Easter Sunday

It's Easter Sunday!  

Happy Resurrection Day!

1 Peter 1:3
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead... 

I was musing a bit with my roommate yesterday about Easter traditions . . . here are some happy memories from my growing up years . . .

• Decorating eggs with dye, crayon, stickers, or plastic wrappers (depending upon the year!)
• Dropping grocery store sunny daffodils into the vase on the table
• Going to bed the night before in pink sponge rollers or tied rags all covered by a "grandma" scarf
• Waking up to streaming sunshine on new grass (or sparkling snow--depending upon the year!)
• Gleefully finding a basket filled with neon plastic grass, plastic eggs, jelly beans, and chocolate!
• Skillfully applying malted milk ball egg "lipstick"
• Wearing cute little ankle socks with frilly lace ruffles
• Unrolling all those curlers and becoming "fluffy"
• Piling into the car for the Sunrise Service at church
• Piling my plate with Mom's egg bake (because you truly can't trust anyone elses on Easter Sunday---it's a known fact that all egg bakes are NOT created equal) and coffee cake at the Church Breakfast
• Going to Sunday School
• Going to the regular Church Service
• Going HOME and tearing off my Easter dress and fancy socks . . . finally!
• Setting the table for the yummy deliciousness of ham, scalloped potatoes (hopefully the cheesy ones), and healthy stuff like salad and jello and pull-apart buns and pickles
• Stuffing myself on Mom's amazing cooking and feeling like taking a nap....
• But instead  . . .Washing dishes (because who needs a dishwasher when you have three perfectly fine ones (aka daughters)?
• Washing more dishes (there were always a ton because my mom likes LOTS of serving bowls)
• Washing even more dishes (Ick--to this day, I really strongly dislike washing dishes!)           ....and then, glorious naptime

Actually, I don't think I liked naps at that time in my life, so I probably curled up with a book or played a game with my sisters or something.  Hopefully no fighting was involved on Easter Sunday :)

Ah, but I'm forgetting one of the key things that I associate with Easter Sunday:

Special Music by The Miller Family

My parents LOVED Southern Gospel (still do!), and my mom was always on the lookout for a new song for us.  She'd listen to our local Christian radio station (KTIG 100.1FM @ that time) and find a winner!  She'd order it at the Christian bookstore in Brainerd, and off we'd go. Here's are a couple of songs that we sang on MANY Easter Sundays . . .
(UPDATE: I'm trying out a new audio embedding program, and it's not exactly working as I'd like it to!  So, here's a playlist with the songs I've tried to embed below.  Hopefully this one works for you!)


When He was on the Cross (this version is sung by Jake Hess)

Jesus Built a Bridge

Singing as a family is an amazing thing.  I used to think that EVERYONE had to do this, but since those naive years, I've learned that it's actually pretty rare to be in a family where everyone sings . . . on key AND with harmony. We sang songs in the car, and when I think about it now, I'm thankful for all the crazy games of "Can you find a harmony for this song?"  At the time, singing together did not always bring out the best in us (especially when we had to practice for church!). However, it's lovely to see how those memories fade and the pleasant ones brighten as years go by.

Instruments were added...my dad played guitar, and my mom played the hymns on the piano.  Eventually, my sisters became instrumentalists too (Moni became chief pianist and Melissa became the guitarist).  And me?  Well, I became the wannabe pianist, violinist, and percussionist.  Only percussion stuck--but I could only read rhythm and had to memorize all my bell parts....but that's another story!  Anyway, I was the one who really couldn't play anything.  You could call me the Charlene of the Darling family!

The Miller Family also sang in different combinations.

Tom & Cheryl sang.  My parents sang beautifully together, and I'm excited to be able to share a recording of one of their practice sessions in the playlist above.

The Miller Girls sang.  Had we grown up down south, I'm sure we would be singing some great bluegrass harmony, but instead, we sang some awesome hymns and, you guessed it, Southern Gospel.  This is one of our standards.  I don't have a recording of the three of us singing, so I guess you'll just have to listen to this one and imagine 3 girls instead of 4 men:

He Came Down to My Level (by the Gaither Vocal Band)

Singing.....

I can see it now!

Gathered around the kitchen . . .

We press "play" on the cassette player.

My dad conducts with his invisible baton.

Mom sings melody.

Monica sings soprano harmony.

Marcy sings alto harmony.

Melissa sings melody or another harmony.

Dad sings harmony in the gaps.

Stop!  Rewind!

Try it again!

Stop!  Rewind!

Try it again!

YES!  That's it!

Let's try it again!

You know, as I blog this Easter morning, far away in Taiwan, I'm wishing that we could gather around Mom's kitchen and try it again . . .

I miss you and love you all bunches and bunches and bunches!

He is RISEN!