The Stone Rolled Away

Happy Easter!! I hope it was a joyful and reflective day for you and your family. We had a wonderful Easter, which was such a relief to me. This is the holiday I have struggled with the most since it was the last major holiday before Abbie got hurt, and my memories of that Easter are so happy and vivid.

We enjoyed having church outside today, and even though I was tempted to think "I know this whole story", God brought me a new insight, just as I trusted he would. Pastor was talking about the morning of the resurrection, and mentioned the beginning of Mark chapter 16. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus and Salome bought spices so that they might more properly anoint Jesus' body. On the way to the tomb they turned to each other and asked "Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" (16:3) "But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which had been very large, had been rolled away" (16:4)

They noted their concern about the large stone, but they didn't let their inability to move it stop them from going to the tomb. They went anyway. Oh, that we would live like that! One of the biggest stones in our lives has been the statement "There is no therapy that can help this severe of a brain injury." But, we have been called to seek after Abbie's healing, even in places where there is no path yet. And, I am trusting that when we arrive, we, too, will see that the stone separating us from our Abbie was rolled away long before we even began our journey.

After church we went to our holiday standby, the Pacific Club, for a delicious brunch. There was a long line of little girls waiting to have their faces painted by a talented clown. Abbie indicated she wanted to do this, so Ray took her over to wait in the line. After five minutes they returned to the table, with Ray saying the line was too long. I took a few bites of food, then looked over to see Abbie crying. After asking her, she indicated she was upset about the face painting. So, we promised we'd go when the line went down, and she stopped crying. In the interim we were able to get pictures of her with the Easter Bunny, something I'd wanted to do but didn't have the emotional stamina to do at the mall in front of crowds of strangers. Some days you just want to be either normal or invisible.

After the pictures I saw only two girls waiting by the clown, so I rolled Abbie over there. I was stung when the clown said firmly the girl she was working on was the last one. I asked for just a small heart or something simple, but she again stated she was done. I was seething, wanting to scream at her that it wasn't Abbie's fault she couldn't stand in line with the other girls. It also wasn't her fault that she couldn't run, play, hunt eggs and laugh like the other girls. But, all I could do was retreat to our table and fight back the tears. Ray then arrived on the scene, and morphed into SuperDaddy. Mommies ask, but SuperDaddies dictate, and he wasn't going to take "no" for an answer. A few minutes later, Abbie rolled back to the table with a pretty white flower on her cheek. She was so proud, and so happy. What one minute of work and a little paint can do for a girl! I promised her we would try to keep it on her face for school tomorrow, which elicited a big grin. I smiled on the way home, talking with Ray about the meany clown, and Abbie's tears...how normal!! Every 5 year old girl wants a face-painting!

There was also excitement for the boys, little and big, at brunch. And, it was evidence of God's protection for us. The parking lot always gets so full that the valets pull cars into aisles, in essence double parking them. Our van was parked like this, behind a small limousine. About halfway through lunch I wondered, "When did they start a barbeque on the buffet line?" Then the white smoke turned black and began billowing. I heard the fire trucks arrive at about the same time I heard, "There's a limo in the parking lot totally engulfed in flames." Well, it was a boy's paradise -- a buffet line of tasty food, candy for the taking, flames and firetrucks all in one place!! But, I was concerned about the van as I began hearing reports that cars around the limo were being scorched. Thankfully, the limo had been moved forward about 40 feet to let people out of a parking stall. Our van was safe, unlike the three cars the limo was parked behind which were melted and scorched. Our van, with its ramp, has been such a blessing to us, and life would have gotten much harder if it would've been damaged by the fire.

Well, Abbie just awoke, so I need to go finish feeding her. When I told her that was writing to you all about her pretty white flower, that got a big response and a beautiful smile. And, yes I do have pictures of it but cannot promise when I will be able to download and post them (I'm shooting for this year sometime).

HE'S ALIVE!!!!