A Very Happy Easter :)

Easter weekend in Charlotte was SO beautiful.  We had my mom, Ladson, Lyndsey, and Nick up to Charlotte and cooked out by the pool before our Saturday night church service.  I'm so glad that we're back in the season of cooking out by the pool.  And of course, Elevation Easter was awesome.  Over 19,000 people came to 21 Elevation 3D Easter services all over Charlotte and prompted over 2,200 salvations.

The service began with a video about the desire of human beings to shorten distance.  We walked, then ran, then rode horses, then bikes, then cars/trains, then airplanes, etc. but that the one distance that we can't shorten is the distance between us and God.  But that Jesus came to make that distance possible to overcome.  Then, the rest of the service was about Acts 1:8.  This verse represents the VERY last human words spoken by Jesus on Earth, and reads "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth'.    Pastor Steven explored the verse in 3 dimensions, looking first at the Gospel in Jerusalem, which is likened to the Bible Belt, where the Gospel is known by almost everyone, but still applies.  And then the Gospel in Judea and Samaria, which is likened to Las Vegas, where there is little morality and/or knowledge/belief of Jesus.  And lastly, to the Gospel in the ends of the Earth, which represents distance that we can all feel from God.  I LOVED this service and felt like the Gospel came alive in a whole new way.  And of course, was in 3D.  A creative presentation to teach about the original Creator.   Listen to it!

Distance.

Nick and Lyndsey spent the night with us afterwards, which was awesome.  We walked down and got some ice cream, and stayed up and watched a movie.  Haven't seen them much since we moved up here and it makes us sad, so a sleepover was probably what we needed.

On actual Easter Day, I had to work.  Newborns in Need as well as another organization that I can't remember gave each of the babies an Easter basket to celebrate their first Easters.  They had handmade newborn washcloths, burp cloths, stuffed animals, books, etc.  I love that people take time to make/do that kind of thing for the NICU babies.

When I got home, Seanie had an Easter basket on our island with a note and some candy.  He'd spent his afternoon putting together the "Apartment 139 Easter Egg Hunt".  I was psyched.  Anyway, here's some pictures from the weekend, wish I had some of my family, but I don't.

Mogatu helping Sean clean our windows :)

My post-Easter Egg Hunt Basket

I love Easter :)

Nanas

What intrigued me about nursing when I chose my major, was that in nursing, you get the unique opportunity to be with people during some of the most trying times and some of the happiest times of their lives.  Times that they'll remember, as opposed to, in most jobs where you see people during their normal days.

One of those "times" this week that made an impression on me, was listening to a new grandma explaining her role in her new grandbaby's life.  It was one of the sweetest things that I've ever heard.

This grandma had been sitting next to her baby's isolette for an hour or so by herself, without really interacting much, just holding the baby's hand, and I sat nearby and charted, occasionally exchanging a few words with her.  After a while, I remembered that I needed to prick that baby's heel for a lab, so I went over and after explaining what I had to do, offered the grandmother some options: you can wait in the waiting room, you can sit here and watch me, or you can hold a syringe with a little bit of sucrose in the baby's mouth to ease the pain.  She reluctantly went with option 3.  So I got my pricker, and my lab sheet, and the gauze and tape, and some alcohol, and a little tiny bit of sucrose for grandma.

Since we would be bonding over the next few minutes, I asked her who she was going to be, to which she replied "Nana".  "I have a Nana", I told her, "so I know that Nanas are really special people, and he's lucky to have one".  With that bit of encouragement, each of us went to our separate duties, me to pricking, and Nana to sugar-giving.

During the next 3-5 minutes or so, Nana told the baby all about Nanas, and the irony of her first job in his little life, to give him sugar.  She explained that Nanas ALWAYS have the sweet stuff.  That Nanas always make you feel better.  That Nanas love you no matter what all of the time.  She went on and on and I wanted to cry because, since I have a Nana, I know how right she was, especially about the sweet stuff.  Nanas slip you a twenty when you only have half a tank of gas.  Nanas cut the ends off of your sandwiches and then make you another one to make up for the fact that half of the previous sandwich had to be cut off.  Nanas send you a card for not only Christmas and your birthday, but Valentines and Halloween.  Nanas get you a Chick-fil-A when you already have food at home because you like that better.  Nanas pick you up from school with a coke and a bag of candy since they know you'll be hungry.  And I could go on and on.

The baby didn't cry or act upset at all.  Just looked at Nana and learned about how special Nanas are.