Stewardship Sunday: Easter Edition

Happy Easter!
He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Holy Week is a reminder that I will have to admit failure every week. No matter what I do. No matter how hard I try. I will never live up to Jesus' example of patience. I will never live up to Jesus' example of service. I will never be righteous, no matter how hard I try. I can focus on doing better every week of my life, but the struggle will never end while I walk this Earth.

But then Easter happened. A Savior was willing to take the punishment for our imperfection. Our weakness. Our inability to achieve our own righteousness. Easter is about Grace. Easter is about Joy (the emotion, not my friend who just had a baby boy 2 days ago - congrats Joy!) Easter technically makes this blog unnecessary.

I don't NEED to be better. I mean, I would like to be. But I don't need to be. I WANT to be. Grace and Joy are powerful motivators.

So I'm ditching the stewardship check-in for this week. I'll just report on the Joy from this week.

Joy the friend had a baby boy. He's doing well. She's doing well. What joy!

The other joys of this week:

• I got a massage that helped my back pain.
• I rearranged the girls' room and put their beds together. It's pretty cute.
• Flat Stanley came to visit, went to Amsterdam with BestestHusband, had great adventures, then headed to the Middle East to fly planes with other extended family members.
• BestestHusband came back from Amsterdam safely and a little early. My mother-in-law met him there and came home with him to join us for Easter.
• I had my father-in-law around for the entire week to help out.
• We took two family naps that helped even non-napping HeyMama take much-needed naps.
• I spent an hour sleeping with MeToo while she sucked her paci in my face and twisted her fingers in my hair. Priceless.
• Our family enjoyed a joy-filled Easter service with incredible music.
• Our family and church family enjoyed a delicious brunch feast together.
• Our family and friends enjoyed an unparalleled Easter lunch/dinner/all-day feast with lots of wine and revelry. And a crazy-potent cocktail.
• Our family and friends got to spend several happy hours together chatting and watching the kids play together.
• During all of the revelry, only one kid peed on the rug and only one kid had a poop explosion that required borrowing clean clothes.
• Only one of those kids is related to me.
• And tonight has back-to-back episodes of GCB!

The week was full of joys, small and large. There was a great deal of preparation that led up to this weekend. But in the quiet moments, we think of a little boy that we hoped could be born this week. But was instead buried many weeks ago. And we look forward to a promised joyful reunion. And remember that this is what Easter is really all about.

A cross that church-goers covered in flowers as they walked into Easter services. 

The girls can now sleep together under their coordinated quilts. (Thanks Miss Bev!)

Jet-setting Flat Stanley in his brief Boston layover.