happy easter, elenora

today was the perfect easter. when elenora awoke we snuggled with her in our bed and let her open her easter basket. she loved the watering can and the paints and paint brushes. we let her pick which easter dress she wanted to wear (she chose a light yellow one with little roses sewn on it from my uncle m.) and then we took her to church.

we went to a church we haven't gone to before. we'd never even been inside, so we had no idea how to get in or anything. everyone was so friendly, though, in pointing us to the nursery. there were just two women and a little boy in there, so elenora got lots of good attention. she didn't even cry. the women pointed us in the direction of the back of the church so that we wouldn't walk into the front of the sanctuary, but our choice of sitting in the balcony was poorly timed...as we walked up the stairs we could hear a bell choir, and it turned out that they were up in the balcony and we appeared just where everyone was looking and slunk into our seats. oh well. turns out we were sitting behind the minister's wife, who was so welcoming and happened to know j.'s parents and some friends of their family. the sermon and service were very good.

after the service we went to the nursery to get ella and she was happily coloring in easter eggs on a paper with crayons. it made me so happy to see her busily engaged and not crying. the nursery workers remarked on how verbal she is and said "it's really kind of amazing." elenora pointed to a big orange crayon in one of her hands and said "mommy" and then to a little orange crayon in her other hand and said "baby." that's a new thing lately: she will point to a big item and a little item and say that one is the "mommy" or "daddy" and the other one is the "baby."

the minister's wife came into the nursery and noticed us and said they were holding an easter egg hunt for the children next door in the yard of the minister's house, and she invited us to join. it was so fun to watch elenora have her first easter egg hunt with all the other children. she was so excited. and they gave her a large easter basket prize for being the youngest easter egg hunter! it really blessed my heart that they treated us with such open hearts as if we weren't strangers who had never attended their service before. i even met another couple who have three little girls, and they were really nice. i would love to go there again.

this coming wednesday night that church is sponsoring a movie night at a local cinema where they will play the film "fireproof". it's supposed to be inspirational for married couples. lord knows j. and i can use a night out if nothing else, so this should be a good date for us.

we got elenora home in good time to get a full nap. when she awoke momby and j. and h. came over and we had two easter egg hunts and quiche and veggies and dip and crackers and fruit salad. ella loved having her family around. the whole day just couldn't have been any nicer.