JOYMOUNTAIN: Post Easter Letter

Good Morning...

If there were any Easter Bunnies around here Monday morning

they might have gotten the same treatment... :)

Just wanted to take a minute this morning and thank each of you for your contribution Easter Sunday and comment on Holy Week. After a very long lent....argh... we made it to a glorious resurrection! Someone.....Josh I think....said something encouraging to me Easter Sunday about my giving up coffee during lent... and not quite making it all the way. I had commented that I totally fell off and gave up the week before Easter...( and I mean gave up royally...like I can’t do it...I am too weak....wah! wah! wah!... lol!) I didn’t like myself at all.....because I was so weak. He said ....if you made it that far without coffee you did good. That is a hard sacrifice. His comment really spoke to me.... and thank you for the encouragement Josh... It isn’t a race....it is a discipline....and we all fall short of the grace of God... no matter how hard we try . We are weak no matter our intentions. The most important thing is we must keep trying.... It is the Holy Spirit that gives us hope....and that is in Christ Jesus. So...all the self condemnation was lifted from me by that one simple comment....and I encourage each of you to be ready to give hope and encouragement to others too. His comment was given in love...and that love lifted that burden off of me and renewed my hope and faith. There is always next year.

Monday of Holy Week.... We had our weekly Jeff visit...something dad and I really enjoy. Jeff always shows up with donuts in hand and we enjoy a morning of chatting or sharing......but I am afraid we took advantage of him a bit on this visit and got his help setting up dad’s computer... As he always does...he got everything resolved...with a smile on his face. He blessed us and it was a great way to start the week.

Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week.... I had two opportunities to see our Johnathan be the Apostle John in his first grade school play thanks to the 12 or 13 tornados that ripped across Dallas. Tuesday we found ourselves in the sanctuary singing praise songs and praying until we were released. Once it was over I was filled with thanks that all were safe from the powerful storm. Wednesday.... After a quick Costco run...I slid in just in time to see the play unfold...with our John sitting at the scene of The Last Supper. Even though it is a bit biased...I really do think he was the star of the whole shooting match... He played his part so well....with proper respect to the subject matter....and as a devoted follower of Christ.....but with great enthusiasm down to the finale... and the bow of thanks. His Mimi was beaming... Aunt Lara, Justin, Grandma & Grandpa Alvarez were all in attendance. Big Daddy would not have missed but he had to work. Yay Johnathan! I photo documented his performance. If you go to the link below it will take you to the Photo Album. Click on Holy Week

That evening Katelyn came to visit while she was waiting on Justin who was visiting Ashton’s youth group. I miss her little drop in visits since she graduated from Bishop Lynch so this was a nice treat.

Johnathan as the Apostle John

Thursday of Holy Week.... busy busy.... working in the yard making sure everything was just perfect.....so we could enjoy watching the rain fall on it Easter Sunday... lol! Well it needed to be done...and I was terribly pleased that I accomplished it... You can actually walk in the back yard... More to come....I want to restore it to it’s former beauty.

Friday of Holy Week.... Big Daddy drove out to McKinney and picked up Grandma Abbott so she could be with us during Easter.... He visited with his brother Gary a bit at Aunt sherry’s new house in McKinney....and they got back in time to get ready for the live Stations of the Cross and youth mass at St. Michaels. Ashton was in it this year. I saw it last year and have raved about it all year. I was excited for another opportunity to see it with my grand kids. Big Daddy and Grandma were excited to see it too.... We had a surprise when we got there to find that Pierson had been asked that morning to be in it again to teach the younger group how to do it... We were not disappointed.... It still gives me gospel bumps.... It is a moving and powerful performance. Christ, is portrayed by a young man who has no speaking parts...and doesn’t need them.... To watch him go from the accusations and sentencing before Pilate....to the crucifixion makes me cry every time.... Pierson had the most commanding speaking role... I am not exaggerating when I say....his energy and dedication to the presentation makes it all happen... The whole cast was visibly moved emotionally...you could see it all over them... No one could leave with out tears.... Pierson said after his part of brutality to Christ in the play he had to go to the back of the church and cry.... We all experienced those tears... I have posted pics of it. Click on Holy Week

After we got home.....Grandma and I watched the movie The Passion of Christ that I had on DVD...the one Mel Gibson did... It is a hard movie to watch...but it gives you a much better idea of Christ’s sacrifice than the sanitized version we usually get...

Pierson with Christ... to the place to be crucified

Holy Saturday....

I spent the majority of the day preparing for Easter Sunday with grandma’s help. When I raised up out of bed to get up....I felt my neck, shoulder and back pull.... I guess the days previous got it all excited. I took some ibuprofen and like any good Swann/Casey/Abbott woman....pushed on through the day... ( James told me on Easter that Josh even had inherited the Elaine determination to get something right. lol... He was talking about Josh’s decision to learn to golf...James was helping him. Thank you James for that...I was blessed by your observance. :) Saturday I wanted to get as much done as I could ahead of time. We made pretty good progress until we had to start dressing for Holy Saturday service. We attended Easter Vigil at the Lundy family church to see Justin receive his first Holy Communion. James and Lara were also sponsoring their first candidates for confirmation....and Lara was serving at the altar. The Easter Vigil service at St Rita’s is so beautiful... They bring in all the elements to herald in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We started in darkness and a candlelit procession begins the vigil... The music as always was beautiful...breathtaking in some places....and so wonderful to witness our grandson take his first Holy Communion and professing his faith before the whole church. We sat with Jimmy and Katelyn, Uncle Josh and Aunt Luisa ...which made it even more special. Lots of pics taken that night too on the websites.. During the service....when I was sitting back down in the pew....I felt my neck/ shoulder pull again so there was no more work for me that night as I had planned. We didn’t get in until around 1 am ...so it was just as well I guess.

Jim, Katelyn and Justin

Easter Sunday... A night’s rest and a muscle relaxer...and lots of prayer....did wonders for my ailing neck/ shoulder... so I was able to finish my prep for our family time almost...on schedule. With grandma’s help....we got everything set out. Jeff and family arrived first...followed by Missy, Wes and Kate who attended the Easter Service at Christ Church that morning. Josh and Johnathan and their food followed shortly after... A phone call from Luisa sent him scrambling back home to find her parent’s dog that escaped when they left... It was pouring down rain by then...Lots of prayers let him find their pet down at the corner... We were praising God for that! Much to our disappointment Granny and Papaw who fully intended to attend...were not able to come due to the rainstorm... We got reports of traffic back ups from wrecks all over town. Jimmy was not able to attend either as he had the long drive back to Baton Rouge.. He was delayed hours in traffic due to wrecks in the storm. They were certainly missed...but we are grateful they are safe. Granny and Papaw were excited to get pictures and a good report of the egg hunt and goings on that evening via email and blogs... Lara kept close tabs on Jimmy’s return trip home and kept him updated. They were with us in spirit and love. After we devoured all the wonderful food provided by everyone we let the little ones egg hunt. Johnathan and Kate went right to it...and Christina held her own....plus she had beautiful sparkly silver shoes... They all got lots of eggs and goodies and had a fun time doing it. There were goodie bags for our grown kids too... Lara and James were not able to get to our house until about 4 pm... They always have a gathering at Mama Nancy and Daddy Joe’s house on Easter at lunch... They came as soon as they were able... and we spent hours catching up and grazing on the food offerings... It was a wonderful family day...Click on Holy Week to see the pictures.

Thank you! ..... My thanks for all the wonderful food offerings... Dee Dee and Jeff brought chips and Salsa....and a delicious cinnamon cheesecake type thing.... We want your recipe Dee... Ashton brought the yummy rice Krispy treats.... Both of these desserts are gone now... Missy and Wes brought some kind of delicious dip... I want that recipe too Missy... Not sure what it is...but I like it... it is all gone too. She also brought hummus.. and chips... Everyone seems to love it despite the fact that it is made of ....chick peas... I don’t love it but it was definitely a hit. By request... Luisa and Josh brought her Ambrosia... Would like that recipe too .... I got to keep some of that and enjoying the last of it today... and cheeses...love the selections.... Where did you get the cheddar one? They were all good... and a much needed bag of ice. Hopefully next occasion Big Daddy will have my ice machine repaired....hint hint. Lara was prepared to contribute ( blueberry crunch...yum.... and green beans ) but it had been an exhausting week for them and we encouraged them to just enjoy all the good food we already had... We provided the spiral ham...Big Daddy did a great job this year again with it... potato salad which grandma made... I did my baked beans ( which must have been good cause they are all just about gone) and apple pie...and surprisingly everyone loved my hastily made home made biscuits... Two pitchers of limeade punch and peach tea seemed to top it off nicely. * If ya’ll will send those recipes to me... I will post them to everyone. *

We truly celebrated the resurrection of Christ with a beautiful feast!! My thanks again for everyone’s help!!! Did I forget anything?? If I did....every single person contributed to making this year’s celebration of Christ’s resurrection beautiful for us!