Easter preparations

Can you imagine the scene of the crowd waving palms and strewing them on His path? We use palms on Palm Sunday to keep the tradition. These are intricately woven in crosses and even roses. Tomorrow we will decorate our Church for Palm Sunday. It is a big undertaking....we hope to have many there to help. The Altar colors will change and palm trees and bouquets of palms and dried palms woven into braids will decorate our Altar. We have saved these woven palms from year to year to use in the bouquets. A couple of years ago, we had someone teach us how to weave these palms. Even the kids entered in. We have a whole box of them to use.

This next week will be a busy one for us. Back and forth to Church...putting together an Altar of repose for Holy Thursday, Easter lilies will be delivered, Good Friday we will take down the repose Altar and change the Altar again, tulips and hydrangeas will be delivered on Sat. and the Church will be decorated for Easter. Our Church looks glorious on Easter Sunday. All different Spring flowers in pastels will adorn the Altar and colorful wreaths on the doors. A swag of grapevines and Spring flowers will decorate the windows in the back of the Church. It is a big job for a few women. Sometimes we have teenagers help out...and help they do...up and down the ladders and stairs. Easy for them...hard for older folks.

On Holy Thursday there is a foot washing ceremony at our Church and Joe will be a part of that.The men who have been chosen are led to chairs prepared in front of the Altar. Then the priest goes to each man. He pours water over each one's feet and dries them. The ceremony signifies when Jesus washed the disciples' feet to illustrate humility and the spirit of servant hood. The men, who are taking part, will sit in front of the Altar and have one of their feet washed. Their wives will sit behind them and the husband will wash one of the her feet.

While all of this is taking place inside the Church something will be going on outside. Joe's Grotto project will be starting. This week they white lined the place where the Grotto will be built and we hope that JULIE will be there today...to mark off the utilities with flags. Digging the foundation could begin as early as Monday. This is an exciting time for Joe and all concerned. I will keep a journal of sorts in a new blog to show you the progress in words and pictures. You can read both blogs that I post on. Just click on the new blog on my sidebar.

This is what we've been waiting for....Spring and all that comes with it. Soon the weather will warm, and we can all be outside...working in our gardens, sitting on our porches, going for drives in the country, picnics, just relaxing and enjoying the season.

Balisha