Today was our annual trek to Springfield to visit our friends Paul and Kris and attend their church’s annual Easter pageant. It is always one of my favorite parts of the year. Their church does an amazing show at Christmas and Easter both. I think we managed to miss both shows last year, so it was extra special to go to Easter this year.
Fortunately, the church has a wonderful nursery program, and so we checked Leah into the nursery for the duration of the show. They give you a numbered wristband for your child and a matching one for you. If at any time during the performance, your child needs you or is absolutely inconsolable, they flash your number up on a digital display right in the sanctuary. No one without a bracelet can remove a child from the nursery. It’s a wonderful feeling of security to know that your child is taken care of so you can relax and enjoy the show, but that you can go to him/her if you are needed.
Unfortunately, today was a 5am day. I put Leah back to sleep at around 8AM to try and get some sleep, but was jolted back to reality around 9;30, only to discover she had ripped off her diaper in protest, and smeared “solid waste” all over her crib. Yeah, that was fun to get up to.
We left here around 10:45 and stopped to get our hosts some flowers and grab an early lunch at McD’s because we knew we wouldn’t eat till after the show. By the time we got on the road for good, it was nearly 11:30 and of course there was traffic. Still, we got to their house by 12:10, which is pretty stinkin’ good! We piled into 2 cars and headed to church for the show, which was very moving, but I about fell asleep twice. Not for lack of interest, just pure fatigue. I always feel kind of conflicted at Easter time, trying to sort out what I believe and don’t believe. This last week before Easter, I am going to devote some serious reading time to my Philip Gulley books and try to get a grip on how I feel about church, faith, Jesus, and the whole lot of it. I have friends on all ends of the religious spectrum, and I think I fall in the wishy-washy category. I believe but I don’t believe in all of it kind of a thing. So I’m looking forward to digging into the first thing that seems it’s really been written for me.
Afterwards, we went back to Paul and Kris’s house for a nice lasagna supper. We get along very well with them, and they had invited over the lady who took my place when I quit my job last year, her husband, and another family we only get to see during these get togethers but who we get along with very well. As we arrived, Paul and Kris gathered all of us into the living room to announce that in the mail that day, they had gotten a letter that their son Andrew was accepted into the Shenandoah Conservatory! Andrew is adopted from Korea and is blind, and it has been Kris’s most fervent desire that he be accepted there. They agreed to accept him under two conditions, the first of which was that he get his SAT scores up, so he worked really hard and got them up, and they took him!!! I honestly burst right into tears. I was so happy for them and so proud of Andrew. And then I made Leah promise not to grow up and go to college—she can only go to Mary Washington and she has to live at home.
By now, Leah was absolutely beside herself with exhaustion. We stayed until 6:30, by which point, she didn’t know whether to put her head down on me and sleep or sit, smile at everyone, and scream. I bundled her into the car and before we hit Franconia Road, she was snoring, so we took time to run over to Giant and pick up an apartment guide for Mike and Lesley’s niece, Jennifer. Then we got stuck in a 6 mile back up to get home. It’s been forever since I’ve been on the highway, it seems, so it really felt weird to be driving fast or not be driving at all!
What a great day full of happy news, friendship, and happy times. A great way to kick off Easter!
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