Artwork or Essay

I love photography.  At times a photo becomes an instant piece of art.  At other times - and this may be the deeper challenge of photography - it creates an instant essay.  Unfortunately I cannot claim to have taken this picture, but when I saw it on Facebook recently, I couldn't help smiling at the little thesis it spoke to my mother's heart.  (Thanks Robin S, for the wonderful story picture.)

Yes - those are my girls.  No, this is not normal attire for them.  They've inherited this flair for theatrics entirely from their father.  This particular drama was just another one of their sleepovers - which normally include inviting at least one friend over to spend the night (not necessarily sleeping), lots of laughter into all hours of the night, cookie dough and creating some type of video - usually a music video.

Back to the picture.  There's the youngest of the three, Tabitha, on the right.  First, her preference for being the one hiding behind the camera makes me love the fact that she's now a part of the essay.  But what I really love, even a bit more than her priceless expression...is that hat.  She has spent the last few years of her life lambasting the owner of that hat, convinced that he was not a worthy suitor for her older sister.  However, now that he's finally, slowly, convincing her that perhaps he's not such a bad guy after all...when Tabitha wants to look cool, she wears none other than HIS hat.  That is rich. 

Next there's the middle girl of the three, Lydia.  The sweet little blond who grandma used to call her "Precious Moments" doll.  Ask anyone who knows her today and they'll still tell you that she is one of the sweetest young ladies they've ever met.  Yet here she is, trying her level best to look "gangsta."  At first glance I thought she had pulled it off pretty well.  Then I looked closer and noticed, once again, the hat.  It's a "Christian" ball cap, complete with a Bible verse and a cross on the front of it, that she's had since she was about five years old.  She wore it all the time, back when she had big blue eyes set in that tiny Precious Moments face.  Ah well, I suppose that's just a little detail that only a mother would know.

Last but certainly not least, I can't help laughing when I see the older of the three, Bethany, bursting out from behind.  Knowing that she creates, choreographs and basically inspires just about every drama that occurs in our home...and knowing her personality (that is so much like her father's) I can almost audibly hear her stance in the background.  It says to me, "Okay - you younger two sisters can be the center of attention for a moment, but HELLO - I'm still back here!!!" 

There you have it - the photo essay.  Not a polished and publishable piece of literature, perhaps...but snippets of my life that I wouldn't trade for the original Beowulf manuscript.

The Lessons of Star Wars Lego Games

Video games aren't a big part of my children's lives.  Their father and I have always agreed that there are more important things in life than raising kids with all the latest gaming equipment.

However, we do let them spend some time playing PC games - and I recently enjoyed listening to my two youngest ones playing their favorite "Star Wars Lego" game. 

While playing each other in an intense, two-player battle of something I have no clue about...I heard my youngest, Josiah, exclaim, "No choking! No choking!  Don't you remember?  That's a rule!!!"

Well, if you gotta have rules, I'd say that's a pretty good rule to take with you through life.  Speaking of life...

A few moments later I found myself laughing at another one of his outbursts, "If you keep killing me, I'm really going to die!"

Ah, the profound lessons learned from little Lego caricatures.

Life Goes On...

It's Labor Day weekend, which means summer is over.  Maybe not officially on the calendar, but around here as soon as Labor Day is past we start our home schooling and the older girls are all back in their respective colleges and high school.  Thus, I don't care what the calendar says...summer is over and done with.

Ever since we took our first daughter to college four years ago, I experience this type of grieving process as each new school year rolls around.  Summer tends to spoil me, as girls return home from college and actually become a part of the family again...for weeks and weeks.  I awaken to their peels of laughter late at night and absolutely love it.

Then, before I know it - a new semester is ready to begin, and every other year a newly graduated girl heads out to join the college ranks.  It leaves me feeling rather empty; a lot like their lifeless, quiet bedrooms.  Something is missing that has always been there, and it takes awhile to adjust.

It's all good, though.  They're happy, healthy, wonderful young ladies, moving into adulthood just like they're supposed to do.  Yes - life goes on...and it's a blessed experience.

Traditional "walk of the freshman" at HLGU, complete with bagpipes.

Will a Net Really Save Them? (by Nate)

The Golden Gate Bridge to get a $45 million suicide net?  -- The iconic span attracts dozens who jump to their deaths each year. Officials plan to spend millions to prevent that.

I have an opinion about this.  I was at the notorious life threatening bridge in January.  I was surprised it was a toll bridge.  Cost me 4 dollars just to drive across one way.  I read about its history and construction.  I don’t think it even cost $45M to build! 

We spent a few minutes touring the city by the bay, notorious for other reasons.  When you mention San Francisco what first comes to your mind?  The gold rush?  The 49er’s?  Cable cars?  Hilly streets?  China Town?   All these things have made the city unique, but none would explain why people want to kill themselves at such a rate so as to justify this outlay of public funds for a net.

Will the suicide rate be reduced after the net?  Won’t hopeless, desperate people find some less famous height from which to jump?  Aren’t there a couple other bridges across the bay?  Do you have to climb one of those picturesque towers and jump in order to die on impact?  Why would you jump into water anyway, as there is a chance you could just get wet and busted up?

There is another thing that immediately comes to my mind when I think of San Francisco.  It has to do with values and lifestyles.   I know many right now would say I have become a bigot, hate monger or self-righteous right wing fanatic just to imply that there might be a connection, but I haven’t even said yet what comes to my mind.  If your mind went there – that was your choice – not mine.

Values and lifestyle are really generic labels that could refer to any number of things.  If you value great Chinese food, for instance, and insist on eating massive amounts of it, you may have health problems develop.  They often use a lot of MSG, I hear from my mother-in-law who has a severe reaction. If you value the taste of the food more than the natural consequences of indulging without restraint, your lifestyle will cause some people to judge your actions as inappropriate.

We have a huge overeating problem in America.  San Francisco is no exception.  Dozens of people die from issues related to obesity each year.  Should they put a net up in front of the most famous Chinese restaurant?  Would it do any good?  Will obesity stop being a problem by building the net?

So, if I do not value life any more and chose to end it, is that wrong?   “Suicide is illegal.”  That’s a line from It’s a Wonderful Life, spoken by the guard at the bridge where George Bailey was going to end it all.  Most of us would argue that suicide is wrong.  We make a value judgment based on the impact that certain behaviors have on our society.  The brokenness and hurt caused to others and the utter despair in the heart of a suicidal person cause us to say, “that is just wrong!”

Our ability to pronounce that something is wrong can therefore be easily established apart from any moral or civil code.  Right and wrong clearly exist apart from the holding of any religious or atheistic perspective.  Suicide, when chosen as the appropriate lifestyle of the masses would clearly result in the extinction of the human race.  Even if it is not wrong, it is therefore inappropriate for the furtherance of our species.  If everyone committed suicide there could be no babies born.

Now a thinking person will see several parallels in my thoughts to other value and lifestyle issues which I will still not name in particular.  There is no need to single out one set of value or lifestyle choices from another.  Some are clearly wrong or at least unwise to follow, as the natural result of pursuing them is more quickly fatal.

When I performed my first funeral service for a victim of suicide, I searched a certain ancient book held in high regard by a vast number of people around the world.   Within its pages I uncovered many stories where characters took their own lives.  No net would have saved Samson when he pushed the pillars out from under the roof of the house of his Philistine captors.  Saul, who was the king, a real hero among his people, head and shoulders above the crowd…he came to a point when he valued death more than life and fell on his own sword.   Judas…need I say more?  And that Philippian jailer who was about to kill himself…now there is a story about suicide prevention that ought to be heard.

What if we spent $45M to bring hope to people who are hopeless?  What if we gave them a reason to live when they think death is the best thing?   What if their houses became places of great joy with many reasons to live?   What if instead of throwing their lives away, people had a reason to live and give their lives in service to others for the greater good of all mankind?   Where does such life changing hope come from?

I know a place, a wonderful place; Where accused and condemned

 Find mercy and grace. 

Where the wrongs we have done; And the wrongs done to us;

Were nailed there with him,

There at the cross.

At the Cross, at the Cross

He died for our sins.

At the Cross, at the Cross

He gave us life again.

�1993 Mercy / Vineyard Publishing

Words and Music by Randy and Terry Butler

My opinion:  Put a cross, appoint a preacher, and establish a Christ-centered counseling service on both sides of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Pass out literature about the value of life.  Use the big net to bring in the crowds of hopeless people to hear about my Jesus.  He gave His life – yes it was suicide for him to go to Jerusalem – in order to give us all hope.

God is Able...To Get Me Through Another Year of Camp!

It happens each summer...Mt. Zion Youth Camp.  I believe it's been happening since the 1950's, but thankfully I haven't been involved THAT long.  (Just so you know - I wasn't even born yet in the 1950's!) 

Nate first went to help at Mt. Zion about 12 years ago, by showing up in the evening to tell the campfire story.  Immediately, the camp director (who had been directing for nearly 15 years at that point) spotted a potential way to retire from her job.  She wasn't pushy about it; she simply planted a few seeds.

"How would you like to be a cabin leader next year?"  and then the following year, "Are there some other tasks you would like to try?" and the next year, "I really want to turn this camp director job over to someone, and I think next year, you could start taking over." 

And that was that.  Since marriage means "we're in this thing together," then camp directing became a joint venture on our part.  As capable as my husband is of taking charge of dozens of campers, coming up with creative games to keep them all occupied, and telling wonderful campfire stories that entertain as well as challenge the campers...he seriously could not do this camp directing job without me.  I'm not egotistical about it.  Honestly, just about anyone could do MY job, except perhaps my husband.  And so, when each new year rolls around in January, I say, "Honey, we need to schedule a camp planning meeting.  You tell me what date works for you, and I'll take care of the rest."

And so it goes until camp time arrives.  I make the brochures.  I contact the churches and pastors and workers.  I order the T-shirts.  I figure out all the classes and teachers that we'll need, as well as the cabin leaders.  I make lists of things to buy and lists of things to do.  I "suggest" people that he could ask to be worship leaders and camp pastors.   And a week before camp begins, he says, "Okay - I better start figuring out what games we can play next week to go along with the camp theme."

Thus, the baton is now passed to him.  He sorts through all his ideas, packs our vehicles with axes and rope, duct tape and cordless drills...all the things that I never remember to pack for some reason.  After we're at camp, he starts figuring out what I need to do in order to make his games work (this year it was "Lori - we need 3 sets of the Wells Fargo game squares printed off within 5 minutes!" ;-)  He takes charge the minute we hit the campgrounds.  His job kicks into high gear...my job dwindles.

It's the way we work, and the way I like it.  I've always been amazed at how God could bring together two such completely different people as Nate and I.  Yet, each year after another season of camp is completed, I'm reminded once again that God knew exactly what He was doing.  Opposites not only attract, they make a great team.

Silver...

Someone sent us a "Congratulations to you on your Silver Anniversary" card a couple weeks ago.  Yes, we have now been married 25 years, but something about those words "silver anniversary" made me feel antique or something.  Only my grandparents had those plates and bells and things that said, "Happy Silver Anniversary."  Thankfully, no one gave us one of those or I might have politely smiled, then walked into the next room and chucked it out the window!

The 25 years themselves have been so wonderful, sometimes it feels like I've just entered into this lifelong commitment, rather than being 25 years into it.  Nate keeps my life fresh, fun and very interesting.  I've heard many stories of people our age who, once the kids leave home, look at each other and say, "Who are you?" and within the year they're divorced.  Not us.  We've drug out these child-rearing years so long now, I think that once the last one finally leaves home we're going to look at each other and say, "Let's get out of here and have some fun!"

Fortunately though - we're not waiting until then to enjoy each others' company.  Part of what has made our 25 years so enjoyable is the fact that somehow along the way, we've learned to make the most out of whatever moments we have.  Getting up before all the children do and enjoying some peace and quiet together, with a cup of coffee, some unimportant chit chat, and a scripture & prayer-time.  Going together to get groceries, or run an errand, when the opportunity arises and there's an older girl around to watch the younger kids.  Taking an early morning or late evening walk...hand in hand, of course.  Me tagging along with him to a weekend surveyor's training conference - just so I can have some time alone with him in the evenings.  (That one paid off very well one year when he decided to attend a conference that was given on a Caribbean cruise ship!)  Him going shopping with me, just because we had been too busy to do anything together, and shopping looked like an opportunity rather than a thing to be dreaded.  All those, and a hundred other little things through the years that have kept us connected, interested and involved in each others' lives.

Of course, it hasn't all been easy going...there are times when I can hardly wait for him to get out of the house for awhile and give me some space.  And moments when he wonders if he can go do anything without having to report in to me.  But for the most part - it's worked, this staying involved in each others' lives and loving each other through the good and bad times.  Twenty-five years into the marriage, it's worked so well that I'm highly anticipating the next 25 years.

Just don't go buying me one of those bells or plates, thank you very much.

How Do You Say Good-bye?

It's May, and I've been thinking about this post for several weeks now; perhaps even months.  Our third daughter, Lydia, is about to graduate high school and as usual I can't help but reflect a bit on this life altering event.  It happens to me as each child reaches this milestone in life - I have this almost overwhelming mixture of feelings.
There are feelings of pride in the wonderful young adult they've become, feelings of uncertainty as I wonder if 18 years were really enough time to teach them everything they needed to learn from me, and last but certainly not least - feelings of loss.  The loss of childhood and knowing that our family will once again never quite be the same.

I know it is a necessary "loss."  No one wants their child to remain child-like for a lifetime, living in their home and dependent upon them for the rest of their lives.  And yet any parent who raises a child to adulthood knows the feeling - this feeling that says, "Some aspect of your life is now over, never to return."  I realize that she's not moving away forever.  She'll come home for a weekend visit now and then; she'll be around during most holidays; she'll most likely even be back for weeks at a time during summer break.  But it will be different.

I won't wake up each morning to her cheery disposition; I won't hear all of her humorous 'blonde" moments; she won't be available at a moment's notice when I holler, "Lydia - I could use some help!"  Basically - she will now be a "visitor" more often than not...that is the cause of these feelings of loss that I'm experiencing.

This time, however, there are feelings that I've never experienced before - at least, not quite like this.  Feelings of loss and grief for her sake, and not knowing exactly how to help her deal with it.  Perhaps no one is ever really prepared to deal with it.  What is this event, this obstacle that I so desperately want to spare my child from enduring?  A certain good-bye that will need spoken very soon - a good-bye that will be one of the hardest of her lifetime.

Yes, she'll have the normal "good-byes" that each high school senior experiences - farewell to those favorite teachers and wonderful friends that have shared her life during the past few years, and emotional partings from sisters who are living their own life adventures in other states and countries.
Those all pale in comparison, however.  There is one good-bye that will very literally be a life-long farewell.  No weekend visits; no get-togethers over spring break; not even Facebook chats, text messages or phone calls lasting into the wee hours of the night.

Her life-long friend, Amanda, has been battling cancer for over three years now.  And although she is the toughest, most positive and steadfast fighter we've ever known...she is about to lose the fight.  Everyone who knows Amanda has no doubt that she's ultimately winning the battle, with all the saints and angels of heaven waiting to celebrate the victory with her. (I Cor. 15:55)  But those of us whose lives she's touched here on earth will be feeling a life-long loss.

Amanda and Lydia are closer than best friends, if that's possible.  I've never seen two people that share the kind of bond that these two girls share.

I could show you stacks of photos from their toddler years on up of these girls and all of their exuberance, fun and adventures.  Playing dress-up; being pirates or princesses, phantoms or fairies.  Looking lovely in their formal dresses, or unrecognizable in layers of mud.  Wearing hats or swords or jeans with holes in them or clown makeup or costumes from another century...depending on what mood they're in.
Paddling a canoe and toting a back-pack nearly as big as themselves.  Setting up a tent, blowing bubbles, riding a zip-line and making sand castles.  Ice skating, horseback riding, writing their names with sparklers and cuddling furry baby animals.  Playing pranks on sisters, whispering secrets that no one will ever know, and dreaming of castles and Prince Charming.

After all of that - after this lifetime of sharing laughter and heartache, dreams and realities, aspirations and disappointments - how do you say good-bye? 

Lydia had a song choice to make recently - a song to go along with her senior slide show.  A slide show summing up her first 18 years of life.  It ended up being a slide show with more pictures of her with Amanda than anyone else.  The song she chose to go with it is just a song from a movie soundtrack.  Yet, how appropriate for these girls who collect old LP albums of movie soundtracks, and who own CD's and mP3 players full of movie music.  The song, by Regina Spektor, is simply called "The Call"...and yet it somehow, in it's simplicity, begins to answer the question - how to say good-bye.
The last several lines of the song go like this:

Just because everything's changing, doesn't mean it's
Never been this way before.
All you can do is try to know who your friends are
As you head off to the war.
Pick a star on the dark horizon and
Follow the light.
You'll come back when it's over.
No need to say good-bye.
You'll come back when it's over.
No need to say good-bye....
Now we're back to the beginning,
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet.
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget.
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger,
'Til they're before your eyes.
You'll come back, when they call you,
No need to say good-bye.
You'll come back, when they call you,
No need to say good-bye.

Dearest little Lydia...I can't take away your pain - these harsh realities that an 18-year-old should not have to deal with.  But I do see some comforting truths in your song....

Yes - everything is changing, even to the point of feeling like a war is raging.  Unfortunately, that is life, and generations of people before you have dealt with the ecstasy and devastation that this life dishes out.  The horizon may look dark at the moment, but your friendship with Amanda has been, and will always be, a bright spot, a shining star in your life.  Amanda is an amazing gift and blessing in your life.  Few people ever have the opportunity to experience a friendship so rich.  Your memories are priceless gifts of that friendship.  Keep them "before your eyes," so that when your life is full of new friends who never had the opportunity to know Amanda, you can keep her memory strong and alive within you, and within them, by telling your stories.

Last but not least, some day there will be a new beginning..."you'll come back" to Amanda and your friendship will begin anew, in that eternal home that we're all longing for, that home of no more tears, pain or sorrow.  The only place where friendships are eternal, and where there truly is "no need to say good-bye," ever again.

The Lost Orienteering Guy

(For the record - I have the utmost and highest respect for my husband. I do my best never to criticize him in front of others, because for every finger I could point at him...there are four more that he could point right back at me if he so desired. So this little story is not meant to humiliate him in any way...he laughed about it himself, so I believe we can now all laugh along with him. :-)

It was a Friday afternoon in April. Our local homeschool co-op group had planned to take a field trip to Rock Bridge State Park for two purposes: orienteering and caving. One dad arranged the caving aspect, and Nate, being a very experienced orienteering person, volunteered to take care of that aspect.

Being too independent to line up a park ranger to teach something that he already knew how to do, he decided he'd take our three homescooled youngsters a little early and just try out a path from "A" to "B" and see how it worked, before he took 20+ homeschoolers on the route.

An hour and a half and four miles later...he was eating humble pie. Somehow the orienteering expert got disoriented. He never took the other kids out orienteering, because by the time he finally found his way back to where they had been waiting for an hour, it was time to go explore the cave.

Mind you, this is a man who NEVER gets lost. I, on the other hand, make a right turn, and moments later don't really know if I actually turned right or left, and of course I don't have a clue if I'm driving N,S,E or W. But Nate? He can take a back road one direction - veer onto several other back roads here and there as he comes to them - and end up exactly where he wanted to go, even if he's never been on any of those roads before.

Anyway, when he returned later that afternoon with three very dirty and tired children, I had to open my mouth and ask, "So, how'd the orienteering go?"

As if on cue, all three children exclaimed "We got lost!" and Nate said, "It didn't go."

I just laughed (oops) and then tried not to laugh, and then laughed even louder. All evening long I continued to get an occasional "giggle" over the situation.  And when daughter Jessie went surveying with him a few days later, and came in the house that night exclaiming, "I got lost today!" I couldn't help myself.  I had to say it:

"Well, I guess your dad taught you well."

Finding Your Purpose

A very good friend just called to ask me a question. Her daughter is graduating next month, and she's putting together a book of letters for her. Letters that are all written by people who have touched her daughter's life in some way, shape or form. She gave me a specific topic to write my letter about - she asked if I would share about finding purpose in life - hopefully, God's purpose. It didn't take long to write the letter, as I have some fresh, new personal insights on the subject. I don't know if they're worth sharing or not - but anyway, here they are. :-)

As I think about purpose – I find it almost unbelievable that I’m sitting here typing on a computer that was given to me for an actual paying job that I’ve now had for almost one year. Why is that unbelievable? As you know, I have just been a wife and mother my entire life. I shouldn’t say “just.” Being a wife and mother is an amazing task; challenging, fulfilling, complicated, extremely rewarding, frustrating, awe-inspiring, and so much more, all wrapped up into one "occupation." However, for most of my married life, that was my sole purpose. I loved it and didn’t regret it…but I also sometimes wondered if there wasn’t something more I could do; some other purpose God might have for me. Yet with homeschooling, I didn’t want to leave home to find out what that other purpose might possibly be. I didn’t want to turn my children over to someone else 40 or 50 hours a week so I could go seek some different purpose for my life. Thus I continued, day after day, week after week, year after year, doing my “wife and mother” job and doing my best to be content in it because I knew it was God’s purpose for me.

I whole-heartedly believe Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” I believe that taking a day at a time, doing and living the life God has for you, IS his purpose for your life! He doesn’t give us a 20 page report, or an outline – not even a rough draft! – of what our life will be like. He simply wants our faith and trust, day by day, so that he can make that path “straight” for us.
That’s why I’m amazed to be sitting at this particular computer, writing about this particular subject. About a year ago, the founder and executive director of Coyote Hill instant messaged me and simply asked if I’d be interested in doing some part-time work for Coyote Hill…all from my home, and all with software and a computer set-up that they would provide. Since they are a not-for-profit ministry, they receive nice items that are donated or sold to them at very reduced prices. So they had some very nice desktop publishing software (Photoshop CS4, InDesign CS4, etc), but no one in the office had time to learn it or make use of it for the ministry’s benefit. So now I actually get PAID to sit here at home and use this amazing software, update their website, create newsletters, emails and booklets to keep Coyote Hill in touch with their donors and to hopefully convince them to keep donating – and I absolutely love every minute of it! It’s incredible – I could not have chosen a more fulfilling job for myself if I had spent the past 20 years of my life working towards it. God just dumped it in my lap. It’s one of my biggest affirmations that God really does honor and bless us, when we stay faithful to doing what He wants us to do, day after day after day. A very wise person once said, “The best job for you is a job that you’d be willing to do for free if you had to.” That’s how my life has been…I am still doing the “wife and mother” job for no (earthly) pay – and I love my Coyote Hill job so much that I would do it for no pay, either, if it came to that. (Larry - you didn't hear that ;-)

Live a life that honors God and do what He puts before you to do each day, taking one day at a time…and you WILL find your purpose in life. I truly believe it's that simple.

Children and the First Easter

My pastor/husband Nate loves to pull off impromptu dramas involving children, in order to get a message across. However, this time it was 7 AM on Easter morning, at our church's outdoor Sunrise Service. It was neither the place or the time of day you would expect to see some children performing in a drama – but that was exactly what was unfolding. The costumes were transforming children into characters at the scene on that very first Easter morning. The limited amount of children awake and in attendance - half of them ours, and half belonging to friends who had been forewarned - meant that the young cast only consisted of one soldier, two angels, three women and a disciple.

Our youngest, Josiah, was playing the part of the soldier...the first on the scene and given the boring task of guarding the tomb of a dead man. Wearing soldier’s attire – complete with a Roman plumed helmet – his dad asked how he felt about being given such a seemingly unimportant task.

“Well….I have a paint brush on my head,” was Josiah's unexpected reply. What more could we expect at 7 AM?

As the “women” (Rebekah, Jessie & Ashely A.) slowly approached the tomb from the far corners, Nate swooped the two young angelic beings (Matthew & Andrew A.) onto the tomb scene. Nate told paint-brush boy to fall down as if dead – which Josiah did without reservation. Then, as the women drew near, the angels were instructed to say, “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” After two or three promptings, the very shy little boys finally whispered their line, but without enthusiasm.

Thus, Nate's next prompting to the angels was stated like this, “Say, ‘He is risen’ loudly!”

Lacking the advantage of years of grammatical schooling, the five-year-old angel exclaimed, “He is raisen!” (Mind you, this "raisen" is not to be confused with a dried grape.)

The eight-year-old angel, very wise for his age, did exactly as he was told and said it word for word, “He is risen LOUDLY!”

Although the re-enactment may have varied quite a bit from the real occurrences of that first Easter morning, it was a beautiful reminder. Too often as we grow older, we become complacent and disinterested with the retelling of familiar stories – even such life-changing stories as the Resurrection. However, through the faith, enthusiasm and actions of a child, it can re-gain the freshness and excitement that it deserves.