Easter Brunch

Although we missed not being home with family for this Easter, James and I hosted a wonderful Easter brunch at our apartment with over twenty people! Our friend Lana, who lives in the dorms and couldn't host a brunch on her own, joined forces with us and we set up a beautiful spread the day before Easter. We borrowed some long tables and some chairs from the campus computer center near our apartments, and spent all afternoon cleaning, baking, and decorating for the festivities. And the Easter brunch itself was wonderful - we ate lots of good food, drank champagne and mimosas, read scripture together, and went on an egg hunt put together by Lana. And I was so excited to finally put all of our beautiful china to good use...hopefully there will be many more large and festive occasions to use it all.

Every year I am continually reminded how much I love Easter. This year in particular James and I spent some time reflecting during Holy Week on the importance of Maundy-Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and of course Easter itself. We learned in our Greek class that the term "Maundy-Thursday" came from the Latin words that mean "new commandment." This refers to the upper room discourses in the Gospel of John, where Jesus authorizes a new commandment to "love one another." There are so many little ways every day to show our families, our friends, our co-workers, and the people around us how much we love them; or, rather, the risen Christ continually works in us to transform our frustration, anger, and selfish tendencies into patience, compassion, and love of others. And so it is our prayer that Christ continues this sanctifying work in us as we celebrate the season of his Resurrection.

God Bless the Evergreens!

James and I were on a run yesterday on the trail by the canal, which is a really beautiful trail all things considered. It's 34 miles of tree-lined and hard-packed dirt trail with the water to all along the way as a peaceful reminder that the great outdoors is to be enjoyed. But I realized something yesterday...I MISS EVERGREEN TREES! There really aren't that many out here on the East, and of course that means that the fall with its deciduous trees is glorious. But then fall leaves and winter comes....and it is very bleak and gray/brown toned, and only when a blanket of snow falls upon the land does it seem to have any sparkle. In the winter time in the Northwest, the green trees are still everywhere and it's not so called that everything dies. I am reminded of a lovely song, "Christmas in the Northwest," which certainly has produced a number of gag-reflexing moments as I've listened to Warm 106.9 over the years at Christmas time, but the song does get one thing right..."Christmas in the Northwest is a gift God wrapped in Green." So for all you Northwesterners that laugh and chuckle at the sappiness of this song, maybe take a little time to appreciate your evergreens the next time you hear it. You'll never know how much you miss them until you live in New Jersey!

A Night with Justice Scalia...and then Beer!

Last night James and I had the opportunity to go listen to a lecture by Supreme Court Justice Scalia at McCosh Hall on Princeton's campus. Our friend Sara also came with us...she is a fellow law junkie (or something like that). First of all, I'd never been in McCosh hall and it was beautiful! It certainly looked like the great hall at Hogworts...there was rich wood paneling along the walls, and the ceilings were all the same wood with exposed beams and carvings in the wood - it was a great place to listen to a lecture. Then it was a cool experience to be listening to Professor Robert George introduce Justice Scalia, and to say that "hey, there is our philosophy of law professor." I think James and I both left feeling like we have been blessed with a rich pool of experiences.

After the lecture we met up with some friends at Triumph, the local brewery right across from Princeton's campus. Our friends Adam and Alison had Adam's brother visiting, so we all tried the new brew, the Abbey Trippel, which was a 9.5% beer - and it was surprisingly sweet. Sara took some pics while we were there and titled them "A Tribute to the Abbey Trippel." So cheers to that!