Happy Easter!

"And he departed from our sight that we might return to our heart, and there find Him. For He departed, and behold, He is here."
-- St. Augustine

Happy Easter! Praise the Lord!

It feels like it's been ages in the waiting - our simple and thoughtful Lent was mostly wonderful but by Holy Week, if it hadn't have been for a beautiful performance of Bach's St John's Passion, I was almost all wiped out due to a barrage of portrayals of the crucifixion (I didn't mind so much standing on the dais sharing the Palm Sunday Passion reading while my husband smuggled my children out of Church to ensure quiet, but there was no way I could find spirituality in a viewing of The Passion of the Christ).

(And, apparently for some people we know Easter apparently started last Thursday, and mainly means shopping, but I won't rant about that here, I've done enough of that at home.)

In our household we're looking forward to Easter Breakfast, gifts, Church & much chocolate (in that order....I HOPE.....)

Breakfast this year includes a special Italian Colomba (cake shaped like a dove)...

We have family coming over later for simnel cake, various chocolate Easter cakes, & mugs of tea & coffee (yesterday the girls and I made chocolate nests with shredded wheat, milk chocolate and mini eggs.) Yum!

Tomorrow friends and their children are coming,we're roasting a chicken and cooking a joint of spiced beef in the crock pot, making dauphinoise potatoes, and serving green beans. Antipasti is happening - salami, proscuitto, fresh mozzarella, sunblush tomatoes, rocket, parmesan, olives.

Hmm, I think I'd better go and grab some toast before the day begins - I am slightly obsessing over the food, aren't I! (As the kids would no doubt repeat back to me, "Easter's not about chocolate, Mummy, it's all about JESUS.")

Anyway, that's my message today. Easter, Jesus, food, family & friends. I hope you have all this too. Happy Easter! ENJOY.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
-- John 3:16 NIV

It's a....?????

We saw it coming a mile away. The sonographer said, "I've actually never seen anything like it." Baby #3 had his/her legs tucked up so we had no way of telling whether s/he's going to be a boy or a girl. Funnily enough, our previous 2 children behaved the same way at 20 weeks. We're in no hurry to find out, really. But I do wonder - does the fact that baby in utero did this mean it's a girl like the other two? Or is it, as the sonographer mentioned, and I hadn't thought of before, due to the shape of my uterus?

Either way, we are definitely boarding up the loft so I can accept gifts of any hand-me-down boy clothes that come my way!

And baby is developing healthily. Which is really the key thing at this stage!! I'm still feeling a little overwhelmed after being pummelled during the sonogram & the reality of everything coming into focus. We had a delightful visit from our week-old nephew yesterday which certainly reminded us what it is like with a newborn. And I'm still slowly getting my head around the recommendation to get myself sterilised after this so as not to have to undergo a fourth C-section...

Mind you what's currently on my mind is how come I am unable to scan the sonogram photo... (Hmm...solved that one with a little help...)