Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, y'all!  I hope you had an enjoyable weekend, and made it out to celebrate our Savior's resurrection.  After great worship and sermon, our church ended the service with cardboard testimonies from many members in our church. {Cardboard testimonies are when people write their hardship on one side of a piece of cardboard and then flip it over to reveal how God intervened. So cool!  Google it to see many examples on YouTube.}

There were so many amazing testimonies, and it was so inspiring to see so many respected people publically display their insecurities, trials, inadequacies, and disappointments and then reveal that through their faith they were redeemed through Him.  I. Was. Crying.  Especially when my parents took the stage {my sisters and I had no idea they were doing this}. 

My mom's is the top and my dad's is the bottom.

{Backstory #1: The summer after my sophomore year of college, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer.  It was a scary time for us all, but my mom battled it with chemo and radiation, and by the grace of God, came out a survivor.  We have a very strong history of breast cancer in my family on my mom's side - great grandma, great aunt, grandma, and 2 of my mom's sisters.  I told B when we got married not to get too attached, if you know what I mean ;)  But in all seriousness, my mom is about *12 kinds* of amazing and I had no doubt she'd triumph.  Above all, though, it's amazing what He can do.}

{Backstory #2: My dad, a successful VP for a large coorporation, lost his job right before Christmas 2009.  They waited until after the holidays to tell me and my sisters, not wanting to the situation to put a damper on the celebrating.  Though none of us lived at home anymore, we're all very close and felt just awful for both of my parents.  My mom had been a stay-at-home mom for over 20 years, and my dad wasn't near ready to retire.  The insecurity was fear of the unknown was the worst part.  But, fortunately, after months and months of praying for guidance, direction, and a job - stop the world - my dad is now successfully self-employed.  A huge blessing.}

I hope y'all had a great day of rejoicing!  He lives!