Yes, I know, Easter was yesterday. However, as long as I'm still not back at school, it's Easter weekend. With the combination of the 40 or so days of Passover, Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Easter Monday (since when is that a holiday?), Easter is more a period of time than a holiday. Just like there's the Christmas season, there is also the Easter season. I find it odd that two weeks before Christmas, you can tell someone merry Christmas and it's perfectly acceptable. If you did the same with Easter, the recipient of the well-intended wishes would most likely look at you quite strangely. But nevertheless, happy Easter.
These past two Easters have been significantly different from all those in the past. For me, Easter is usually nothing more than a normal Sunday with a couple extra choir pieces in the church service and an especially good dinner. Last year, I spent Easter in Romania, where my missions team held a service in a gypsy church. Even though their Easter was on a different date, they had a special meal for us that included a cake in the shape of a lamb and chocolate bunnies for our leaders. The hospitality of the Romanian people amazes me. This Easter was supposed to be back to normal until my parents decided they were going to desert me and visit my grandparents in Florida. One of the great things about Cornerstone is that there is always someone who is willing to adopt a student who has been estranged from their family for the weekend. Mandie's family was thrilled to take me in. Since Mandie is in choir and had a performance Friday night, we weren't able to leave after classes on Thursday like most people did. The general population thought that was really unfortunate, but we didn't mind. It gave us extra time to clean, pack, relax, and just enjoy the quiet atmosphere before driving home.
My Easter break actually started late Thursday night. Since I didn't have to worry about packing until Friday, I used Thursday afternoon and night as an intense time of homework and got a ridiculous amount accomplished. Following that, Liz (my suitemate, friend, and RA) and I had our weekly night of watching Asian TV shows. The love for all things Asian is so widespread in Cook that it could almost be considered an epidemic. It has initiated many relationships and Asian show-related craft projects that include but are not limited to cards, posters, pillow cases, calendars, and teddy bears. The poster that was made for Jenna, a girl in my section, is pictured. Anyway, on Thursday night we finished our third show of the semester then had one of our regularly occurring spiritual/theological discussions. I was finally in bed around 5:30 Friday morning.
Needless to say, I did not want to wake up Friday. I've learned, though, that what I remember most about college won't be the few mornings where I was exhausted. I'll remember the awesome nights that I enjoy staying up with friends, investing in those relationships, and having thought provoking conversations of which some have greatly changed me. It's times like this that I live for, along with a couple other times--when I see God in a totally new way and when I have the opportunity to show people how much I care about them. They are definitely worth the lack of energy that comes with the next day.
Not much of Friday is worth noting, with the exception of Cornerstone's choir. They never cease to amaze me. Their Good Friday performance was absolutely magnificent. They joined with two other small choir groups to make a total of 106 people with eight different music parts. If I could describe it in one word, it would be awesome--not in the loose sense in which it is frequently used, but in the true sense of "awe."
Despite how tired we were, our drive to Detroit was filled with stories and ridiculously loud singing along to Disney songs. "A Whole New World" will always be my favorite.
To be continued...
These past two Easters have been significantly different from all those in the past. For me, Easter is usually nothing more than a normal Sunday with a couple extra choir pieces in the church service and an especially good dinner. Last year, I spent Easter in Romania, where my missions team held a service in a gypsy church. Even though their Easter was on a different date, they had a special meal for us that included a cake in the shape of a lamb and chocolate bunnies for our leaders. The hospitality of the Romanian people amazes me. This Easter was supposed to be back to normal until my parents decided they were going to desert me and visit my grandparents in Florida. One of the great things about Cornerstone is that there is always someone who is willing to adopt a student who has been estranged from their family for the weekend. Mandie's family was thrilled to take me in. Since Mandie is in choir and had a performance Friday night, we weren't able to leave after classes on Thursday like most people did. The general population thought that was really unfortunate, but we didn't mind. It gave us extra time to clean, pack, relax, and just enjoy the quiet atmosphere before driving home.
My Easter break actually started late Thursday night. Since I didn't have to worry about packing until Friday, I used Thursday afternoon and night as an intense time of homework and got a ridiculous amount accomplished. Following that, Liz (my suitemate, friend, and RA) and I had our weekly night of watching Asian TV shows. The love for all things Asian is so widespread in Cook that it could almost be considered an epidemic. It has initiated many relationships and Asian show-related craft projects that include but are not limited to cards, posters, pillow cases, calendars, and teddy bears. The poster that was made for Jenna, a girl in my section, is pictured. Anyway, on Thursday night we finished our third show of the semester then had one of our regularly occurring spiritual/theological discussions. I was finally in bed around 5:30 Friday morning.Needless to say, I did not want to wake up Friday. I've learned, though, that what I remember most about college won't be the few mornings where I was exhausted. I'll remember the awesome nights that I enjoy staying up with friends, investing in those relationships, and having thought provoking conversations of which some have greatly changed me. It's times like this that I live for, along with a couple other times--when I see God in a totally new way and when I have the opportunity to show people how much I care about them. They are definitely worth the lack of energy that comes with the next day.
Not much of Friday is worth noting, with the exception of Cornerstone's choir. They never cease to amaze me. Their Good Friday performance was absolutely magnificent. They joined with two other small choir groups to make a total of 106 people with eight different music parts. If I could describe it in one word, it would be awesome--not in the loose sense in which it is frequently used, but in the true sense of "awe."
Despite how tired we were, our drive to Detroit was filled with stories and ridiculously loud singing along to Disney songs. "A Whole New World" will always be my favorite.
To be continued...
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