Over Loved Over Fed

I love Easter. It is a reminder of a love I don't deserve but is given to me anyway, a mercy and hope that is beyond my understanding that I could never earn but offered freely, a reminder of the most beautiful sacrifice made for the world and a reminder for me to learn to love more, be more merciful and open my heart to examine what I have inside my dark points and the goodness that can heal them. I love knowing that I will never be alone or afraid as long as I have Jesus as my friend and protector. I'm no expert to talk or instruct on how to be a Christian and have so much more to learn. What I do know is that He offers love and peace to everyone and in His eyes we are all equal. Following the Bible with prayer and meditation also makes life easier. Want to have parenting advice, fashion, food, finance or an opportunity to satisfy your spiritual, psycological and intellectual needs? It is all laid out with love in the Bible. If you are curious of where to start, praying the Lords Prayer and thinking about the words as you do is a good place. Check it out.

So, today the sun shone bright and promising over the hills of Pescara. Before breakfast I discovered what my two cats had been working on dutifully for the last few days: making chocolate Easter eggs.

Bentely made a Lindt chocolate egg

And Fatty made a Kinder egg

We trekked over to Città Sant'Angelo, the little town we adore built on top of a mountain. It has a great view of the hills and sea below.

I did hang out of the window to get this picture. Isn't the reflection on the glass cool?

The priest there is excellent: clear, humble, and realistic about struggles that individuals and families face today. At the front of the church there was a beautiful statue of Jesus resurrected.

Jesus resurected. A hope for mankind.

The 13th century church was filled to capacity with hundreds of people standing in the isles and the back, there was not a spare foot of space. The only noise was that of the priests voice and the occasional squeal of a hungry baby. At the front of the church little wiggling impatient children sat clutching their chocolate Easter eggs. They brought them to get blessed, a fairly new tradition here. The egg represents the tomb of Christ, opening it (whether a real egg or chocolate) represents Christ returning to life and coming out of the tomb. After the mass was over the congregation walked outside and a few strong men of the church carried the large wooden statue of Jesus resurrected out of the church to show him coming out of the tomb. It was a beautiful experience and I think it is a lovely idea.

We drove down the mountain, through the curves of the streets and outside of each church you could see people pouring out, opening the window of the car the smell of roasting meats wafted past.

This is the view from the top of the Città Sant'Angelo. You can really see the beautiful country villas, olive orchards and hills that reach far away.

We made our way to our waft where my mom-in-law had exhausted herself cooking up Easter dinner for the family. Here are a few pics of what I ate. I'm afraid I was too happy enjoying all the courses to snap pictures of each.

Roasted lamb with rosemary and peas then roasted potatoes

She made these knowing I can now eat them. Yippie!

Colomba pastry bread, typical for Easter here.

Back at home, the cats were howling terribly. The moon is full and making them act like animals. Fatty wanted to be on the other side of the door and Bentley wanted to slap him after seeing him walk from one side of the door to the other 20 times. After separating the two (Fatty in a cage) I am enjoying the rest of the evening discussing with Bentley his plans for the next two years.  He is quite unambitious. I recommended that he learn how to clean his own litter, brush his hair and make my bed. These are all things I think he is capable of doing. Bentley informed he that he just wants to eat, sleep and occasionally eat a bug and chase his tail.

Bentley loving "only cat syndrom" since Fatty was locked in a cage.