Our God Reigns!!! Christ is Risen!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

I hope you are having a blessed and beautiful Resurrection Day wherever you are.

It has been a long and busy, and wonderful day here. Starting at sunrise, as the sun arose above the treetops,

we realized that Christ has risen...He's no longer in the tomb!

Alleluia!

Jesus Lives!!

And then we went to church and our choir presented the Easter Cantata entitled

"Our God Reigns".

Here it is for you in its entirety.  I hope you will enjoy the proclamation of the

Easter story through message and song.

And it was SO wonderful to be back in our sanctuary again for the first time in over a year.

We've been meeting in our fellowship hall for the past several months since we were able to have in person services, but it just wasn't quite the same.

We still had to maintain "social distancing" as much as possible, and wear masks, but that didn't dampen our spirits. We rejoiced to see some folks who have not been back with us during this whole year, so this was a day of rejoicing and "homecoming" in so many ways.

Yes, "Celebrate Easter"

in music and praise...

These are candid shots before the service began, so please excuse the casualness...we were still assembling and getting ready for worship.

And our Pastor was so happy to finally be back in the sanctuary...for him it was actually his first Sunday with us in the sanctuary. When he started as our new pastor last summer, we could only meet in the Fellowship Hall, so for him it was also a very special day...

I can assure you there is a big smile under that mask!

Following our service we hurried home and got dinner ready and waited for the family to arrive:

And even the "Grand-pups" came to join us today:

Sugar and Spice love coming to Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Forgot to take any pictures of the full plates...we had ham, sweet potato casserole, potato salad, green beans and Hawaiian rolls and butter. Chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert.

It was all yummy.

Love our family.

Then came the annual Easter Basket Hunt.

Son Scott was the first to find his basket:

Son Benton was next...He still thinks he's Mom's favorite...LOL.

He's one of my favorites, that is for sure.

Friend Sherrie (Rose's sister) was next to find her basket. This was her first Easter basket search with us, and she loved being a kid again:

And sweet Daughter in Love Rose was last to find hers, but only because she was busy feeding the dogs while the others searched.  She seems to have "radar" and can zero in on her basket faster than anyone I know!

And yes, even Lily Grace found her Easter Basket...Normally I would save her pictures for her own blog, but she wanted you to know that she has had a wonderful Easter, and is SO happy that Jesus Christ is Risen as He said He would!

And even the puppies were happy to see Lily today...

Spice seems to have forgotten that she was once a bit afraid of Lily, and now she just loves to kiss her face!!

And Lily was so surprised to finally see what a real Easter Lily looks like!  She is very happy to know that her name is synonymous with something so special as Easter.

Yes, Easter has been a day filled with much joy and rejoicing. Even the gorgeous red Amaryllis flowers are trumpeting out their praise,

"Christ is Risen!!"

Our God Reigns!!!

Alleluia!!!

"He is Lord,

He is Lord,

He is risen from the dead and He is Lord.

Every knee shall bow,

Every tongue confess that

Jesus Christ is Lord!"

Amen.