He Has Risen!

Just as He promised!  The last week has been a busy and AWEsome week.  We've had so many opportunities to worship Him and reflect on just what he has done for us.  What a glorious gift and sacrifice that was given for little 'ole me, and you.  Someone so unworthy of such a gift, yet it is given so freely and selflessly.

We missed Wednesday evening services, but made it to Good Friday services and received communion.  On our way to church I thought of my online friends.  Some of you I've e-mailed and chit chatted with and some seem surprised and even doubting of the place we call home.  How RURAL we really live.  So I thought what better way to show you and share than letting you know where we go to church.  it takes us about 10-15 minutes to get there from our house, and our church isn't in town.  Nope, we live in the country and we worship in the country.  ;o)  Our church is so far back in the middle of nowhere I teased my mother the first time she visited by telling her 'they don't make you handle the snakes on your first visit'.  LOL  :)  Surprisingly....she took me seriously!  lol  (somewhat)  I've actually had people share with me that the 'original' church was a log cabin in the woods.  And then they built this:

And yes, it's still in the woods.  We have to turn on 4 different gravel roads to get there.  It's a beautiful place in the country that is filled with beautiful, loving people we have come to know as our church family.  Every Sunday we gather in the original church for greetings, a quick hymn and then we're off to Sunday school.  In the original church there are about 20 pews.  Yes, 20.  My family of 5 fills one pew.  There's room for a small piano in the front of the church, a pulpit that you can actually reach out and touch from the front pew and this beautiful cross hangs on the stone chimney at the front of the room.  Sanctuary seems like such a grand a LARGE word.  This is a small room.  Our family room in my house is larger.

The original hymnals are used every Sunday morning.  They are so old it's like books in an antique store.  The pages are yellowed and the covers on the books are showing the threads that make up the binding and covers.

And as wonderful of an atmosphere as this presents..... I'm sure thankful we worship in this building:

Where there's plenty of elbow room and bathrooms with stalls and pews big enough to seat all my family in one row with friends and relatives to sit with us when they visit.  :)  But, notice the background?  Yep....middle of nowhere.  Our little country church in the woods, with our gravel parking lot and play yard on the hill.

Good Friday services had me thinking about the bread and the wine.  In more ways than one.  So it gave me an idea.

I made these little cards and spent all day Saturday making homemade loaves of mini bread to give as gifts for Easter Sunday.  I love making homemade bread and I made so much Saturday that I went through almost 15 to 20 pounds of flour!  Yep, you read that right!  Good thing I buy in bulk!  lol  :) 

I bought gallon size plastic bags with twist ties to put them in, .99 at Wal Mart, bought a roll of ribbon (hind sight I should have gotten purple, but I doubt anyone really noticed), and used my scrapbook supplies and my printer to make little cards like the image above (I made in photoshop) to attach to the loaves.  

We shared the bread with our pastor and his wife, associate pastor's family, Sunday school teachers, a few special friends and family that we shared Easter dinner with.  :)  My husband was thrilled that I saved a few loaves for us.  I usually make homemade bread so he's used to it, but the thought of giving it all away and having to smell it ALL day long was killing him!  LOL

Wanna know something else that's kinda cool?  I made that big huge wicker basket too (a few years ago), and I can say with all certainty and honesty, I WILL NEVER MAKE ANOTHER ONE.  Basket weaving is not my craft of choice.  It's the size of a laundry basket and I think the blisters lasted six months from making it.  ;)  If you're going to weave....start SMALL!  lol  During my bread making day, I also made my skirt for Easter sunday, a new purse and gave both my boys those haircuts they should have had a week ago.  I was feeling a bit domestic!   Then Sunday afternoon we spent at my grandma's house having Easter dinner with our extended family and the kids had an Easter Egg Hunt.

When we arrived home Dad decided to take his Sunday afternoon nap and I snuck off to get a surprise!  Oh.... wait till you see what it was!  You'll have to check back tomorrow for that BIG surprise!  You're gonna love it!

I hope you all had a very blessed Easter weekend and maybe things can get back to a regular routine this week.  Whatever regular means....