Livin' la vida loca

Hope this finds you all well!

It seems like life is constantly busy lately. Our week flew by in a rush and all of a sudden it was Saturday. I think I mentioned before that Chris was playing the repentant criminal in our church’s Passion play “Watch the Lamb.” As a criminal, he was basically dressed in a loin cloth, with a rope around his wrists. And he had to be rubbed down with baby oil so the blood (made of Karo syrup and food coloring) wouldn’t be so hard to get off. So the wives of the two criminals and Jesus were recruited to rub our men down with baby oil. Anyway, this meant that both Chris and I had to be at the final play practice on Saturday morning at 9:00.

We showed up at practice only to get some bad news: Jesus was in the hospital with kidney stones. OK, actually it was Ron who was playing Jesus who was in the hospital. Our friend Mike, who was supposed to play the violent criminal, stepped up to play Jesus and another Mike stepped in to play the second criminal. So practice was a little intense that day with people trying to learn lines and get used to a semi-new cast.

We finally got done with play practice, stopped up to visit with Ron’s wife in the hospital, picked up groceries and headed home. We had about 2 ½ hours before we had to be back at church for the play so we put away groceries and crashed on the couch to watch a movie. We had to rush to get ready and get back to church but it was so nice just snuggling and relaxing for those 2 hours. Despite the wild weather and tornado warnings, the play went very well. It was incredibly powerful and very emotional. The mother of the director wrote it based on Ray Boltz’s song “Watch the Lamb.” My friend Brian took pictures with a special lens. He’s supposed to be posting them to a website soon and I’ll be sure to post the link here.

So we headed home and finished picking up the house and getting things ready for Sunday. We went to the early service and it was great. Our pastor has really been on fire lately and it was so awesome to hear him speak and lead our congregation. Instead of Sunday School, our church holds an Easter brunch between the services. I could not believe how many egg casseroles there were! We headed back home and started getting Easter dinner ready. Our friends, Brian and Sharon, and their little guy Noah, Dan and Tina, and their kids Martin, Harrison, and Marie, and Cherie and Brett all came up for the afternoon. We had an Easter egg hunt for the kids and the rest of us visited and relaxed. We sat down to a HUGE meal – ham, cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole, Snicker salad, deviled eggs, homemade bread, fruit salad, fresh veggies, and coleslaw. Then to top it off, Sharon and Brian and Noah had made a bunny cake that was delicious! After everyone left, Chris and I relaxed and took a little nap. We ended up skipping small group because I started not feeling well. Instead, Chris let me take a long nap while he cleaned up.

This week has already flown by too. It’s already Wednesday and today is my Friday! We head to Michigan sometime tomorrow afternoon. We are both hoping to get out of here around 2ish but it may be a little later. At this point, we are planning on driving straight through to Kalamazoo. We’ll find a place to stay overnight there and then check out the campground in the morning. I think Chris is going to drive to Ypsi with me so he can see his family too. Then he and Mike will head back to Kzoo around 1:00. And I get to stay with my sister-in-law Carrie and my nephew Marshall until Sunday! I’ll get to see my awesome in-laws on Friday too! Then on Sunday I’ll head back to the campground at Kzoo to pick up Chris and head back to Iowa. I am so looking forward to the whole weekend – even the 20 hours of driving. It’ll be nice to have some girl time with Carrie and to get to spoil Marshall a little. I’m also hoping to see my friends Amy and Bill and their little guy Liam.

Tonight is all about packing and loading the vehicle. I’m also hoping to get laundry done, a semi-healthy dinner prepared and still find a little time to snuggle with my husband – and get to bed at a decent time.

Probably won’t blog again until we’re home. Hope you all have a great weekend!