Easter

     Easter has always been a pretty special time on the Holloman Farm.  My children loved waking up on Easter Sunday morning to check out their Easter baskets to see all the candy the Easter Bunny had left for them.  Most of the time there would be a small pile left over (each child had to get the same amount, you know).  That little pile would always be stacked at Gary's place at the table so he wouldn't eat up the candy from the kids.  The kids finally got too old for me to do Easter baskets.  That didn't stop me having fun, though.  It seems there was alway a family serving at our church that had children.   It became a tradition to have them over to our house for Easter dinner after church.  Then we would hide/hunt Easter eggs with their children.  Most of the time the Easter Bunny would leave an Easter basket at our house for those children.
     Another tradition was taking the annual Easter picture of our family and any family that happened to be sharing the special Easter dinner with us.  Sometimes it was hard keeping everyone dressed up for the picture so we would have to take care of pictures just as soon as we arrived home from church.  It's fun looking back at all the famiy Easter pictures to see how styles have changed and to see how quickly my kids grew up.
     This year I missed the traditional Easter picture, special dinner shared with friends, and the egg hunt.  However, I can't complain about my Easter here in Senegal.  It started out with attending a wonderful time of games, food, and fellowship on Saturday shared with so many friends serving here in Senegal.  We were also joined by many new friends from Mali who are staying here until they are free to return.  I got to watch children of all ages hunt for Easter eggs and then watch a game of egg toss.  Easter Sunday was celebrated by attending the International Christian Fellowship worship service.  What a blessing to be able to share in the singing, Scripture reading, and message celebrating Jesus' resurrection.  Following the service I went out to eat with many of my new friends from Mali.
     So, I did get to have an egg hunt and special meal with friends this year.  Maybe I didn't get to have my annual family picture but I did enjoy being a part of my new "family" here in Senegal.