Easter Recap and #7 (part a)...

I've had the same Easter basket since before I can remember- pink with a big handle and made by one of my adopted grandmothers. And every year my mom fills it up with dark chocolate and caramels and ties it up in the same pink, green, and yellow printed bag with a pink ribbon. I know I'm 28 now, but I've known what to look for on Easter morning for the past 27 years.

And along came 2010 when Mom greeted me on Good Friday afternoon with this:



The left side was Will's and the right side mine- love doesn't begin to describe it! I was kind of sad to retire my pretty pink basket, but sharing this one with Will makes me happy :)

That evening Will and I went to Liberty Crossing UMC for their Good Friday Stations of the Cross walk. (We've been visiting there for the past few weeks at the invitation of Bart and Shannon Styes and we really like it!) As we were walking the Prayer Trail (which is such a wonderful idea- it's beautiful!) toward the opposite side where everyone else was gathered, we heard a rustling in the leaves. Expecting a squirrel or chipmunk, we both looked down to see a 4 foot black rat snake slithering away. Now, Will's an Eagle Scout and I volunteered at the Zoo for several years so we both have a healthy respect and appreciation for animals and nature... that being said, I'm not sure either one of us are qualified to discuss the theological implications of crossing a black snake on the prayer trail en route to a Good Friday service (Ahem, Peter, take it away). Anyway, after warning the other families to watch their steps, the rest of the service went wonderfully.

After dropping the Hound and Yellow dogs off at the pet hotel (www.pawsnclawsbandb.com), we headed down to Opelika to spend Easter Sunday with Will's family (the Beagle, btw, spent the weekend with Ricki at Mom's). We got to hang out with our elusive New Yorker friend, AmyP, also. Sidenote: I've found that one of the best parts of being married is getting to be friends with my husband's friends. Amy, for example, was one of Will's best friends in high school and is now one of my favorite people too (see facebook pictures from our anniversary trip to NYC). After church we went to Will's grandmother's house for lunch and took the traditional grandchildren-and-below picture (which I can't post because my camera was set on Video instead of camera mode- just trust me, it's cute).

And thank goodness this past weekend was so beautiful outside! We took the pups out to the farm on Saturday and while Will helped my dad run some fires, I started grooming the older horses (affectionately known as The Retirement Community)- Boots, my 30+ year old retired cutting horse that I've had since I was in 5th grade; Chula- our "Mama" mare; and NaT- our newest addition whose story requires a little explanation. A few months ago, we started checking in on the horses across the street because their owner suffered a heart attack and couldn't care for them temporarily. After getting a good look at them up close, we noticed that one horse was worse off than the others- a big beautiful bay gelding. After we discussed his condition with his owner, he told us to just take him if we thought we could help him. So we did. Walked him down the highway and into our pasture. He was badly malnourished from the other horses pushing him off the feed and hay and we recently found a potentially life-endangering infection in one of his hooves. Long story short, he's put on a few hundred pounds and his infection is healing... and I couldn't take standing next to him anymore. So I got a blanket, a halter, and a leg up from Will and
finally got to ride our adopted Tennessee Walker (oh yeah- did I mention he's got papers and everything?). He's about 20 years old and still has weight to gain and a hoof to heal, but hopefully we've given him a few more healthy happy years. I think he looks happy, don't you?