Christ is Risen!

All things are possible for our Lord has conquered death and sin.  Today indeed feels like a victory.  We enjoyed an exhausting, but rewarding Holy Week.  The girls were much better behaved than I expected all week.  We attended every evening service and all of them from Friday morning on.

The Paschal Liturgy last night was exciting and joyous.  The weather was pleasant after a week of cold and rain -- great for the procession.  During the week, we practiced answering the Paschal greeting in several languages, and Yaya was eager to shout the Arabic reply.  We even caught a smile from Daddy in the midst of his work as the two of us alone shouted the reply from the church balcony.  We were able to celebrate with our soon-to-be bishop and had a church full of guests.

And no one told me I shouldn't be at church with my "cranky" kids.  In fact, there were more children present than usual, and they were all quite well behaved.  Here are a few of them.

 The basket blessing and Agape meal after the liturgy wasn't too shabby either.  More of "our" people (ie. regular church attendees) seemed to stay than usual.  And although I was in charge and managed to burn the ham, people unexpectedly brought extra food and no one complained about the "Louisiana blackened ham."

 

Yaya keeps telling me this is the best Easter ever.  I think our first Pascha in Chicago remains my favorite.  The joy was palpable, and the excitement was elevated by Archbishop Job's instructions to an altar server regarding the incense to "fire it up!"  That year I was pregnant and nauseated, but my illness abated for the day, and I was even able to enjoy an Easter brunch at the Hancock building.  It will be hard to top, but this year does rank among the best.  And while it was hard to crawl out of bed an hour ago with the girls, I am looking forward to the rest of day.  Vespers at one o'clock will be followed by an egg hunt (the first time we're doing it on Pascha Sunday; it's usually in the next two weeks).  Then, we'll come home to rest before heading to dinner at Athena Greek Restaurant.

 Finally, the girls are super excited that they both won a coloring contest at one of the local grocery stores.