Weekend Recap: A Blessed Easter…even in quarantine…

He has Risen!

Friday morning, I woke up and made my first real trek out since the governor issued the stay-at-home order minus essential tasks and business.  I wanted to support our local Honeybaked Ham store.  It closed its doors for the final time on Saturday.  There are stores in two additional locations on opposite ends of the county.  The local one wasn’t able to keep up I’m told.  COVID-19 put a final nail in the coffin.

The store was doing curbside parking where you pulled into the parking spot, called the store to let them know you were there, and a masked and gloved individual bought out your order.  It was super quick and super efficient.

The store workers are used to my ordering a 10-12 pounder with all of the mouths we traditionally feed when hosting.  Since everyone would be sheltering in place, we would only need a five pounder this year.  I also added a carrot cake with the order so that I wouldn’t have to prepare one.  It was odd to greet a masked worker wearing a mask of my own.  On the way back, I saw the best display at one of the homes in the neighborhood and thought it was a nice gesture.

Because Friday is a great day

Bug reads to his siblings..

Later in the afternoon, the family gathered in the family room and continued a tradition I started when it was just Bug and I.  We read the story of the First Easter, or I should say Bug read it.  He read the book to his younger siblings while S. and I looked on…and my heart was so amazingly full.

After he was done, he asked Honeybee to explain what he’d read.  She understood and was able to answer questions that S. and I asked.  Specifically, she now understands what Good Friday is and why it is so important.

Saturday

I woke up knowing I didn’t want to be cooking on Easter.  So, I made our Easter dinner.  Macaroni and Cheese, Cornbread dressing, candied yams, collard greens were all prepared.

While the sides were being prepped, I went outside to hide some eggs for the children.  Usually, the church puts on an Easter Egg hunt and a church picnic.  This year that was obviously not going to happen.  The kids weren’t too concerned about it, but I thought it would be a nice change of pace from quarantine life.  So, I hid about 50 eggs, came back inside to finish the sides and when everything was cooling, took the kids out to hunt.  They loved it.

Easter Sunday

 Sunday morning, we woke up ready to honor the day that Jesus rose from the grave.  While I cooked a hot breakfast, S. setup the TV to pull the church live stream and we watched from the luxury of the family room.

The church had a trio along with Pastor and a couple of church leaders.

At the conclusion of service and the call to salvation, we participated in a virtual communion and a prayer of thanksgiving.  Service over, the family got dressed and came back downstairs to watch Jesus the play.  You remember that S. and I got to see the play with our chuch some time ago.  We loved it.  The Sight and Sound Theater where it was held announced the play would be shown on TBN over the Easter holiday.  S. and I recorded it and were able to watch as a family.  

Jesus-the play, on TBN…

The children were mesmerized and it was a nice family moment for all of us, especially after having read the story of Easter the day before.  The play helped the younger children have a visual of what we were discussing.

The play ended as the family began to dial in for our Virtual Easter dinner.  I was hoping it would be a great time and that everyone would be able to dial in.  We had one minor tech issue, but it was fixed within minutes and soon our TV was filled with loved ones.

There were eight screens when everyone logged on and over 40 persons represented!  My father-in-love opened us in prayer and we began our dinner!  We ate together, played games together (scavenger hunt was amazing), and sang karaoke.  Finally, after a couple of hours (yep), we all logged off and wished each other love and health.  It was a beautiful way to end our holiday.

We hope you had an amazing Easter celebration as well!