Easter Blessings and Renewal

Today was a bittersweet day. 

BITTER: Instead of attending my normal church service and Sacrament meeting, we had Stake conference. Upon arrival, the usher presented me with a map of the new ward boundaries and I was heartbroken to discover I have been placed in a new ward. I love my Bishop and he has helped me through a lot of emotional and spiritual turmoil the past year, and I still meet with him from time to time for guidance and support. Now I feel like I have to start all over in this key relationship. I also really love my home teacher. He is totally amazing and always sincere and helpful. Other than that, I can not say that I am totally connected in the ward or anything, but in my opinion, those are the two most important people in my ward. Although it will be difficult, I feel I must look at this as an opportunity for renewal and the opportunity to grow spiritually, where in many ways I have felt desperately stagnant, or even dying the past several years. Perhaps, this really is what I need.

SWEET: I had the best Easter celebration with my family! We "hid" eggs for Jude (21 months) and had a wonderful dinner. My grandma Irene made an absolutely perfect ham! It was glazed with brown sugar and honey! Luckily we had a lot of leftovers, including tons of deviled eggs (my absolute favorite!)
Jude was a great egg hunter. The only problem was that some of the eggs had M&M's and so they were a bit gooey. Once in a while, an egg would pop open and the "nummies" and "cannie" would spill on the ground. At that point, much like a hamster, he would start popping as many "cannies" into his mouth as he could fit! This became messy when the M&M's were melted and it got all over his face and hands. He also got a beautiful, honey colored teddy bear that is literally as big as me! This was something that he spied in Costco a while ago and was devastated when Mama and Dada said no. Mama decided he had to have it with how it broke his heart... and at only $30! His heart melted when he found it hiding in the back yard with the eggs. He ran up and gave it "hougs" and "lups" (hugs and lips).