Hope everyone had a lovely Easter. Me and mine had a wonderful weekend. On Saturday, the boys did an Easter egg hunt here at the house. Brian set the whole thing up. Inside each egg was a slip of paper with a number on it, and each number coincided with an amount of money (penny, nickel, dime, quarter, 1/2 dollar, dollar, or $2 bill). Urban raked in the most eggs, but Levi came out the lucky one—he wound up with all three of the $2 bills!
The Easter Vigil was absolutely beautiful. I’m sure I cried through most of it. Fortunately, one of the ladies I knew from RCIA was sitting behind me, and she cries over everything, so at least that way I didn’t have to worry about being an oddball! When I went up to receive the Eucharist, it was like having my first Communion all over again. What joy! The whole way home in the car, all I could think about was how extraordinarily grateful I was—grateful for the gift of Easter, and grateful to finally be HOME, in the Catholic church.
The Sunday-morning Easter celebration at the Lutheran church was lovely, as well. Everyone was so happy! At the end, we all sang “Christ the Lord is Risen Today, Alleluia,” just as we had at the Vigil. The choir really outdid themselves on that—it was so gorgeous, I was teary-eyed once again.
Isn’t Easter glorious? I wish that “feeling” of Easter could last forever—that deep involvement with the Church, feeling so close to the Lord. And yet, I know we ought to be/feel that way all the time—every Sunday is supposed to be a “little Easter.” But it isn’t the same. And actually, I was very surprised at how quickly the Enemy moved in on Monday to try to steal my joy and gain a foothold. Think of all the ground he lost while we celebrated that long “Week that Changed the World!” Every time we experience that joy and feel so at peace in the Lord’s grip, the devil only works harder to get us back into the secular things of this world.
As for my other little surprises……..
Well, the first is very silly. But I got my latest issue of Country Home in the mail the other day and just opened it up to give it a super-quick skim (I’ll read it cover-to-cover later). I was glancing at the Letters to the Editor section, read where somebody had written to thank them for the wonderful magazine, and there was my name! They’d excerpted a section from an e-mail I’d written them back in November when I’d gotten my first issue. It was funny, because it didn’t even register at first; then, I was like, “Hey! That’s ME!” A little surprise. 
The next thing has to do with this blog. I’ve almost hit the “2,000 visits” mark! In viewing my “blog stats,” I have noticed that quite a few people come here after doing Internet searches for Catholic and Lutheran connections. For example, “Catholic and Lutheran marriage,” or “Catholic attending Lutheran church,” etc. Some folks leave comments; some don’t. Epistles about my dual church attendance seem to get more views than anything else I write. I think this must be a subject that affects more people than I realized. Others are having to deal with this issue, the same as I do. Because of this, I’ve decided to address this whole Catholic/Lutheran thing more often on my blog. It’s a bit overwhelming, because I know this will start getting me into some apologetics; but perhaps this is what God is calling me to. Maybe it’s the real reason for this blog, even though I began it with a different sort of intention.
I am still going for my walks, still seeing signs that the weight is coming off. Yay, me! Yesterday, the boys and I were raking one of the side yards, and I was reflecting on another little surprise: On my walks, I have noticed that the most boring-looking houses, if they have clean and cute yards, look far nicer than the more interesting-looking houses with messy yards. Lawns covered in leaves are not attractive. They ruin the whole scene, even if the houses they surround have all sorts of cool architectural elements. Of course, a lot of the gorgeous houses also have gorgeous yards—I see landscaping company trucks parked in front of these places from time to time. Anyway, this little revelation is inspiring for me, because it helps me see that even though our house at Echowood is rather dull to behold, it can still look like a welcoming, happy place if I get the yard spruced up. And already, with the work we have done, I can see a marked improvement!
Finally, the last surprise. Last spring, I bought a 6-inch pot of three blooming, white hyacinths. I love hyacinths; they’re so pretty, and they smell so heavenly! I set them in the box bay window above my kitchen sink, and I enjoyed them for weeks. When they were finished, I followed the instructions I’d read in gardening books and magazines and dead-headed the spent blooms, stripped the dead leaves, and dug up the bulbs. I then wrapped them in cheesecloth and put them in my refrigerator for 12 weeks, to simulate “winter,” in the hopes that they would bloom again in the fall. When the 12 weeks were up, I potted the bulbs and put them on the bookshelf in my bedroom. They did nothing. Months and months and months went by—nothing. I figured I must have misunderstood the directions about putting them in the fridge; I must have killed them.
So I was at Publix the other day, and they had two pots of hyacinths left, and I got one. Gorgeous magenta and pink blooms. I brought them home and put them in the box bay—they look so cheery! I’d practically forgotten about those bulbs I’d planted last summer, but I thought, “Well, I might as well dump them. Maybe I can plant them in the yard and see if they ever come up again, but I doubt it. At least I can use those pots for something else.”
I reached up and brought down the first pot and was astounded to discover a pale green shoot sticking up through the soil! The second pot had the same, and the third pot also had one (though it was just getting started and not nearly as large as the other two). I still can’t quite believe it—after I’d given up hope! Here’s what they look like:
And here is the view from my kitchen window (such as it is; I really wish I had more windows in my kitchen!):
Sorry about the glare; it makes it really hard to see what’s there. Clockwise from top right, we have…..White begonia, which we got at church last Easter and has bloomed constantly since; the new pink hyacinths; diffenbachia, which Brian bought me for Valentine’s Day; Italian basil; more Italian basil (both basils from last spring and still producing); red begonia, from church this Easter; and the three pots of just-sprouting hyacinth bulbs. I love my box bay!
