easter festivities

This weekend I had the honor of spending easter with margaret rose and her sweet southern family. I am so grateful for their hospitality and showing me some southern comforts. At both of mr's grandparents' houses I had my own name tag to designate my seating at the table along with everyone else's and had fabulous blueberry cobbler, and raspberry cake. Among other delicacies were crab cakes, lamb, Paula Deen's mac n cheese, and last but not least, the coveted sugar eggs.

Upon arriving at mr's house, we set our stuff down, put on a jacket, and headed on a hike up Little Kennesaw Mountain. And when mr's family goes to hike, they mean business. Unfortunately mr told me I probably wouldn't want to lug my camera around. lies. she doesn't understand that in Texas I don't get to experience this. So therefore, I missed out on picture opportunities. But saturday we spent out at her lake house. Turned out to be a beautiful day of reading down by the dock. Well mr was on the dock.. I had to sit on solid ground.. of course. I'm currently reading The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel, which describes his "personal investigation of the evidence for Jesus." I'm about half way through now and I'm so amazed. I don't think someone could read this book that looks at archaeological as well as historical information and many other areas regarding Jesus and not believe. It's an incredible way to boost your faith and has been such a learning experience for me. I find myself highlighting every other sentence in the hopes of memorizing it to be able to recount it to someone else. The amount of evidence that leans toward Jesus as the Messiah is incredible and awe inspiring. God had everything under control and knew exactly what he was doing and left us just enough information to believe, but still making us rely on faith.

One of my favorite things about being in college has been traveling home with different friends since I don't always have the opportunity to drive or fly home. This weekend didn't let me down. It's so fascinating to see how different the families have all been that I've stayed with and how unique they are in their own ways. It's made me so grateful for my own family and my upbringing and more understanding of others and they ways in which upbringings effect personality and everything else really. It's so fun to get a glimpse into their lives and I'm so thankful they all have welcomed me with open arms. The Lord works in such cool ways and is constantly teaching me through the lives of others and their walks with Him. I'm so blessed to have friends that show me Christ within their families and interactions. Mr's family even hid me my own easter basket this morning and I got to be a part of their easter morning tradition. Being loved by someone else's family is a really cool way to see the Gospel. They loved me when I was an "orphan" and welcomed me into their home.

This morning was such a cool experience. We got up nice and early at 6am for the sunrise service. However, the Knox's like to spruce things up a bit, so instead of parking at the lot by where the service was near Kennesaw Mountain, we parked on the other side and took a 20 minute hike through the woods to get to the service. Mr's dad was leading the way.. by a lantern. Such a fun little adventure. It's so amazing to me to get up before the sun. Maybe it's because I don't do it that often, but when I do, I feel overwhelmed by the Lord's presence. Something about the sunrise and the beauty of another day just renews my spirits. All in all, I feel that this weekend was successful and over a little too quickly.