Easter

This is the first year we really did anything extra for Easter, and the girls (especially Miriam) really enjoyed it.

Eliza loves to grab anything she can reach for and managed to get her some newspaper.

 We let Miriam decorate some eggs and she loved it.

She was so ecstatic about the Easter baskets she forgot to go potty.

Even Eliza enjoyed her stuffed bunny.

Daddy just wished he could go back to bed.

It was a beautiful Spring day.

Miriam had a blast finding all the eggs around the yard.  She didn't want to carry the basket, instead she found the eggs and brought them back to the basket.

The girls stayed home from Church so they wouldn't pass around Eliza's sickness, so it was a pretty low-key, but enjoyable, day.

Except for some heartbreaking news.

We have a couple with whom we are good friends.  Friends whom we have shared date nights, game nights, birthday parties and babysitting with.

Duben, the husband, was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, a cancer.  You can read more of their story here.  He has been battling it since last summer, completed his chemo and they had gone down to Houston to complete a round of radiation.  Due to many complications (you can read more of that story here), he passed away Easter Sunday.  He left his wife Carrie and a 2 1/2 year old daughter, Ainsley and 2 month old son, Anderson.

Oh how my heart breaks for them!  They are our age, in the same stage of life as we are.  Miriam and Ainsley are only a month apart in age.  It is only too poignant how similar, but now how different our lives will be.  

I cannot imagine my life without Stan.  He is my rock, the one I look forward to seeing every day.  I cannot imagine raising our wonderful children without his help, love and support.  I cannot imagine them growing up, not knowing their wonderful father.

I hope I never take him for granted, though I know I could definitely do better and expressing my love and appreciation to him.  Carrie had mentioned in one of her posts, that when Duben had to be on a breathing tube, he could not talk.  She said he was on it for 3 days and they couldn't talk (except for writing).  She pointed out that they hadn't gone that long without talking since before they started dating.  I realized the same is true with Stan and I.  Even when we dated long-distance, we talked on the phone every day.  Oh how we take the little things for granted!

It is also all too tender of a reminder of losing my own mother to cancer.  I can only imagine the pain and sense of loss must be magnified exponentially to lose one's spouse.  I miss my mother every day.

It makes me so grateful, once again, for the Gospel and the Plan of Salvation.  Although the pain is very real and you never stop missing a loved one who has passed, there is an incredible amount of comfort and peace, knowing this life is not the end.  I will get to see my mother again.  Someday my children will meet their wonderful grandmother.

What a perfect reminder on Easter Sunday, that Jesus Christ conquered death and rose again the third day.  Because of his Atoning Sacrifice and Resurrection, we too will rise again and be resurrected and reunited  with our Father in Heaven and loved ones.

I am so grateful.