Church-wide luncheon and Easter Egg hunting

The rain broke in time for St. Luke's annual Spring Luncheon and Easter Egg Hunt. With a potluck, you never know what you'll get - just that it's all GOOD. Some years we have an amazing array of salads to go with the fried chicken provided by the church. This year, our family cooks were in a sweet mood, so the dessert table was laden with fresh pies, cakes, cookies, cupcakes, an amazing chocolate-banana trifle, strawberry shortcake, and more. We prepared a coconut sheet cake and surrounded it with hot pink Peeps bunnies, a huge hit with the Easter Egg hunters (as well as a few parents who grinned sheepishly and popped a Peep). Presbyterians love any opportunity to share and enjoy food, so the turnout was wonderful.

We had much to celebrate: a successful Mission Miles fundraiser (5K, fun run, and tot trot) that reached our goal for Youth Group missions, plentiful rain after a lengthy drought, a sleepover and camping trip for the tween and teen, and even a mini-date for T and me, margaritas and chips at El Azteca.

Meanwhile, back at Bert Adams Scout Reservation, the guys were breaking down their campsite and working hard to win the Golden Ax award for an unprecedented 4th year in a row. Can't wait to see how that one turned out. It rained the entire weekend, they had to shelter from a few severe storm warnings, yet still they had a great time, according to A, now en route back home.

The cycle of Church events and services punctuates the year, keeping us all attuned to the intertwining patterns of spiritual and everyday life. Easter means the end of another winter, the transition to the calmer days of summer, and the moment-by-moment miracles of life and living. It's poignant to hear the Cherub Choir sing "All Things Bright And Beautiful" and gather baskets in hand for the hunt - just a few short years ago, our children were wriggling and singing while their eyes were poised on the prizes waiting in a few dozen plastic eggs. Now they're in a new, wonderful time of life and just as entranced with each discovery and experience.

It's Spring. In happiness and hardship, through warming sun and gusting storms, without interruption life blossoms once again.