Hope Is Risen Indeed!

Easter for me has always been a time for celebrating the hope of Jesus' resurrection with family. A time to strap on your Easter best and worship together with the church community. And of course, followed by an extravagant southern home cooked meal. And maybe an Easter egg hunt or two!

But this year I wasn't able to go home and be with my Oklahoma clan because I'm headed there this coming weekend for a wedding. At first I was deeply disheartened about this news. My niece has just turned one and I bought her an Easter dress that I wouldn't get to see her wear and my great grandma isn't doing well and may not have many holidays left, so I was wallowing in my self-pity, when I had an epiphany...

It's as if God was like "wake up Michelle" and I knew that my purpose in staying here was to provide a place for other "orphans" to gather and fellowship on this blessed holiday. I wrestled with this revelation for a week or so, tossing it out to a few people for confirmation, and then bit the bullet and planned an Easter brunch for my close friends (or so I thought), haha. It started out as a smaller group of close friends, but then like flies, people kept multiplying and my vision for this get together grew and grew.

Deciding to utilize my God given spiritual gifts of hospitality and my family given gift of loving food was me surrendering all to God. I was elated that so many people wanted to spend this holiday at my home and everyone was so generous in contributing to the pot luck brunch. All in all, I think about 20-25 people showed up and my fridge is now stocked with the leftovers!

Here's the rundown of our bounty: Belgian Waffles, Strawberries, whipped cream, banana nut muffins (some with choc chips), blueberry bagels, a Paula Dean egg casserole, a goat cheese and vegetable fritatta, mixed fruit, cupcakes, cheesecake, frosted strudel cake, a delicious ham, OJ, pomegranate lemonade, milk, Dunkin Donuts Coffee...pretty much the works!

Here's our spread!!!

Quite the feast, ehh? After we had our fill, Jenna played her guitar and led us in a time of praise and worship that was so moving. What a wonderful way to spend this special day. It far exceeded my expectations and I'm just so lucky to have such a great FAMILY in Chicago!

And I think to myself..."What a Wonderful Life!"