Holy Week, Spring Break--and a Vacation!

I keep wistfully waiting for the time when I can return to blogging more regularly!

It seems there is always some urgent big time-consuming thing. Always a good thing! For example, there was the clergy and spouse retreat, which took three days right when I needed to start thinking about Easter Vigil readings. And there was the opportunity to teach a Shakespeare class for teen theater students, which I am enjoying immensely, but required a good amount of start-up energy the week before that.

So the big urgent thing for the last couple weeks has been scrambling to pull together readers for Easter Vigil, their schedules, creative ideas for dramatic accompaniment and the folks to make that happen: a dancer, a djembe player, bell-ringers, percussion players (and instruments), musicians, music, and children to act out one of the readings. Did I mention scheduling??

This week--rehearsals for those readings! And Holy Week! We have services for Maundy Thursday, Stations of the Cross on Friday afternoon, Good Friday, Easter Vigil on Saturday and Easter Sunday. There are music rehearsals going on as well as my reading rehearsals, so our house--so close to the church now!--will be Holy Week Central. People will be providing meals and snacks for musicians and tech people at my house before each service and during the day on Friday and Saturday. One of my friends is going to hang out at my house to help set up, serve and clean up. It's going to be hectic but exciting!

(Note to self--figure out today or tomorrow what the younger kids and I are wearing for each service and do laundry or shop as needed--and buy ham! Our friends who have hosted us for Easter dinner for the last several years are going to join us this year, since the wife is recovering from surgery. My sister-in-law and I will cook together on Saturday morning, and our friends will bring sides and a dessert.)

After Holy Week, we have spring break, so it will be a recovery week...but also a week of preparation for Chicklet and me--because on the following Monday, when the boys go back to school, we are going on a cruise!

Ever since Papa R and I went on one for our 25th anniversary, I've been wanting to do another one. He hasn't been as eager, not because he didn't enjoy it, but because he's traveled so much in his working life that the thought of getting on another airplane sends him trembling into a fetal position. So he suggested I take Chicklet12. She's the perfect age and temperament--young enough to still be happy hanging out with Mom, and old enough to be companionable. Plus she's homeschooled, so it's easy for her to get away.

We are saying it's in honor of my 50th and her 13th birthdays, since it's about halfway between the two events. :)

We got a super deal through Vacations to Go (4 nights for $250 each), and airfare to Miami was only $150 each, round-trip! It was too good to pass up. Plus I am way overdue to keep a promise extracted from me by friends who love and care about me, that I would take a vacation after our extremely stressful summer last year.

So there ya go. We are going to the Bahamas in about 10 days.

And I got so busy with rehearsals and services that several days have passed since I wrote this! Easter Vigil is tonight!!!

A blessed Easter everyone!!