He is Risen! I wasn't able to be with my church family this morning to celebrate the Resurrection, but I spent quite a bit of time last night reflecting on the joy and the miracle...and how the Resurrection makes possible all manner of other resurrections in our lives, awakening parts of us that the Fall obscured and marred and perverted. I hope that you've experienced both kinds of miracles in your life...

But in case you have a four- or five-year old and you've somehow missed this, be aware that you shouldn't be telling him or her about this marvelous Resurrection. Because that, of course, would necessarily mean explaining Jesus' death to a child first, and that could scar her little psyche for life. Hey, I don't make the rules, I just report 'em...and that is what we're being told by a major evangelical publisher of children's curriculum for Sunday school. A publisher being used by a lot of mega-churches whose names you'd recognize. More here.

Tiffany, the carrot cake was WONDERFUL :-)

Yesterday I finished listening to the VERY long The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. I'm glad I stuck it out just so I can say I did, LOL...but it wasn't the most pleasant of things I've read in the past couple of years. In some ways it was very similar to the much superior Atlas Shrugged, but it had fewer of the elements I loved and more of the ones that made me uncomfortable, so it's not one I'd recommend. Oh, if you're a big Rand fan I might, but then if you're one of her fans you've already read it anyway. And if you're a student of 20th century history it would hold a lot of interest just because of Rand's development of how people were thinking about and reacting to the theories of dialectical materialism and collectivism. If not, go find a good Anne Tyler book ;-)

Okay, and the other big deal of my week was getting my iPhone. Yes, folks, I finally did it. My "excuse" (in case you think I need one) is that my phone was eligible for upgrade and no one else's in our family was, and Nathan's phone had quit working. So I upgraded mine and let him have my old one. Now you have to hear how grateful he was: he picks up my fancy new iPhone and says, "Mom. This is SO not fair. You have nine kids and thirteen grandkids and you don't have to impress anyone. *I*, on the other hand, have an image to keep up here. And you just give me your OLD phone? What's wrong with this picture?" "Nothing, Nathan," was my reply. It must be tough to be Big Man on Campus with your mom's old phone. Hey, he should be happy that I didn't offer him my now superfluous hot pink Nano iPod!

Anyway, you need a college course to be able to learn everything about this phone! I keep looking at it and thinking, "THAT'S my PHONE?" I think it also does your taxes but it'll take me a couple of years to figure that out...in the meantime I'm learning all about the Google Maps feature and how to check my stocks and how fun it is to text on a QWERTY virtual keyboard. Not to mention how fun it is to see seven of my kids drooling over it.

The first signs of spring are appearing on the trees outside and there's new growth on the crape myrtles. Which are always my signals to soak up the very last of the cool weather and steel myself for summer. It's either that or move north, and I don't see that happening any time soon!

I'll sign off today by sharing some Easter pics of my sweet kiddos and a few of my pastor's family grandkids...

Labels: Books, Grandkids, Holidays, Kids, Sundays, Technology