Easter

Spring has sprung here in Aberdeen! The last week or so it’s as though the earth has just exploded with new life. Honestly there probably aren’t more flowers than there were in Houston at this time last year, but it is such a dramatic change from even two weeks ago. For months and months and months it seems to have gotten greyer and darker with every day. Then, we left for Austria (Österriech), and spring came while we were gone. The week leading up to Easter was a week full of sunshine and warm weather where we could actually feel the sun’s warmth. All of last week, as I went on my travels to Glasgow and Edinburgh, I had a lot of time to think about why new born lambs and bright sunshine is so beautiful and uplifting to our souls. As I thought about it, I decided that it is as if the animals and flowers here in Scotland embodied what the Easter celebration is all about. For, just when you think it can’t get any worse, just when you think the world is going to remain dead forever – BOOM! Spring hits all in an instant and the world bursts forth in a million colors and new life. I think the earth wants to celebrate Easter too and cry out with our voices, “Yes! Christ rose from the dead so that all of creation can have new and abundant life.”

In a big way the weather, new baby animals, and the flowers made our Easter here in Scotland seem more meaningful than it has for awhile. It was still strange and sad for us not to see our families, but it wasn’t as uncomfortable or unfamiliar as we thought it would be. One big reason for this was the church celebration was way more meaningful/fun than I expected. Our church is really small and since it was Baptist I assumed that it just wouldn’t have as much meaning or make Easter as beautiful as other services I had been too. I was wrong. About 20 of us gathered in the woods beside the church to sing first thing in the morning, then we went inside and had a huge breakfast made by several of the ladies in the church (with more and more people arriving as the morning went on), the kids had an egg hunt, and we finished with a ‘normal’ church service. I thought singing in the woods was kind of a hokey idea, but the weather was so nice and it has been months since any of us have stood outside for very long. That made it a celebration in itself to be able to stand outside and actually enjoy ALL the creation we believe God redeemed through resurrecting Christ. This idea continued into the church service when they opened the windows and let the sun and warm air come in as we watched the rabbits hop around outside in the garden. I loved it.

For Easter lunch we had our neighbors and friends over for a nice meal. In Austria we booked the package that provided dinners in our hotel each night and so they provided a nice four course meal every day we where there. Sander and I got inspired and so tried to do the same for the Easter lunch/dinner. It worked out surprisingly well but we’ll definitely keep that for special occasions. We also made a cake together, as you can see in the picture. We had an awesome time and started a new tradition to see who could crack the egg first – sort of like a piñata.

All in all, it was a lovely Easter.

For more details about our trip to Austria and my trips to Glasgow and Edinburgh, go to ‘Our Pictures’ link above. Not only have we have posted pictures from our adventures the last few weeks, we have also added a lot of captions. View them as a slideshow. Better than a blog, I promise. Plus, check out our RSS feed for the picture site if you want to stay really up to date.