Dear Mom: Preparing for Easter

[Tim]

Dear Mom,
The temperatures are rising here; the days are warmer now than when you were here this winter, and the nights are warm now, too.  On Saturday I took Janet to a resort and we bought a milkshake and a tea to share--and for the cost of those two drinks we got to sit on the classy beach on a sofa under a canopy with the moon rising and the ocean singing.  Beautiful.

I think you'll be especially moved to hear that one of your friends from the Cafe came over last night when our family was watching the movie Son of God.  She watched it with us, and by the end there were tears streaming down her face.  After the movie we turned our hearts to God and prayed together.  I have to confess that I had forgotten the powerful way that God stirs the hearts of those who are new to loving him.

Today Karen arrived.  Janet is looking forward to having her sister here, and for two weeks!  This first week that she's here, many of our attentions will be turned toward celebrating the Easter weekend with our Viet friends.  For many of them, they know only a bit of the secular side, the bunnies and the eggs, and none of the historical side.  We'll paint eggs and talk about the culture of egg hunts and cute dresses on little girls, and we'll show movies like the one I mentioned above about the history of the life/crucifixion/resurrection of the Easter Story.  It's a powerful message!

On Sunday a close friend of ours, Wally, took us to the Pagoda where some monks and nuns take in and care for unwanted babies.

Mom, I'm both sorry and not sorry that we didn't go with Wally to the Pagoda when you were here.  I know how strongly you value the touch and caress of babies, and you would have done what we did, only you wouldn't have been able to leave them without the fabric of your heart ripping.  What we did is we stood for nearly an hour at the side of two of the playpens and touched and rubbed and patted any 1-year-old who toddled over for strokes.  Sometimes the others played on or under the grass mats that are the floor of the playpen, and one of the little guys plopped down and passed out in sleep while the others played around him and sometimes walked on top of him as they went zigzagging around in the playpen.  We gave an hour of life to the toddlers, praying for and touch-love-languaging them.  I'll definitely go back, because it feels like an important thing to do.

Thanks for the stuff you sent with Karen!!  We haven't fully unpacked it yet, but I already know some of the goodies she brought.  She'll be here for Easter, then Michael's birthday, then her own birthday.  So it's a celebratory couple of weeks!