easter cantata/pageant

this year everyone but haley and me had the pleasure of participating in our church's Easter pageant. they used a professional actor from sight and sound to play the part of Jesus, and the tricky part was that he was supposed to pick peter up at the end and carry him out. peter kept saying, "nope. it's not really Jesus. that guy doesn't even go to our church." so they never practiced it.


that's karis holding pete's hand as they walked in for the procession of Jesus entering. olivia is in front of them, and mike is wearing a brown tunic, while jack is wearing a green one. i don't have a great shot of just jack, which is a shame because they were supposed to look adoringly at Jesus, and jack nailed that. his expression was .......... moving. really. that's karis' boyfriend, t.j. playing the guard. at one point, when they came in the side doors, something happened (i think he kicked it and stubbed his toe) where he was trying really hard not to laugh. that kind of took away from the seriousness of the situation being portrayed, but otherwise, well done.




in the picture above you can kind of get a glimpse of jack's expressions.

at this point, below, pete was getting an idea that this was the end and started holding on to olivia *really* tight. but before he knew it, Jesus had scooped him up, olivia had scooped up another girl, and they started quickly walking out the center aisle. once he got to the back and was reunited with his sisters, he was fine. robin and nick were the props guys. i didn't get a picture of them-sorry!

10 then i thought, to this i will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High.
11 i will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, i will remember your miracles of long ago, 12 i will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds. 13 your ways, o God, are holy. what god is so great as our God? 14 you are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples, 15 with your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
psalm 77:10-15

my favorites!

one of my very favorite things about being back north is the spring bulb flowers (they don't grow easily or well in florida).






these top them all.




If one daffodil is worth a thousand pleasures, then one is
too few.
- William Wordsworth

guest photographer...........olivia

every year, hundreds of thousands of these birds stop mid-migration at a nearby wildlife refuge just north of lititz, where robin works.












so when we heard they were here, we decided to drive up and have a look for ourselves. not thinking it would be much to look at.








suddenly, as we were driving (not really sure where to go) we saw cars pulled over to the side of the road just in time to see this...........................

it's amazing, really, when you think that one bird leads the pack.

we got closer, and boy did they make the noise when a blue heron tried to close in. they squawked so much, he decided to land on an abandoned part of the lake.
talk about your cliques!

they're back

very tired after being up for 40 hours (and airline problems from dallas to phila/baltimore).