Easter Memories 2006

• Spending Holy Thursday at home. This was a real treat for everyone at Hoban. Thanks to the incredible generosity of the kids who raised the money for the schools in Bangladesh, our principal rewarded all of us with an extra day for our Spring Break. Cindy, the kids, and I enjoyed an absolutely beautiful day at the Akron Zoo. Josh's favorite animals by far are the penguins and otters!
• Listening to Kenton and Emily conduct the Chapel's orchestra and choir in Handel's Messiah at the Good Friday service. Absolutely AWESOME!
• Painting Easter eggs with Josh on Saturday. He was very proud of his creations, and he didn't even break one egg!
• Embracing Josh's enthusiasm as he literally bounced out of bed (bright and early- 6:30 AM) to find his basket and hidden eggs. Marie, who had spent the entire day at the IX Indoor Amusement park the day before, was not amused when Josh rushed into her room, threw the lights on, and ordered her to get up. I'm guessing the only reason why she eventually complied was because, traditionally, the Easter bunny has been known to leave some cash in the eggs...if there is one great motivation for an 11 year old, it's the green stuff. Still, it took her a while to become as spirited as her younger brother.
• Playing and worshiping with the gang this morning- bright and early I might add. Praise You, Alive Forever, and My Redeemer Lives were three highly energized songs that we sang and played. Praise You is truly a passionate song of prayer that you can't help but get chills when hearing it- from the intro drum solo to the climactic ending resounding with the orchestra and rhythm sections accompanying the lyrics Wisdom and majesty power and glory be unto Your holy name now and forever more...- I love this song! But it's the group out at Green that truly makes it incredible!
• Spending the afternoon with my folks, great aunt, and Terri, Dan and the boys. What a feast Terri prepared for us all! Of course, little Sarah was constantly in somebody's arms, and Josh entertained all of us at the dinner table recounting the Biblical story of Joshua- who bonked the men of Jericho on the head with his horn, and Jonah and the great dolphin. Hey, he got the gist of the stories right- he just took a few artistic liberties to spice the stories up a bit.

What a blessed Easter this year. God bless my three precious children, my wonderful wife Cindy, and my entire family and friends.