Wednesday Treasures~Easter is Coming!

We started out this week with Palm Sunday...

This photo was actually from a couple of years ago. I did put out our cross with palm branches again this past Sunday morning, but it was still too dark in the morning when I cut the palms and put them on the cross before church, so I couldn't take any pictures. And then when we got home from church it had been so windy that the palms had blown away and it was still too windy and cloudy for pictures, so this one is much better.

And this is our cross decoration inside.  The little palm cross at the top was what we received in church on Palm Sunday.  I will place this crown of thorns on our outdoor cross on Good Friday.

This cross is in the narthex of our church, draped in black in preparation for the Good Friday Service.

Our choir will be singing a song at the end of the service called: "When Hope Fell Silent".

If you would like to listen to this very moving and deep song, here is an audio video of the music and words.  It is very powerful.

We had another pop up rain storm today, and again the mother Sand Hill Crane dropped to the ground and her baby chicks (colts) ran to shelter under her wings...

We read this verse on Sunday when talking about Jesus entering Jerusalem in preparation for the Passover week, and in one place it says He wept over Jerusalem.  In another scripture this is what He says:

Matthew 23:37 NKJV

37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!

When the Pastor read that verse, I couldn't help but visualize this mother Crane and her babies doing exactly that.  What a beautiful picture of what Christ wants to do not only for Jerusalem, bur for all of mankind.  This is what Easter is really all about. Christ coming to rescue and save us from our sins. May we continue to remember this picture in our hearts as we go through the rest of this Holy Week.

Meanwhile, I know this is a big gear switch, but then again, Easter is also about new life and renewal and hope.   And we humans like to decorate our homes for Easter with happy Easter bunnies and other signs of spring and new life.  Here are my Easter bunnies, collected over the years for each family member.

I finally got around to decorating with more of a springtime look here and there...

Happy Bunnies on swings and little fairies and birds make us smile and rejoice in the joy of the resurrection and new life that Easter brings because Jesus overcame death and lives forever!

Our immediate family will be having our Easter dinner on Saturday because our DIL Rose has to work on Sunday afternoon at Home Depot. You'd think they'd be closed for Easter!  Sad.

But as far as dinner is concerned, it works better for me since we leave for church on Sunday by 8 a.m. for Sunday School and then our choir is presenting our cantata during the worship service, and to be honest, by the time I've stood for about 40 minutes singing I am worn out and ready for a nap when I get home!  I know there is also a sunrise service in our community at 7 a.m., but this gal just can't quite get her act together for that too!  Getting old isn't for sissies! LOL.

Oh, this is a different picture. I had to share this last piece of St. Patrick's Day decor with you because I just got it the other day...why? Well, it was actually a door prize from our Women in Faith meeting a couple of weeks ago, but I left before they drew my name and so I didn't know that I had won this! It got to sit out a few days before I packed it away until next year.

Lily Grace and her friends are all getting ready for Easter:

Lily is "in the pink" with this cute little pink and white dress and pink shoes. She has her Easter basket all ready and waiting for it to be filled with Easter eggs and treats.

Speaking of new life. and eggs...I guess Mr. and Mrs. Bluebird have finally gotten serious about laying some eggs and sitting on the nest to bring about new life:

I took this series of pictures of Mrs. Bluebird today as she stuck her head out her window to breathe some fresh air and begin her time of waiting while her baby birds develop safely in their eggs in the nest.

I'm not sure if she is smiling at me or telling me to please give her some privacy as she waits...

I think she has a sweet face. I hope these eggs produce a happy brood of new baby bluebirds.

And speaking of new babies...Look at how big our young Sand Hill Crane "colts" are getting already! They are barely a week old and it looks like they've grown about 3 inches taller already!

Mom and Dad are getting more adventurous and taking the youngsters Abe and George closer and closer to the street out in front of our house.

Although this makes me nervous, I promise not to interfere with their parenting.  They know what they are doing.

I don't think they crossed the road just yet, but it won't be long and then they will be taking them to explore many different places in our neighborhood in search of more good food.

Interestingly, This Canada Goose pair also stayed out in the front yard and beside the road all day long. They are so funny. They are like hovering Aunts and Uncles, keeping a close watch on the activities of the Sand Hill Crane family as if they had something to say about what they do and where they go!

They were the official greeters in the neighborhood today!  Our friend Pamela came by for a quick visit, and they stayed right in our yard and welcomed her.  Speaking of which, Pamela has now sold her home here and is packing things up to move back up north by the end of next week.  We are going to be sad to see her go, but she knows it is time for her to go back to her home roots and closer to her own family. On Sunday after church a group of us took her out to eat at our local "Hog Wild Country Cafe'"

(Pamela is the one with the bright orange scarf around her head. She's always so colorful and full of fun!)

We had a great lunch together, even if it was a bit chilly and windy on the back screened porch of the restaurant, the only place they could accommodate our large group together...

Thankfully they did have some big heaters that they turned on for us as it was a much cooler day than expected. But we warmed up once we got talking and eating.

It was a great time, and I know Pamela enjoyed it.  We are really going to miss her here.

Well friends, it's time to close for tonight. I hope you and your family have a blessed Easter in some special way.  

See you again soon.

 

A New Week...A Most Significant Week...

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See! Your house is left to your desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"  Matthew 23:37-39

As we begin this most significant week, better known as Holy Week, or the week of Christ's Passion...our world is still in great turmoil.  Our country is in great turmoil, and for many, our homes are even in great turmoil.  As Jesus entered Jerusalem that day, He wept, because He had come to save them, and they did not realize how very near their salvation had come.  Although on this particular day, they hailed Him as their Savior, and spread palm branches before Him, just a few days later those same people were hurling stones and crying out "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!".  They did not know Who He was...they did not realize how close their long awaited Messiah was to them at that very hour.  They rejected Him, and in so doing, they missed the blessing of what God had prepared for them.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to be guilty of missing the blessing that God has prepared for me.  I want my ears to be ready to listen, I want my heart to be open to His message of love and forgiveness, and I want my feet to be ready to go wherever He might lead me. As we enter this week, I pray that God will attune my ears and heart to connect with His heartbeat...  I pray also for our nation, that we as a people would put aside our feelings of hatred and anger and take time to stop and listen to the voice of the Savior as He cries over our "Jerusalem"...I hope we don't miss out on this opportunity to be gathered together under His wings and be sheltered and protected...and saved.

May your week be blessed...and holy.