Easter Picnic

When it comes to holidays and special events, I am a planner.  I can do spur-of-the-moment on a weekend or in our daily lives, but not on birthdays or holidays.  In fact, even if all we plan to do is nothing, I need to do it intentionally so I can adjust my expectations.  Because when I expect or want one thing and it doesn't happen, I am disappointed.

This year, with family illnesses, the women's retreat, and everything else we've had going on, I somehow forgot to plan for Easter.  I mean, I obviously knew it was coming up and was spiritually prepared, but I didn't make reservations at a restaurant or prepare a dinner menu.

On Friday night, I tried calling to make brunch reservations at a local restaurant, but the only times they had available were a real pain with Cora's nap.  I hung up, defeated, trying to fight back tears.  How were we going to celebrate the most significant event in history?

When I got up on Saturday bummed about our weekend, Jim said, "Lissa, we don't need a dumb dinner to celebrate.  We can go for a picnic or write letters to our sponsored kids, or watch a movie... We can pick something new to be our 'thing.'"  I was just so thankful to have input.  I was glad I didn't have to be fully responsible for the planning.

We decided that we would spend Sunday afternoon in a "money meeting" while Brennan watched TV and Cora napped.  This may not sound fun, but it was something we'd been really needing to do, and having it done lifted a huge weight off of us both, which made the rest of the day more enjoyable.

After Cora woke up I packed up a really delicious picnic dinner, and we headed to Warner Park.  I had planned to stick to the paved trails with Cora in a stroller, but we decided to try the real hiking trails and see how she did.  She loved it!!

The weather was perfect, the kids had a ball, and we honestly couldn't have had a better time.  All throughout our walk I praised the Lord for His beautiful creation.  As one who is obsessed with trees, what better way could there have been to celebrate our good and gracious God?

As we were leaving, I said, "No dinner in the whole, wide world could have been that awesome."  And Jim just smiled and said, "That's what I was thinking."