually say SHE instead of constantly be flipping back and forth with pronouns. Most people had guessed boy for us, but my mother was so insistent from the very beginning that this little one was a girl. DH didn't have any guesses and I would change my mind frequently, but the past few weeks I had been really going with girl. I hadn't had any dreams of the baby's gender until last night. I had my first dream last night and I dreamed girl. I told DH on the way to the doctor's and said that if I had to guess that's what I was going with.

So now that we've gotten through Easter, I should be back to my normal blogging:)

Happy Easter Tuesday!