Easter Hosanna!!

*First of all, I want to apologize for Friday's whining session. I certainly hope no one was offended. I think, sometimes, doing what I'm trying to do, trying to make something of myself in the music industry, can be very exciting, and sometimes downright frustrating and discouraging. Thank you so much for your support and patience.*

As many of you know, I had the opportunity, over the last couple of months to sing with the Antiphonal choir for Lex De Azevedo's Oratorio "Hosanna." The concert was held last Friday and Saturday. To tell you a little about it, it's a collection of beautiful, haunting music, with lyrics taken straight from the King James bible, telling about the last days of Christ, the trial, Gethsemane, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection. A musical depiction of Christ and the Atonement. As you may well know, music has a powerful effect on me. And I must confess that the experience that I've had with this production has been one of the most powerfully spiritual experiences of my life. The music of "Hosanna" absolutely resonates in my soul. Over the last week, I spent many sleepless nights, lying awake in my bed, singing the songs over and over. They just won't leave. And I don't want them to. As I stood, singing with the choir, the Spirit testified to me the truth of the message we conveyed. This isn't just a beautiful story. It is real. It truly happened. Jesus IS the Christ, the Son of God, and he suffered and died for us. I am just so, incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to be involved with such an amazing group of talented musicians, and with this magnificent production.

So, as I went through the last week, pondering this renewal of my testimony, my children were concurrently anticipating the arrival of the Easter Bunny. So, one night, I sat down with them, and asked them, "What do you think Easter is all about?" Of course, they said things like "Easter Bunny, eggs, chocolate, baby chicks, spring, flowers..."

I was shocked and appalled that not one of them mentioned Jesus. And disappointed in myself for not teaching them better. So we had a nice chat about the real reason we celebrate Easter.

It's probably because we spent so much time doing things that revolved around the "bunny" part of Easter. Friday, we colored eggs, and made some little birds' nests from a recipe we got on the MMB. They were supposed to be green, and made with white chocolate, but I didn't have any, so we had to use brown chocolate (I always have a plethora of that), so we had brown nests. I told the kids the were more authentic to nature that way. Besides, brown chocolate tastes better anyway. And we used Cadbury mini eggs, instead of Jelly Beans. The more chocolate, the better, right?

So, yesterday, before church, I asked KJ again what she thought Easter meant. She said "Jesus and the resurrection."

Good. It's sinking in. Even if she doesn't understand it. Even if she is still bent on catching the Easter bunny in the act. I found this little story she wrote on Friday:

Translation: Once upon a time there was a girl her name was KJ. She was trying to catch the Easter Bunny every Easter, but every time, she tried she didn't get him. Then next Easter Yay I got him. Good for you, Mom said. The End.

She told me she wanted to skip church so she could catch the Easter bunny, when he came while we were at church. Again, we had to have a little chat about Easter not being about the bunny, but about Jesus, and it's important that we go to church.

The Easter bunny showed up at our house in the middle of the night. He stayed up until 1 am on Saturday night, putting out goodies, and an Easter egg hunt, with clues for the kids to find their baskets. Then, of course the kids woke at the crack of dawn, excited because they'd found eggs on their pillows.

The Easter Bunny was very, very tired and ornery on Sunday morning, from lack of sleep. But, it was fun to watch the kids reading the clues, and trying to figure out where the next egg was hidden.

After church, we had dinner at my parent's house, and the kids got to have another Easter Egg hunt with their cousins.

So, what did you do for Easter?