An unusual Easter

Our church holds a conference every Easter called Shout. It's amazing. No other word describes it. Every year our church goes to a new level after Shout and we love being there.

Problem for us is that my hubbies family have a family reunion every Easter too. And they all travel from far and wide and spend the weekend together. He is the only saved person in his entire family- immediate and extended and his family have been wonderful at understanding our commitment to our church and the conference. Family (whanau) is BIG to them all. We have missed 7 family reunions in a row and now that Glenn (my hubbies dad) is gone, we can't get that time back...ever. Being real, my heart aches at the times we have missed with him and the family.

This Easter my hubbies cousin was having a 21st celebration as part of the reunion. This young man has worked through major intellectual hurdles and now lives independently and has built a life and social circle for himself. We are so proud of him.

So we thought long and hard and split our time. Spent Thursday and Friday at Shout and then early on Sat morning went up north to a (gorgeous, beautiful) tiny place called Whananaki North.

The look on the faces of our family as we arrived was worth the drive and missing Shout. They ALL knew we had missed the conference and chosen them instead. The birthday boy loved that we had come and my hubbie got say a few words and tell him what he meant to us. So good. So very good.

.

L-R: BIL & SIL, The birthday boy and my MIL and us.

And last night we put on a 40th anniversary celebration for my parents. I say "we" lightly as my sister did 95% of the preparation and work. What a lovely evening. The crowd was heavy on the South African and light on any other nationality! The food also featured South African cuisine- babotie and chicken briyani. Needless to say, I made a pig of myself!

The happy couple, my Mom and Dad

.

Here I have actually pushed my Dad to one side as he was cutting the cake skew (have I NO shame!?!) He is complaining about having an interior designer for a daughter.......!








My gorgeous sisters (and giant me- I am a LOT taller than they are) We normally stand together with our arms around each other and are not usually this formal (!) Hope this photo is ok, Pen and Nik?

So yes.

.

All in all a good Easter. An unusual Easter, but a very very good one.