Easter weekend

We've had a wonderful, albeit unusual, Easter weekend.... even though the rest of our neighbors here won't celebrate it until next weekend (the Orthodox calendar has Easter on the 15th).

We had company for dinner Thursday, dinner Saturday, and brunch this morning (Sunday).... which gave me plenty of opportunities to try a lot of my new Pinterest recipes!  In between all of the company, we had plenty of time to read the Easter story, dye some eggs, do a scaled-down egg hunt, and bake and bake.

Thursday night we did a sort of Passover dinner, talking about the various traditions and foods and how they point to Christ.

 These were the first foods we ate: unleavened bread, charoset, bitter herbs and parsley dipped in salt water...

 I didn't get any pictures of the other foods of the dinner... but this was the dessert (thanks to Ann Voskamp for the idea!) -- representing New Life:

We invited some friends of ours who teach at the school that our kids have been going to for after-school classes.  Fun company!

On Friday, we had our now-traditional Hot Cross Buns (or as Strider calls them, "One-a-penny, two-a-pennies):

 Rayna and Colsen made bunnies at their "Art club" class:

 On Saturday, I bought egg dye and had to type all of the instructions into Google translator to figure out how to use it.  But once we got it figured out, it worked well!  The colors turned out so bright.

Saturday night we had more company, some missionaries who we have come to love.  They told us all about the work they've been doing - -including some interesting well-digging procedures.  I don't know why I didn't get any pictures of this event.... but it was very nice.  Oh -- and they brought American jelly beans someone had sent them in a care package, so that was a treat.

Then this morning it was time to set the table again for another feast... Easter brunch.

 The best dish of this meal, according to the kids anyway, was this one -- made-from-scratch Cinnamon Roll Bunnies.  :)

 Our company this time were a couple of professors we've met through the Fulbright program.  One of them lived in Russia most of his life, and defected to the U.S. awhile back.  He had some crazy stories to share... and also blessed our meal with the Lord's Prayer in Russian.

 Then we went outside for a quick egg hunt!

Tonight we celebrated at the International Christian Fellowship -- and Pete even helped lead the service.  It's always awesome praising God with people from all walks of life and many nations.  We were reminded of the great Hope we have!

And now we're closing out the day with our final chapter of "Amon's Adventure" (which has become a new family favorite!) and the last chapter of the Gospel of Mark.  As I announced that plan to the kids, I said, "And that concludes the Easter season.  Well, until next weekend that is."  This dual-calendar situation sure keeps life interesting.