friendships and fire

They played together for hours, Karis and her friend E. Flowers were sniffed and toys passionately disputed over. Their personalities are so different; Karis babbled on the whole time about everything, while E was quiet, taking it all in, and only speaking when she needed to eat. We loved having her over to play and even scheduled another date for next week.

I cooked chicken fajitas with sauteed peppers and onions out on our grill tonight. The aroma of the dish cooking on the gas burner smelled so much better than it ever has when cooked indoors on the electric coil burners. I've been wanting to find a way to cook more with the raw element of fire. Something about being out on the patio, in the open air, cooking over an open flame...it made me feel like Tom Hanks in Castaway, with hands up triumphantly in the air, rejoicing over his hard-earned flames.

Easter has me longing for redemption. I was looking forward to going to church on Easter Sunday in NYC, and although we didn't make it to a service, I found myself humming all day long the words to the song "Christ the Lord is Risen Today." So many areas in my life and in those people around me has me longing for that deep, restorative, "everything made brand new" kind of redemption. I love Easter's promise.