Happy Easter! Alleluia He is risen!

We had a very blessed Easter at our house. The girls woke to a small Easter bag of candy on their bed (and they were very excited)! We read about the resurrection from Johns Gospel while they ate their candy.

John 20:11-18*

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; 12 and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they  have laid him." 14 Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she 

did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." 16 Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rab-bo'ni!" (which means Teacher). 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my  Father and your Father, to my God and your God." 18 Mary Mag'dalene went and said to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Meditation*: How easy it is to miss the Lord when our focus is on ourselves!  Mary did not at first recognize the Lord because her focus was on the empty tomb and on her own grief. It took only one word from the Master, when he called her by name, for Mary to recognize him. Mary's message to the disciples, I have seen the Lord, is the very essence of Christianity. It is not enough that a Christian know about the Lord, but that we know him personally. It is not enough to argue about him, but to meet him. In the resurrection we encounter the living Lord who loves us personally and shares his glory with us. The Lord gives us "eyes of faith" to see the truth of his resurrection and victory over sin and death (Ephes. 1:18).  The resurrection of Jesus is the foundation of our hope -- the hope that we will see God face to face and share in his everlasting glory and joy.  Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy.  As the outcome of your faith you obtain the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8-9). Do you recognize the Lord's presence with you, in his word, in the "breaking of the bread", and in his church, the body of Christ?
"Lord, may I never fail to recognize your voice nor lose sight of your presence in your saving word." 
* scripture and meditation taken from http://www.rc.net/wcc/readings/john2011.htm

Then we cleaned up the house and the girls helped me to hand wash and peal all the vegetables for mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, green bean casserole, and buttered carrots.

Washing string beans (we used them for green bean
casserole). I was excited  to find cream of mushroom
 soup in the imported section of the grocery store.

Lots of scrubbing and pealing potatoes,
carrots and kamote (a white sweet potato).

We have a two burner gas stove (connected to a small gas tank). There is no oven so we had to be very creative in preparing all the food. We covered our outside table with aluminum foil and placed it in the sun. We laid out 2 loaves of bread to toast in the sun for stuffing. Each girl took turns fanning the bugs away with a stick. After toasting for a long while we broke it into pieces and used the crockpot to warm it with seasonings and chicken broth. It came out really yummy! Our Filipino friends had never had stuffing before.

Catherine fanning the flies away.

We ordered 5 cooked chickens from a place in town and picked up some fresh dinner rolls. Some of the Filipino ladies prepared rice and sayote and egg. We also found some cakes that looked like angel food cake (but where much heavier) and taste more like regular cake. We topped it with canned strawberries and the Romero’s brought pineapples and fruit salad to go with it.

We started our gathering with an Easter Egg hunt which was a hit for all the children. 

Go, Catherine, Go!

We enjoyed a very delicious Easter meal and dessert with American and Filipino Food! We prayed over the food and sang songs together.

What a blessing to have all this yummy food to share with our friends! We had 22 children and 11 adults (including our family). For a moment I was worried that we wouldn't have enough food and then I realized how silly to doubt God on Easter. He multiplied the food and we even had leftovers!

White Sweet potatoes with butter, cinnamon,
brown sugar and marshmallows.