Easter Egg Hunt, Hatteras, and Easter Sunday

Here are some pics from a couple of weeks ago that I have been meaning to post. (They are backwards in order of events, but oh well). The first are from Easter Sunday brunch. . . We got to eat outside with a beautiful view with our friends Tara and Andrew. (Don't you love that picture of them when they didn't know I was taking it?) Then there are a few from our time in Hatteras right before Easter. Ross was desperate to surf and thankfully he got some nice waves while we were there. Ila actually played IN the sand more than ever collecting shells, helping mommy build sand castles, and walking all around in it. I was so proud of my little girly girl who doesn't like to get too messy. Then there is a pic of Ila and her buddy Kate followed by some shots from Ila's Easter egg hunt at her Grandaddy and Gramma's house. We have never been more thankful for our precious little girl! More posts to come soon, I promise!

My Favorite Seat

Miss Potato Head

Ila received a Mr. Potato Head in her Easter basket, and decided to take it to the next level today...

When Everything Sad Comes Untrue

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

Sam believes that Gandalph died. At the very end, Sam having slept for quite a while and then coming to consciousness, Gandalf stands before Sam, robed in white, his face glistening in the sunlight, and says:

“Well, Master Samwise, how do you feel?”

But Sam lay back, and stared with open mouth, and for a moment, between bewilderment and great joy, he could not answer. At last he gasped: “Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What’s happened to the world?”

“A great shadow has departed,” said Gandalf, and then he laughed, and the sound was like music, or like water in a parched land; and as he listened the thought came to Sam that he had not heard laughter, the pure sound of merriment, for days without count. It fell upon his ears like the echo of all the joys he had ever known. But he himself burst into tears. Then as a sweet rain will pass down a wind of spring and the sun will shine out the clearer, his tears ceased, and his laughter welled up, and laughing he sprang from bed… “How do I feel?” he cried.” Well, I don’t know how to say it. I feel, I feel” –he waved his arms in the air– “I feel like spring after winter, and sun on the leaves; and like trumpets and harps and all the songs I have ever heard!

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Happy Easter to everyone! May you know and believe that because of Jesus, no matter what you're going through, everything is going to be okay.