Easter

Easter came early this year.  It didn't feel like Easter in the weeks leading up to it; snow on the ground; ice in the air; stir crazy children in a stuffy house; but the weekend of Easter the sun shone brightly, the snow melted and the windows were opened to welcome in the spring air.

Normally we don't get much of a chance to 'celebrate' Easter as it usually falls around Freyja's birthday and I am madly scrambling to finish the preparations for a party and wrapping gifts.  This year, it fell a full two weeks before her party weekend, and this coming weekend she is at Brownie camp, which gives me time, and a much more relaxed run up to her birthday as well as a much more relaxed family Easter.

It didn't exactly go to plan of course, it rarely does!  Friday was a busy day of house cleaning, with the idea of getting it all out the way so we could spend the Saturday and Sunday relaxing and doing family things.  Sadly, our neighbours, a houseful of young men barely into their twenties, still brimming with energy and lacking in consideration, decided to have yet another party until dawn.  This resulted in very little sleep for me and my better half, a restless night with nightmares for both kids, and a very groggy household as Saturday dawned.  It also resulted in a phonecall to the neighbours landlady and her saying that they had been warned "no more parties" so they are being given the boot.  Which may upset one of the tenants more than the others, as it is her son!  Better behave next time lads - this lady takes no sh*t, especially at 3am when my family can't get sleep.

So Saturday ended up being a brief foray to Home Depot to order a washing machine since ours finally lost the will to spin, and then back home for naps all round and half hearted completion of the cleaning.

I managed (amazingly) to stay up late enough on Saturday night to allow the Easter Bunny to make his entrance and leave some goodies (just some small chocolate eggs and some stickers in this house - none of the gift cards, toys and dvds here thank you!)

Easter morning began later than expected, and yet still earlier than I like, with Freyja barrelling out of her room, finding an empty basket by her door.  She charged into Rosie's room and woke her, bouncing like the Easter Bunny himself in impatience to get started.  For some reason, probably lack of sleep, I was in a crappy mood that morning.  I was getting irritated that Freyja was flitting back and forth with no method, and so was missing half the eggs.  Some eggs were missing too as the cats had decided to play with them.  Lee told me to take my tea, make my Sunday morning call to my parents, and keep out the way.  Twenty minutes and I was all better and ready to make the most of what was left of our Easter.

Lee stayed home to cook the Easter Feast as the girls, Dan and I headed to church.  I have only just returned to going to church these last few months, and I am still not completely comfortable with it.  Right now, I am there mainly for the kids.  Freyja is in a Catholic School, Rosie will follow suit, and really they need to be attending a church (though we don't attend a Catholic church).  Both girls are actually attending the Sunday School, rather than the church.  Rosie wouldn't do it for the first couple months, but now heads in to play with the other kids with barely a backward glance.  Its one of the reasons I go... to build her confidence with kids and new situations.

The church is huge!  Its an auditorium really, with classrooms surrounding it, a coffee shop, a gymnasium, a library and book shop.  It is easy to remain anonymous in there while I assess my feelings on the church, and on God.  Dan is new to the whole church thing.  He was not brought up as a church goer.  Some months before he moved over to live with us, he 'found' God.  He was baptised in the UK then, but still didn't really attend church.  He was eager to find a church which was a good fit.  I had been to this one a few times with our Landlady, and found it welcoming and not too 'preachy', so I took him a couple of times.  He really liked it and chose to be baptised again there a few weeks ago, and the kids love it, so I am attending it more in the capacity of driver right now while I enjoy an hour kid free, drink a cup of free coffee and enjoy some uplifting music and a (usually) amusing sermon.  All in all, it fits us as a family well, and I do not feel like a 'Bad Catholic'  like I do in the Catholic church which is small, so I stand out as being the person who has no idea what she is supposed to be saying or doing.

I'm still not convinced I'll ever be a 'God-Fearing Church Goer' but at least I am getting out there, working things out, and becoming part of the community.  I may not believe in the organised religion side of things, but I believe in kindness to one another, charity (not only of the financial kind, but also charity of heart), treating others with respect and in a manner you wish others to treat you.  So while I may not be joining the church properly, I think my children will be learning some good lessons in life, as I did attending Sunday School as a child, and later, they can make their own decisions on their beliefs.  After all, Free Will was one of the things given to us, so I hope they learn to use that to be good and honest and kind.