With my 54th birthday falling a week before Easter, I celebrated life in biblical proportions this month – Here’s a flashback of my calendar to prove it…
17 March – My 3-month wait for a gynecology appointment finally arrives and I leave with a year’s worth of hormones in hand for a total of $10! I am believing that all of the physical and emotional struggles of the last couple of years will soon be a distant memory!! An early birthday box from my mom provides a new outfit for the weekend!
18 March – The church council decided to rearrange the sanctuary to create a corner especially for all the young families so that they have some breathing room with their toddlers. I spend the morning taping down the carpet, decorating it with an Easter theme and setting up multi-sensory pre-school worship activities. This kind of project gives me lots of life!
Afterwards, I take Nadine out for lunch for our monthly quality time to celebrate my hormonal reboot and we happily bask in the warm sun on the terrace afterwards.
19-20 March – We drive to Ludwigsburg, Germany with friends for Bethel Music Worship Night! Nothing pumps me up more than joining the voices of 5,000 Europeans singing my favorite worship songs with my favorite worship leaders (in English,) living out the Psalm that says, "I will sing your praises among the nations!"
21 March – We finish covering the knotty pine paneling and stairs with paint – our dark Alsatian house is transforming! Here are the promised photos of the half bath and the glass blocks reflecting the new paint!
I open Olivia’s and my mother-in-law’s gifts – prophetic encouragements to remain joyful and childlike: sidewalk chalk, a Belgian children’s film, and a 2006 Newbery Honor book!
22 March – How dare the terrorists try to ruin my birthday (and our pastor’s trip to Africa!) My French penpal sent me a miniature spring garden that serves as a lovely In Memoriam for the victims. Our pastors got re-routed a day later. I go ahead with my plans to spend the afternoon shopping for Easter needs in Germany with Jocelyne. It is our first "girls day out" together – delightful!
Topping off the day, Nadine and Alana come by for a surprise visit with flowers and gifts – My friendship cup overfloweth!!
23 March – I get a new haircut, then bring lunch to share with Helen during our weekly get together. She gives me my third bouquet of flowers! Then I’m off to do a sozo and finish the evening with a Skype with Rachel.
24-25 March – These are big prep days for our Sat. tabernacle and Easter guests, esp. since everything is closed on Good Friday. David spends these days and more re-organizing the stage for better sound with the new sanctuary arrangement and coordinating all the details needed to make 6 groups and 12 hours of worship go smoothly for tomorrow’s event. Each year he does it with more grace!
26 March – Our church’s annual Purim 12 hr tabernacle.
This year we had the privilege of 2 nationally-known French worship artists doing a set since they were already in the area playing for the big annual youth conference at the local mega-church! Their drummer was sick, so David had the thrill of playing with them and I got to feed them dinner before they went back for their evening concert. The council felt that this year’s event carried more weight than past years, considering the times we are living in. With our pastors in Africa, we were proud of ourselves for carrying off this event smoothly in their absence. I was thrilled to have the energy to participate in all of it, which I couldn’t have done a week ago! It was a 14 hr day for us, so no Sunday service was scheduled after that colossal effort!
Easter Sunday –
Olivia declares that her 20th Easter basket is the best one ever (thanks to G’ma for contributing a Serbian NT and marshmallow Peeps!)
We changed our clocks today and I almost didn’t get the lamb in the oven in time! Our 3 singles (too far from family) arrive at 4 and when the discussion turned towards wine or French literature, I feel like I am living out a scene in a French film!
We finish the evening off with a showing of The Little Prince – an award-winning French Canadian version that came out last year and is stunning in its spiritual truths and artistry! (You Americans can catch this gem on Netflix!)
He is Risen!
Angela