Easter has now come and gone and this is the time that Lutheran Pastors and their families all take a big sigh of relief, sit back, enjoy a bit of spring and relax a bit.

Except in this house.

The week before Holy Week, we were reminded of God's grace in a the form of a funeral, which is about a 4 day long endeavor as a member of the PF (pastor's family).

Holy Week speaks for itself, I believe. Let us not do that again anytime soon.

Easter Day was a dream come true. Other than Lars being ready to go home before we got out of the car at church, he did pretty well throughout the day. After church, we went to Douthit's for our now annual photo shoot, Easter basket retrieval, lunch, and, last but not least, the Egg hunt. Pastor then had nursing home duty much of the afternoon. Lars didn't want to stay more than about 10 minutes after the hunt, so we made him a tent under the old kitchen table downstairs and he took his blanket and stayed in there for quite a while with his new Handy Manny matchbox pick up trucks.

Later in the day, more friends came out and we had a great time playing cards, eating cake and ice cream for a surprise birthday party, and playing with the kids' new toys. We headed home when Lars had had enough of it all and I was pretty sure he was going to start walking home.

We all looked forward to sleeping in on Monday, taking the day to pick up the odds and ends around the house, play with some more toys and, oh yes, go to Gering to pick up a race car. After all, Easter is over, it's now time to be done with the stress of life. School is nearly finished for the year, the spring pastor's conference slash mini family vacation is coming upon us quickly, and all the fun stuff that come with the start of summer.

While strapping a blue and purple kiddy pool to the masculine looking black race car, the phone rings for a pastor emergency, and back to Bridgeport we head.

Now, it is Wednesday, the regularly busy day, and another funeral is pending. Eden was back to school yesterday. Lars' IFSP was yesterday afternoon, and that always takes most of the day for Mommy to prepare and decompress afterwards.

Elia, on the tail end of being sick with a respiratory infection and double ear infection, thinks it's way better to fall asleep on Mommy, and sleep in her bed nuzzled close, rather than to get in the crib and fall asleep listening to soft music, then sleep for 12 hours, like her siblings did when they were her age.... I nurse her as I type this now.

Tomorrow is a full day with therapy in the morning here, then again in SB during the afternoon. I canceled a CPR class for the convenience of someone else, which actually helped me out tremendously. We'll try for it again next week.

Now, I look around and chuckle. I'm sitting on a pile of stuff on my desk chair, simply because I ran out of room on my desk yesterday and had to start using the chair to pile it up on. It's hard to file when it's under my rear end, though.

Lars is headed this way, no doubt in search of a snack, so I'd better get back to being a Mommy. Who needs to be organized anyway?

Today in the history of this Strawn family is somewhat significant. Being Holy Week, it works out to be almost exactly the same time frame, even. Let me explain.

Today is McKenzie's 11th Birthday, and she was born on Maundy Thursday, which means that 11 years ago tomorrow (then Good Friday, which will be Maundy Thursday this year), because my sister Meegan was still in the hospital post delivery, my brother Chad was babysitting my nephew Zachary, who had just become a big brother. Because of this, and the fact that Chad couldn't get Zak to take his medicine, I was summoned over to his house to help in this endeavor, since I'd done it before. My friend Becky was with me, because we had tentative plans of going out for a coke with her then-fiancee and his old college room mate, who had come home for the Easter weekend.

We arrived at Chad's just in time for the wrestling match of Zachary and Uncle Chad, when there was a knock at the door. When Marie (my sister-in-law) opened the door, in swept a tall, brown haired slender looking man in a long leather duster, trying out the cowboy look. Next to him was our dear friend, Jonathan, with his signature ear-to-ear devious looking grin.

Now, Jonathan and I go way back. Well, at least to the 9th grade, when he moved to my town. Becky and I go even farther, and the three of them had all schemed to get me out on a blind double date after church, which I didn't attend because of a funeral viewing. Jon & Becky knew I wasn't into set ups, or dating, for that matter, which is why they had to be sneaky and deliberate.

And it worked, if only for 20 minutes. We had that 1 coke at Bryan's restaurant in downtown Lapeer 11 years ago, and said good-bye with no strings attached. Two days shy of two years later, that tall drink of water and I were exchanging wedding vows in St. Louis, Missouri, four days before the anticipated Call Day at Seminary. Now, we have a dog, 3 children, and a whole lifetime of memories already.

So, I realize I'm a day late for posting an anniversary message, but life calls.....here's to our 9 years of wedded....um...bliss? chaos? enchantment? commitment. Now, don't get yourself killed on the racetrack this summer.

Say it with flowers

These flowers say it all, don't they? They say, "Sarah, I love you! You are the world to me! And you're a beautiful wife, a loving & patient mother, an honorable pastor's wife, a compassionate and loyal EMT and a constructive member of society. We've been married nearly 9 years and the time has flown by it's been so much fun!"

Ok, not really. These flowers actually says, "Honey, you know those race seats we drove to Colorado last year to get on my day off? The one that took all day and a tank of gas? Remember, we drug the kids along too? Elia was a tiny baby and didn't like her car seat. The big scary guy in that junk yard? You know the one where we paid him $100 buck cash to not kill us and to let us get our stuff and get out quickly? Yeah? Well, the seats won't work. They're made out of the wrong material. But don't worry. I know a guy who can get me the right one! I can still race!"

Uh huh. That's what these flowers REALLY say. And you know what? I remember. And yes, honey, I still love you. The flowers are very sweet. Now stop hiding behind them and give me a kiss.

Blue light special

Shine a Light on Autism. A blue light, to be specific.

Today is Autism Awareness day and April is Autism Awareness Month.

For more information, talk to any parent, sibling, teacher, therapist, caregiver, pastor, grandparent, aunt, uncle, cousin, friend or foe of a person with autism. If you don't know any, drop us a line and we'll help you out.

The definition of Autism is " a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life and is the result of a neurological disorder that affects the normal functioning of the brain, impacting development in the areas of social interaction and communication skills. Both children and adults with autism typically show difficulties in verbal and non-verbal communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities."

Autism is one of five disorders that falls under the umbrella of Pervasive Developmental Disorders (PDD), a category of neurological disorders characterized by “severe and pervasive impairment in several areas of development."

This sounds tricky & complicated, or at best, wishy washy to most. Just one of those labels to give kids whose parent's lack in discipline or proper parenting skills. I'm here to tell you, if you think this, you are wrong.

Lars, who's major deficit is SPD, the neurological disorder that impedes his ability to properly process the 7 senses in the brain, did two things this week that are worthy of mention. He asked Daddy for a kiss when he left for work this morning, and he let me hold his hand walking across the parking lot, something he's never done before. Two small steps, probably insignificant to most, but small steps into his complex and misunderstood world.

To all of you who are struggling to understand or believe, just hold your heart out and find the love that is within them. Even if it's only for a fleeting moment, it's worth it. Err on the side of compassion and you'll not go wrong.

Like many cancers, diseases, and mispronounced neurological disorders, I don't believe that we will find a cure for Autism. And for me, that's Ok, because they don't need to be cured. They need to be understood and loved. They are who they are and they are beautiful.

We shine a blue light on our front porch for Lars, who will you shine one for?