July 4th Family Gathering

What a good looking group gathered together for the annual July 4th picnic at Don & Kate's. With the overcast skies, picture taking was excellent.Maria and Camille earned the prize for traveling the farthest to attend. How Camille has grown! What an active little wiggler she is, twisting, turning, bending and moving. She has the makings of becoming either a gymnast or a pretzel.

It's not easy being a super host, cooking great tasting burgers and brats, and at the same time managing to stay cool, calm and collected with all the hubbub around. But Don did it.

Grandpa Gerald, Jim and his son Alex enjoyed some outdoor time after filling themselves up on the wonderful dishes prepared for the occasion.

With all the opportunities for visiting and catching up, everyone agreed that the day was a super success. Our gratitude to Don and Kate for making possible this gathering of the clan. My Love and I appreciated the chance to be a part of this memorable tradition. Here's looking forward to next year.

Signs of New Life

Trees and lilac bushes budding out. Robins, red-wing blackbirds, meadow larks and other songbirds singing. Grass beginning to turn green. Rabbits and squirrels chasing their prospective mates around the yard. My Love nurturing her garden seeds in small cups in our office window and waiting anxiously to get her hands in the dirt as she and her sister, Annette, plant their garden together.

All these signs of New Life we celebrated as we gathered on Easter to rejoice in the Resurrection of Jesus. Besides the Risen Life held out to us, we also thanked God for the gift of life of Annette's husband, Jim, who had a birthday on Saturday. In between the delicious food, the marble games, the naps and the laughter, My Love and I reveled again in the blessing of renewing family traditions.

Together with her mother, My Love had enjoyed coloring eggs last week, making up baskets for various neighbors, friends and family members. This tradition was revived from our days together in Texas when the two of them would play together in the kitchen preparing for the Easter feast, something which they again did on Friday and Saturday.

It was even enjoyable to witness the disappointment on niece Rita's face as she came into the home of her Grandparents on Sunday morning to realize that the Easter eggs were not hidden, but out in plain sight. As a college graduate-to-be (next month), she still looked forward to the family tradition of hiding, searching for, and finding the eggs!

All these small celebrations of life and family traditions are nothing as compared to the New Life that this Easter season presents to us in Jesus. Each of these small "resurrections" is but a reminder of the Resurrection of Jesus that is ours to participate in each day as we choose life over death, hope over despair, love over resentment. Truly, He is Risen. So are we!