Today has been a lovely day. We started out with an easy morning before heading to church for an incredibly beautiful, spirit-filled service. A friend of ours was baptized today, so there was an added significance to an already most-significant celebration. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by Easter and all that it means, but the overwhelmingness of it all is one of the most refreshing, cleansing feelings I know…Christ and his life and death and sacrifice come together and culminate in the Resurrection, and I can’t think of anything more joyful!

After church, we joined dear friends and their family for a wonderful Easter dinner. Not wanting to wander too far from home these days, we were so thankful to have some of our favorite people to celebrate with–even though it’s bittersweet not to be with family on a holiday. After a great meal, we had a few laughs as the little ones took on an outdoor Easter egg hunt. It’s been a long time since we’ve been around kids on a holiday, and there’s truly nothing better than enjoying their excitement with every little toy and each successful discovery. The egg hunt lasted nearly an hour, because every time someone would turn away from their basket, more eggs would magically appear in the yard. “I think the birds keep droppin’ Easter eggs!” was the three year old’s conclusion. And drop they did, until it was time for dessert and everyone had had time to soak in the sheer delight and energy of the hunt.

Not long after, we came home to take Kruger on a pre-promised walk/hike. We know he’s a dog and all, but he never seems to forget when we mention a walk–and besides, I determined a while back that if baby wasn’t here by this weekend, we’d give a hike and some stairs a go, just to see what might happen. So we headed out to a lovely trail with a massive staircase not far from home. The verdict is still out yet on whether stairs do the trick for me, but we had a great time enjoying the weather and watching Kruger sniff every tree trunk and branch along the way. The stairs, I’ll admit, were a challenge, but a good one. There’s nothing quite like a bit of blood-pumping exercise to make you feel accomplished–especially when 39 weeks pregnant. We made sure to capture the moment, just for kicks. The ridiculousness of me climbing a mountain of stairs is below…wouldn’t want you to miss it 🙂

The rest of the evening was spent catching up with family over the phone, taking care of a few things around the house and enjoying the fact that we’ve had such a great weekend together (movie at home Friday night, a relaxing day yesterday, date night out last night, and then a glorious day today). After all of that, it’s hard not to look forward to the days ahead and whatever this week might hold. Here’s hoping!

kruger and i, all set to hike.

stairs!

here goes nothin'!

on our way up.

feelin' fine!

almost to the top.

the last few.

whew we made it! and look at that view!

baby takes a hike.

kruger and dad. SO handsome!

joyful,

mm