Maria has recently found peace in sketching. As she has had to borrow Ben’s pencils and sketch pad until now, it's nice that she has her own set. Gabi also bought a couple of things—not to be outdone. Afterwards we had lunch, which is always interesting this time of year as many of the items in food stores are covered and cafes serve only unleavened food. This café (Café Joe – one of my favourite coffees) had a Pesach menu. I’ve heard that some restaurants are foregoing the ban, because cleaning and preparing restaurants at this time is a costly process (plus it was not strongly enforced last year).
We dropped into Dr Harvey’s house on the way home to chat. During our stay Ben called, “…just to say hi…”, which was really mature and a lovely gesture. He has been quite affectionate of late.
Later in the afternoon Gabi and I decided that since we were being artistic today, then we should dye some eggs before Easter. As you can see, we did okay for our first real attempt. Gabi did most of the decorating. We intend to blow-dry decorative wrappings on some of the eggs on Sunday morning.
It is great to be able to spend these next few days celebrating such significant events as:
Pesach (‘Passover’)
People of the Jewish and Christians faiths believe this is when the Pharoah of Egypt learned of God's awesome power the hard way, thereby allowing Moses to take the Israelites out of slavery and Egypt, eventually leading them to the promised land of Israel.
Read the book of 'Exodus' for more information.
Easter
Along with Christmas Day, for us this is the most significant day of the year. Coming from the Christian faith, we believe this is the day when Jesus Christ rose from the dead three days from the time of his crucifixion (paid the penalty of sin for us) to allow 'anyone' who accepts the free gift of believing in Him to have eternal life (heavy going for some of you readers, no doubt).
Read the books/gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John for more information.
We would have loved to visit Jerusalem, but we had the opportunity last year and it would have been too much for Maria. Anyway, our upcoming trip is enough for now (probably for all of us).
While in Gabi’s bedroom a short time ago to pack her things for our trip, she woke and watched me for a while (pretending she was asleep). After a couple of minutes she said to me, “Daddy, I really appreciate all the hard work you and Mummy do for me and Ben.” It’s enough to bring tears to your eyes.
Receiving such touching comments by both our children in one day (wish I could bottle it) gave me the energy and inspiration to sit down and churn this out before bed.
Happy Easter and Chag Pesach Sameach (Happy Passover)
