Happy Easter!

It's Easter morning and Pete and Luke just headed off to Cindi and Dave Frame's annual Easter egg hunt (these are two of the friends who have been so incredibly helpful to us these past couple months). Over the years their Easter party has turned into quite a production -- I think that they hide something like 500 eggs in their backyard. Unfortunately, Kyle is staying home sick and I am staying home in the hopes that I don't get sick (our friends are expecting about 100 people for the event, which is way too many germs for me at this point). With great sadness, we also decided to skip church this morning. I always love going to church on Easter because it's fun to be part of a community spirit on holidays like this, but also because I want my kids to eventually understand the true meaning of Easter. But Pete and I know from experience that on Easter Sunday our church will be standing room only with wall-to-wall families (or should I say wall-to-wall germs?). I only have a week and a half left of treatment and can't risk getting sick at this point. I feel miserable enough with just chemo symptoms -- I don't want to add to the misery by getting a cold. So I guess that the religion lesson will just need to wait!

Luckily for Luke and Kyle our absence from church did not preclude the Easter bunny from visiting! He brought a few fun toys for the kids and just enough sweets to make the day enjoyable. And then, somehow mysteriously, he also hid all kinds of Easter eggs around our front yard while the kids were busy playing with their toys. Pete and I don't actually know who scattered these eggs in the yard (it wasn't us!), but it was very fun for the boys to discover and it made me cry when I saw them. I think that one of the hardest parts of my treatment is that I feel like I don't have the energy to be a good mom and Easter is a perfect example. If my parents hadn't taken the time this past week to pick up a few toys for the kids, I don't know what I would have done last night as we were pulling together their Easter baskets. I was WAY too tired this week to even think about it!! But thanks to my parents who were thoughtful enough to buy a few toys, and to my in-laws who remembered to send cute cards, and to whomever the mysterious Easter bunny was who left eggs in our yard our kids had a fabulous Easter morning. Like I said before, it takes a village to beat cancer and I am grateful to have such a wonderful village!

So now I am heading off to tuck myself into bed for a nap and to give my body the rest that it needs to beat this cancer! Happy Easter to all!