Happy Easter

It was the perfect weekend. I was a little worried that it was going to be a dud because of the snow on Friday. I like doing out Easter egg hunt on Saturday so Sunday can be about the real meaning of Easter. Luckily, most of our snow melted but Saturday morning and by Saturday afternoon it was completely gone and dry enough to hide the eggs. Wahoo! So we had our friends over, Shannon, Joseph, and Adam. It was a blast! The kids knew just what to do. We did have to remind them to go find the eggs a couple of times, instead of picking one up, opening, and eating the candy. After the egg hunt us adults just basked in the sun while the kids played in the garden and ran around the yard. Later that evening, after the friend had left, my other old roommate showed up. She stuck around for a good portion of the evening and even took us out to dinner. I sure love my Cami.
Sunday morning I let my little Easter bunnies sleep in while I got some stuff done. When Ella woke up it took her a whole minute to find her Easter basket (Andrew wanted to wait for Sunday to do baskets otherwise those would've been on Saturday too). Unfortunately, since she found it so fast Andrew missed her first reactions. I guess that's what cameras are for. In her basket was some candy, of course, sunglasses, a play microphone, and her new Easter dress. She is obsessed with the microphone. She's been singing non-stop ever since. She had actually found it on Saturday and was NOT happy when we took it away so she could go to bed. Later that night she woke up screaming about her microphone. She calmed down super quick and went right back to sleep so I'm thinking she had some sort of nightmare about losing it or breaking it. Even though Andrew missed her basket reactions he did get to see her first reaction to her new tricycle. We don't usually and aren't planning on doing big gifts for Easter every year but this year we thought we'd go ahead and spoil her a bit seeing as she'll be going a few weeks without mommy here in the next couple of months. She loved her tricycle. Hence, her sitting on it for our family picture. She wasn't quite sure about peddling but she's now mastered that. She's still trying to figure out the steering but for now she's content with peddling forward till she runs into something and then backing up. As for mine and Andrews Easter baskets, we both got candy and he got Thor on bluray and I got Willow on DVD and a package of gladiola bulbs. We did splurge a little this year on a few extras but I think we deserved a little something since we've all been on edge lately. Plus, it was nice for mommy to get some retail therapy. Even though, going to Old Navy when you're seven months pregnant is NOT very fun. But, I stayed in the little girls section so it wasn't too bad.
This Easter has been a particularly special/hard one for me. Andrew lost me at one point last night and, of course, found me in bed crying. I've always had a testimony of the Atonement. I don't expect that testimony to EVER waver. I've always been grateful for the opportunity to repent and feel the comfort of forgiveness that comes afterward. I've always loved knowing, that no matter what, the feelings I was feeling, the trials I was going through I wasn't alone. I just never really put much thought into some of the other aspects of the Atonement. I know them, but until now, when my baby girl is facing so much, I never really had the opportunity to appreciate them as fully. My little Olivia WILL be whole again. From our relief society lesson yesterday, George Albert Smith said when talking of the physical body/tabernacle
"-but the intelligence that God has placed within it, that which has power to reason and to think, that which has power to sing and to speak, knows no death; it simply passes from this sphere of eternal life, and awaits there the purification of the physical tabernacle, until the time it will be reunited with this tabernacle, which will be glorified, even as the body of our risen Lord was glorified..."
Olivia's body will be "purified." And, if I don't get the opportunity to see her fully grown in this lifetime, I will in the next. Because of the Atonement I will be with Andrew and both my girls (and any other future children) in the next life, for eternity. In our perfect bodies, with complete hearts (and Andrew's hoping lots of thick hair) we will have each other. I love that the Atonement makes this possible. I hate that I'm having to take comfort in that. I love my testimony and am grateful for the opportunities the Lord provides me to stengthen it. Even when those opportunities are hard and scary. I know He will be with me and my family through it all. In our darkest, most stressful and scary moments He will not abandon us. And I will never really lose any member of my family. It has been such a special Easter weekend. I've never felt more scared in my life but I've also never felt the Lord's comforting hand as strongly before. Happy Easter!