Bakery-schooling and Park-schooling

With the return of the nice weather (and the end of Lent), we have enjoyed having our school days in some other places outside of the house!

(Miles is usually at his computer programming class while we are at the bakery)

We love going out, but it's always nice to come back home, too..

Miles' great bike injury

Tonight we went to the park and Miles raced around and around on his bike, probably doing 20 laps around the pond, zooming past us at scary speeds.  He kept doing tricks and saying things like, "Mom, come watch this -- it's dangerous!"

We finally headed home and just as we were nearing the driveway, I hear Pete yell super-loud.  I did not witness this, but apparently Miles put on his front brakes by mistake -- as he was flying down the hill -- and was flung over the handlebars in a complete flip.

We all came rushing up to find a very upset little guy.  After the various injuries were checked out, it became clear that one in particular was the worst:  his finger.  Yup, out of all the things that he hit on the choppy pavement, it was his finger that got all of his attention.

After getting it cleaned up, it was clear that it was pretty shredded, but not broken.   But the wailing that came from this child!  WAY worse than he ever was with his broken arm OR his concussions.

Here are some of the things he said tonight...

Miles: "You have NO IDEA how bad this feels!!!"
Me:  Well, actually, I do know that fingers have a ton of nerves and they can really hurt.  Remember a couple weeks ago when I cut the tip of my finger right off?
Miles:  Yeah.... welll....
Me:  But I wasn't dancing around screaming in pain, so it probably wasn't as bad as yours??
Miles:  YES!

Also...

A few minutes later he declared, "I can't go to church tomorrow."

The pain -- apparently it's real.

Bud and Jane visit

We loved having the grandparents here again for Easter!  This time they flew down, and were able to get here for some good weather and activities.  We dyed eggs, played some games, and spent a day in Waxhaw, which was lovely!

What Happened After Easter??

I love to recount things that happen in my life (obviously). I can wax on and on about the ordinary things of life.  But when the really big things happen – the huge holidays or the intense emotional experiences – I have a much more difficult time writing about them.  Something about the overwhelming nature of those events strain my mind too much and I cannot find the language to encapsulate the entirety of the experience.  I’d much rather to go back and tell you about the funny note my daughter wrote me, or the time when the boys pulled a goofy prank on me.

It’s struck me this year that the build up to Resurrection Sunday in the Bible is long and drawn out.  The Gospel writers include all kinds of details during Holy Week, giving us whole long speeches and prayers that Jesus said.

But then He rises from the dead and the fanfare is a little lacking.  After the angel’s proclamation, the rest of the story feels a little muted.  Weren’t the disciples going berserk??  Didn’t that event change EVERYTHING??!  I realize the Greek language does not have an exclamation point as part of its punctuation, but wouldn’t one of the writers invented one at that point?!

On average, the four Gospel writers wrote about 6 chapters each just about the one week leading up to Jesus’ death; regarding the several weeks after His resurrection before His ascension, they wrote an average of just over 1 chapter.  Very little is said about what Jesus did in those almost 7 weeks…. And yet those must have been very exciting weeks, don’t you think?

So my theory is that the Gospel writers may have been a little like me – completely overwhelmed by the hugeness of what had happened, to the point of not being able to find words to describe it all.  (When that happens to me, I just end up posting pictures on my blog instead of words, but of course Matthew, Mark, Luke and John did not have that option.)

We’re left then with what was not written, with the empty space, like the empty tomb, telling us just how incredible that time was. 

John, the disciple that appeared to have the highest Emotional Quotient of the group, did record more than the others about the days that followed the Resurrection, but even his account is sparse.  Instead of including more of the weighty teaching that Christ may have given, or expounding on the spiritual immensity of what had occurred, he chose to include a few snippets of Jesus showing up and interacting with the disciples in very tangible, day-to-day types of ways.  We see Jesus eating breakfast on a beach, having some one-on-one conversations with Thomas and Peter, generally providing some physical comfort to His friends.

But then John ends his account with these words, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.”  (21:25)

Here, then, is just one more reason to long for the days of Heaven, when we can hear all of the untold stories of what Jesus said and did that we have not heard yet!  And, we can ask the disciples in person just what they were thinking and feeling and doing for those few remarkable months after the resurrection. 

By then, surely they’ll have the words to describe it all to us, no longer being bound by the constraints of our earthly languages, right?  Or maybe there will be a video recording we can just watch. 

Can’t wait!

Resurrection Day!

The Most High Day of our calendar!  It finally arrived (after what seemed like a very long spring of waiting) and we made the most of the time for celebration!  36 people were here for Easter dinner/lunch, and afterwards we had a smallish egg hunt and played Egg Olympics Games in teams.  It was my favorite day!

Spring wrap-up

Some other things we've been doing this spring....

Observing Lent, St. Patrick's Day, and Palm Sunday...

Pete ran a half-marathon and WON his age group division!  He's in the best shape of his life.

And speaking of fit, Strider's been doing well on Campbell's Ultimate team...

And looking good with his girlfriend...

 Rayna has been busy doing social activities with her school group, and baking cookies for her care package business!

And the boys have been playing lots of soccer....

 ....and playing Scrabble in jacket and tie combos

 Jinna has been sweet and wonderful as usual.... She loves to make little notes for all of us and crafts occasionally, like this carrot garland for Easter...

 .... And, among a few other things, I have been enjoying my 2 book clubs. My group of friends/fellow readers got together for dinner recently to talk about "A Gentleman From Moscow" and it was such a lovely night!

Raising economists

At youth group last night the leader of Colsen's small group asked them, "If you had a million dollars, what would you do with it?"

One of the other boys answered that he would give it all away.

After hearing that, the leader chuckled to the rest of the group, "Top that!"

Colsen, always ready with an answer, said, "I would invest the money in stocks until it became TWO million dollars, and then I would give all that away."

50 Years!!

Incredible as it sounds, Mom and Dad have now been married for 50 years!!

So, of course that called for a party!

We thought about surprising them, but ended up telling them about it.... and then we ended up having it at their house because it was just the perfect setting.  Such a fun evening!

Pete *might* have been a tad over-dressed...

 We played some games.... First Mom and Dad answered questions about each other by raising their shoes.... They won.

And then we played a triva question game -- very high-tech with everyone using their phones to answer.

 After a time of sharing and reflecting...

 ... It was time to cut the cakes!