Wow, what a great movie, especially when you watch the ending scenes, while rolling the credits, they show home video of the real Bethany experiencing the story we just relived. To see courage and determination through faith in God on a big screen, in a movie. It was impressive as well as inspirational. On this eve of Easter I am truly surrounded by blessings.
This morning, I was awaken by my smiling, excited children, who were now going to be able to come and volunteer at church while I set up/ran the annual Easter Egg Hunt. I was so proud of their positive attitude, getting up this early on a Saturday morning, just to go help out. Then, to have a kind stranger, a teenager even, offer to assist the kids and I in carrying the milk and treats for the hunt to our minivan, it was wonderful to see another help us out.
We made it to church and my kids were so excited and ready to start setting up, I was so proud and also excited to see my good friend appearing down the hallway ready to pitch in as well. As I was out sprinkling plastic colored eggs across the front lawn, it was so heart warming to see both the smiles of the people driving by as well as those of my children excitedly helping out. Just then a couple teenage volunteers from church appeared with beautiful smiles and helping hands, jumping right in and taking over so I could tend to other things.
The sun came out just far enough from the scattered clouds to make you smile about the weather and soon came more smiles on the faces of children appearing in the parking lot. I received many adorable smiles, hugs and excited, "It's Miss Lisa, Mom!" It was a wonderful hunt and a wonderful morning.
After dropping the kids off at their dad's, loading pics onto Facebook and looking through the pictures again from our early celebration of Easter the day before, I soon fell asleep sitting up in my chair. Exhaustion I suppose. But luckily I awoke in time to head in for a late day matinee. While watching Soul Surfer, I found myself relating to and more importantly looking up to Helen Hunt, who played the mother in this story. She was so supportive and had such a wonderful relationship with her daughter, as well as her husband and her sons. I found it impressive how they showed the impact and importance of her faith through attendance in church, youth gatherings and mission trips. They showed the youth leader as an important role model in her life, which is rare in movies or even in Television for that matter. It was wonderful and a great movie to watch on the eve of Easter. As I sit and write about the day, I could not be prouder of how my children jumped right in and helped out at our church today. I am so blessed to have such amazing children and hope they will continue to grow in their faith, kindness and compassion as they go into their preteen and teenage years. I know that they will have so many challenges ahead, but seeing how a strong faith in God assisted the girl in the movie today, gives me hope that the faith I am living with be a good model they will chose to follow as well.
...That was my journal entry from yesterday evening, as I sat in Barnes and Noble, with the new Oprah magazine and a tall, which is Starbucks term for small these days, coffee. As I took a break from writing, I started skimming through the magazine was amazed at what appeared on the page. An interview with the real Bethany Hamilton, the girl who's story was the movie I just had watched. It put a big smile on my face, as did the pages that featured how and where Shakeology is made. This past week, I spent five days doing a clean eating cleanse, I believe it is called. A friend of mine is a Beachbody Coach and is working on creating her own business of coaching others to eat healthier as well as offering Boot Camps and fitness classes to help others reach their fitness and wellness goals. I was looking into it and decided I would give the five day cleanse a try. I was given a meal plan to stick too, a shopping list for my food and two different Shakeology samples to try along with some workouts to try out. She was emailing me to check in each day and the first couple were challenging. The plan has you eat "those healthy foods", natural, pure, clean eating. I no longer had sugar, artificial anything, high fructose corn syrup, none of it. I had more veggies and fruits in my fridge than have even been in there before. The crisper's were so full that celery and strawberries had to take a back seat on another shelf. I had also never spent that much time preparing foods just for me. Slicing avocados, dicing up garlic cloves, I felt like a real cook! Cutting down my caloric intake to only 1,200 calories or less a day was a challenge, or perhaps only eating what I was told to was the most challenging. Regardless, my friend was right. Once your body adjusts to only natural, healthy, good for you foods, your body really doesn't crave the sugars, salts and sweets like it did before. I did lose weight, but more importantly I proved to myself I could make it through and now am continuing on with seeking out healthy choices.
After worship this morning, which was a wonderful start to my Easter morning, hearing from all different kids where they had found their baskets and what was inside, I felt like once again I spent an hour or so with my extended family again. I saw my friend who had been coaching me this past week and shared with her that I doing well and continuing with my healthy, natural choices and she was so proud. Not as proud as I was, and continue to be as I was ordering my lunch soon after with eggs, avocado, tomatoes and such with a side of fresh fruit for my Easter brunch. I was on my way to Olbrich gardens, camera in tow, ready to photograph the flowers of spring this Easter as well as a chance to sit and begin my new book out in the gardens and enjoy the sunshine while it lasted. I passed a couple choices for lunch that were actually closed, so I kept driving and fortunately, discovered a new place, Daisy Cafe and Cupcakery. It had a big sign on the side explaining they had been voted a best new local business in Madison Magazine and it was very busy, yet they had a table for one ready! I enjoyed looking at the art on the walls, the diversity of families around me and the mosaic broken colored glass and tiles surrounding the doorway and many of the windows. It was so colorful and full of life. Just the spot to have my Easter brunch for one, which didn't really feel like one, as I had my cellphone on the table and was seeing postings on Facebook from friends, as well as so many people in one small space. It was what I needed.
I finished a great meal and was ready for the fresh air! As I pulled in the parking lot, there they were, as though welcoming me with their cheerful yellow glow. Rows of beautiful blooming daffodils, wishing me Happy Easter and welcoming me back home in a way. I have spent many afternoons walking around, photographing, reading, journaling, soaking up the colors, sounds, and smells of the gardens at Olbirch. It's a blessing to have not so far away from home. I read recently about finding God in nature and I believe that is true. Whether it is God, or perhaps the peace and joy he is offering. It is a place where I can be at peace. Where I can sit back and watch and listen. To the robin nearby hopping on the old dry crumbled up leaves or the woodpecker on a nearby tree. Then it's the old couple nearby admiring something on the walk or a little boy excitedly running ahead of his family on a path to the side. I love it there. I also loved that my old SLR "fancy" camera was working again as I so loved finding the little things that stood out to me today and capturing a fleeting movement on film. Once I had a chance to stroll through all the paths, see the magnolias that were just starting as well as the ducks enjoying the driftwood out in the pond, I decided it was time to sit and read. Max Lucado's new book, tackling the tough questions on God and Life. Quite appropriate for Easter I thought, or more importantly, sparking an interest to me this weekend, or these days.
These days my interest has been in seeking out why I am here, what should I be doing with my time, my days, my life. I have been focusing time and energy into my faith, helping it grow stronger through action, study and time to reflect. I am focusing on keeping myself healthy so that I am a great example for my children and to keep myself energized and at my best. I am working on the courage to work on art again...at times of inspiration, something said at church this morning, something that caught my eye at the cafe and later at the Gardens' gift shop, I am taking steps. I am writing, I am taking pictures again, I am finding ways to feed my soul when I am not with my kids to help feed and nurture theirs. The girl staring in Soul Surfing was asking her self the same questions. Why am I here? What purpose does God have for me? I liked one of the responses that the youth leader shared with her. Though a visual example, she displayed a close up picture and asked the youth with her what they thought they were viewing. They made some guesses, but obviously did not know. Then it was zoomed out to reveal it was the eye of a bee. The example was illustrating that sometimes we, as people, are too close up to a situation in life to see the zoomed out picture of what God has planned for us. How true is that. So we have patience, or try to, as we work on seeing the bigger picture in each of our lives.
Happy Easter and God Bless
