Easter Saturday...While We Wait...

 It's the Saturday after Good Friday...the day before Easter...and the tomb is still closed...we wait for the sunrise tomorrow...or perhaps I should say, "we wait for the SONRISE" tomorrow! For those of us who know "the rest of the story"...that death could not hold our Savior in the tomb...we look forward to the dawn tomorrow...because we know that the stone will be rolled away...and the tomb will be empty...and the angels will proclaim that Christ is risen as He said...but today we wait...

Hear what Jesus said to His disciples before His crucifixion...

John 16:19-22

19 Now Jesus knew that they desired to ask Him, and He said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 

20 Most assuredly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 

21 A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 

22 Therefore you now have sorrow; but I will see you again and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you.

At the time, the disciples did not understand what Jesus was trying to tell them...but once Christ was resurrected from the dead, it all made sense to them, and their sorrow was soon replaced with great joy!

So we who already know that Christ is risen from the dead can rejoice in this knowledge. There's no reason to be grieving now...we anticipate the remembrance of this joyous Easter morning and we can live our lives with joy and peace and much thanksgiving for Christ's amazing grace and gift of salvation! 

"Amazing grace (how sweet the sound)

that saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

was blind, but now I see."

And so today, while we anticipate the joy of the resurrection morning tomorrow, we have spent the day having another kind of celebration. Tomorrow is my sister Doris and also her husband Art's birthdays.  Yes, they were born on the same day, just 2 years apart.  I was thrilled when she said they would love to come to our house to celebrate...because they live 2 hours away, and it's getting harder and harder for them to drive all the way here and back home. We often choose to meet somewhere 1/2 way at a restaurant to celebrate different occasions, but it's always so much nice to be able to relax and enjoy being in our home together. Sadly, none of their or our kids were free today to come for a party, but they said they didn't mind that. They will have a party with their kids tomorrow after church to celebrate Easter and their birthdays at the same time.

So, I decided that if they were going to drive all the way here, we would make it extra special somehow. We decided to invite some mutual friends who live about a half hour away, and who used to always participate in our family parties when we lived in the same town before moving here. One of our dear friends has just very recently, within the past month, lost her husband of over 71 years! Yes, that's right!  They were married for over 71 years! So you can imagine how difficult it has been for her...but she was thrilled to be able to come and spend the day with us. Another couple from the same town brought her with them.  So here we go with some pictures to show you how the day went:

After a delicious (if I do say so myself) lunch of homemade chicken pot pie and salad, we had cake.Art prefers a coconut cake, and Doris prefers an angel food cake, as I've told you about before...with daffodils in the center of the cake per an old family tradition.    Since it's almost impossible to find real daffodils here in Florida at this time, I had to resort to using artificial ones, but it still looked good and she was pleased. We just had trouble making her candles stand up straight,  but other than that it was all good. LOL.  

Here's Art blowing out his candles...

And then it was Doris' turn to blow out her candles...

Then we all had cake and Blue Bell Ice Cream and some fresh sweetened strawberries. It was really good.

I was excited to give Doris this gift.  I found it at the Deep Creek Trading Post here in our town...it is a little wreath for the hair with flowers and tiny fairy lights entertwined. The best part was that the yellow flowers were daffodils!

Here's the back of it. Isn't it sweet? I know, she probably won't ever wear it again, but I told her she has to wear it tomorrow for her family party. She said she didn't think she would wear it to church since she sings in the choir...oh well...at least she's a fairy princess for the day!  I remember us making such little flower wreaths of dandelions and daisies when we were little girls on the farm in Pennsylvania.  Not that elaborate, of course, but just wound around through our hair. Somewhere there's a picture of us, but I can't find it and Doris says she doesn't really remember that...??? What??? Oh well...she's 80! Some things we forget I guess. LOL.

The other gift I gave her actually is a gift from Benton and Rose and us.  I commissioned Benton to build some kind of sign for Doris' garden, and this is what he made...

Doris is the gardener in the family, and she spends a LOT of time in her lovely garden. So I am sure she will find a place to put this.

Oh hello...here's hubby and I...

Here's our friends Marian and Chuck...

And they brought our dear friend Maura, who just lost her sweet hubby "Woody".  We all missed him being there too, but we rejoice that he's celebrating in heaven today. He was almost 91 years old when he passed, and had lived a wonderful life.

It was a lovely and perfect way to wait for the SONRISE tomorrow.

Oh, one more thing I've been meaning to share with you. Last week we took a little ride, and I noticed something amazing on the tops of these very tall pine trees...

If you look really closely you can see little crosses on the very tip tops of the new growth on the trees:

Here is some information that I found on Google about this annual phenomenon:
"AI Overview

In Florida, and across the Southern U.S., many pine trees (especially Loblolly) develop small, yellow, cross-shaped, or "X"-shaped, growths at their tops during early spring. These, often referred to as "[Easter Crosses]" or "candles," appear as the tree grows new branches, with the phenomenon often peaking around the Easter holiday.
Lakeland Ledger +2

Even though the tree "experts" don't consider it anything unusual, for those of us who see the significance of God's amazing creation all around us, we consider this just another way that even the trees in God's creation rejoice in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

“For you shall go out with joy,

And be led out with peace;

The mountains and the hills

Shall break forth into singing before you,

And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

Isaiah 55:12

Okay friends, it's time to head to bed. It's going to be another busy, but joyful day tomorrow.  It's Easter~and our choir will be singing our cantata, "Embrace the Cross". After church our kids will be coming here for dinner. Thankfully Rose is baking the ham and doing some other things and I don't have to do too much. It will be a day of rejoicing and enjoying our family.  

Sleep in peace.  Tomorrow brings such Good News!!

.Good Night