Easter...

It's been a while since I've posted. I just returned from 7 days away--a business trip in Greenville, SC and then Easter in Tennessee. Work in Gville was pretty hard and stressful, plus I don't like being away from home.

But we had a great time in TN. We made it just in time Thursday evening for Holy Thursday mass. We surprised Nana (Isaac's grandmother) at the church. She didn't think we were going to be there till Friday, so she was very surprised when we showed up. Thursday was also the anniversary of the death of her husband, Isaac's granddad, so it was really neat to be there to support her.

Isaac took me to Lafollette, TN (about an hour away) to show me where he (mostly) grew up. We visited a high school friend who now has twin girls. And had lunch at Charley's Pizza, his high school hang out. It was good to see where he was from, but it made me a little sad because the town has really struggled in the last decade or so with meth drug use/sales. As a result, some of Isaac's classmates are in jail and really struggling with their lives. But his friends Jeremy and Crystal (parents to the twins) are doing well. I know it was important for Isaac to show me where he grew up, so I'm glad I went. The scenery was awesome! Mountains all around and nice lake. No wonder Isaac likes being outside so much.

On our way back to Deer Lodge (home of his mom and Nana), we dodged some tornadoes. We ended up stopping to see a movie just to be sure we didn't run into a tornado along the way. We were safe though!

We grilled hot dogs over a bonfire, flew $1 Elmo kites outside in the sunshine, went for walks, had our own Easter Vigil service around another bonfire (where Isaac drew the passage about Abraham going to sacrifice his son... ISAAC! Poor Isaac--but he read the passage with grace, and at least it has a happy ending). And we hunted for Easter candy in the house. Nothing like an Easter egg hunt for "kids" over the age of 30.

I feel incredibly blessed to be part of such an amazing family. God really has been good to me.