Now Is Christ Risen

From Paul's first letter to the Corinthians:

"But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive."

What a wonderful weekend we are having - the confluence of two great events being celebrated in a single weekend.  First and foremost, in remembrance of the most important event in the history of the earth, the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, we celebrate Easter.  In conjunction with this celebration we have the marvelous blessing of listening to His apostles bear witness of the truths of His Gospel.

Considering all of this I thought it would be nice to post some photos of our weekend.  We cannot really communicate all we feel, but perhaps we can through some photos allow you to share in some of what we are doing.  Yesterday many - perhaps more than half - of the speakers in general conference spoke of the central part the family plays in the Plan of Happiness.  Our feelings of gratitude for this truth is demonstrated in this portrayal from our living room of the Savior watching over our family in all of their activities, wherever they may be.  May we all remember to often look up and feel His presence, for we are never alone.  Indeed, "Dearest Children, God is Near You".

As you know, we are experiencing a drought here in California, and as a result we united last Sunday as a stake and fasted and prayed for snow in the mountains.  The result is that this weekend - today and next Tuesday - we are receiving snow in the mountains and a little rain here in the valley. The Law of the Fast is something that when obeyed in faith brings tremendous blessings to an expansive population.  Just listen to President Eyring from yesterday morning's session.

Okay, here are a few photos from the old homestead:

The magnificent Snowball Bush - the blooming of which is one of our favorite Spring events.

 The Rose Garden.  It is really producing this year,

providing beautiful sights and smells in our front yard and in our house.

 Deep purple iris and vibrant pink geraniums.

And if you look closely you can see the new Camillia plant we bought in WA for Christmas.

More geraniums, along with other pretty flowers along the back fence.

Our Japanese Maple doing well in front, along with more flowers.

 Potatoes in the back, onions on the left and peas and cilantro down front.

Oh, and new raspberries down front too.

 Billions of strawberries this year!  Not quite ripe yet, but the promise is there.

 And the grapevine is going well.

 Along with lots of lemon blossoms.

And teeny tiny limes already growing.

 On the inside, this is the way the roses look adorning our dining room table.

And the chocolate I got yesterday - all dark.

 Another view of the same roses - the purple ones are very fragrant.

And notice that we are getting our things out for display again,

with Fernando Llort in the background.

 More roses - these in the entry way, along with a little bunny from Aunt Jacque.

An additional blessing this weekend is the visit of Uncle Byron and Aunt Jacque from Utah.

It is always fun to see them and spend time visiting with them.  We love our brothers and sisters.

And finally . . . macaroni salad for general conference is a family tradition.

But we haven't done it lately, so we made up a batch yesterday and ate it between sessions today.

What a treat that was!

So we hope you all have enjoyed listening to the word of the Lord through His servants this weekend. We plan on reading and listening to the great messages many times over the next 6 months, particularly those pertaining to marriage and family.  I will close with an interesting quote regarding family on a macro level from the latest George MacDonald book I am reading (The Flight of the Shadow):

". . . how little can any of us tell about even those ancestors whose names we know, while yet the nature, and still more the character, of hundreds of them, have shared in determining what I means every time one of us utters the word."