Easter

Here we are looking snazzy on Easter. We had a nice day. We went to church, where the new chorister did a fabulous job leading the music. It was weird to not be the one up there leading the music after doing that for two years. Directly after Sacrament meeting, I rushed to the church kitchen with one of my nurse friends to get my Neupogen shot. Hilarious getting a shot in your stomach at church. I felt like a secret druggie or something.

Not too long after we got home, I took the boys on a walk while Tom checked to see if the Easter bunny had come. We met some new neighbors on our walk who have two adorable little boys, one of which is only ten days old! He was so precious.

We ran into a couple of other buddies in the neighborhood and they came over to help hunt for the Easter eggs. I thought it was great that Miles invited them. It shows how sweet and sharing he is (at least when we are not talking about sharing with his brother, LOL). I love that it meant less sugar left in our household.

I was feeling incredibly tired, so I rested for the remainder of the afternoon until we left for Easter dinner at my aunt's house. It was really nice to see a lot of extended family there, including some out-of-towners, and the meal was AMAZING. It even included quail's eggs, which I didn't try but Tom said they were good.

After we got home and put the kids to bed, I began having pain all over my body, particularly my lower back, shoulders, arms, and legs. I guess I should know by now that if there is a side effect to be had, I will have it (with the notable exception of constipation, which the nurses keep asking me about over and over so I'm apparently lucky not to have that one). The Neupogen shots cause bone pain in 10-29% of people. At least it didn't come on until the 5th shot, and I don't have to have another shot until a week from Tuesday.

It hurt enough that I was in tears and had some trouble sleeping, but the up side is that it helped me think more about what Easter is all about--the reality that our Savior was resurrected after having suffered unimaginable pain for every person who ever lived or ever will live--pain that includes not only our sins but all of our physical pains and emotional sorrows. For me, knowing that He understands exactly what I have been through personally on every level of my life makes everything more endurable and more meaningful. There is great joy in knowing that following His choice to go through that awful atonement, Christ came back to life and thus secured the same blessing for all mankind. I love hearing Philip describe it: "Jesus Christ did die. And then he did come back to life! And some day we will die and then we will come back to life and live with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and our family!"